STROUD District Council leader Steve Lydon describes the next week of his diary, which includes work experience details, stray dog advice and changes at Ebley Mill.

Monday, July 17 – Friday, July 21 - Work Experience

Every July, the council provides work experience for 14-15 year old schoolchildren from across the district.

This year we had 13 pupils learning about the world of work and the council.

With areas such as environmental health, planning, community safety, the museum, sports centres, customer services, IT and communications, to name but a few, there’s a huge variety to the work we do.

Work experience week is rewarding for staff as well as the pupils who attend.

Of course it isn’t just the council that offers work experience opportunities – many employers, from various sectors also take part.

In order to recognise high-quality work experience schemes, the council runs the Skills for Stroud Charter, which aims to help businesses, schools and pupils to improve the employment potential for our future workers.

Take a look at skillsforstroud.org.

There’s a wealth of useful information on the site and were delighted that several businesses, organisations and schools have already reached the Skills for Stroud standard.

By the way, if you’re a business, it’s free to take part so do feel free to get in touch.

Monday, July 24 – Stray dog advice

The first day of the school holidays for most of the district’s pupils and also, our dog wardens tell me, the start of a period of increased calls regarding stray dogs.

With children in and out of the house throughout the day and summer being a good time to have building work undertaken or to do some DIY, doors are invariably left open much more than usual.

As a dog lover myself, with a Springer Spaniel, the team has asked me to put out a gentle reminder that we remember to keep doors closed.

Stray dogs obviously pose a danger to others and themselves on our busy roads.

Friday, July 28 – Ebley Mill

This council and other authorities are having to make tough decisions because of the financial cuts we face from the government.

Over the past few years we’ve been looking at a range of measures to reduce our operating costs and bring in income to offset the aforementioned reduction in funding.

If you’ve been to the council offices at Ebley Mill, you may have noticed that since January 2015, part of the building has been occupied by a physiotherapy clinic.

Today saw another floor of the ‘Bodley Block’ part of the mill building vacated, as council staff were relocated to another floor.

It has been let as commercial office space to bring in income and offset costs.

Councils across the country are taking similar measures to meet the financial challenges ahead.