IN HIS support of residents objecting to a 100-home development on land off Shakespeare Road in Dursley, the district’s MP Neil Carmichael raised interesting questions regarding Stroud District Council and the sluggish pace with which it is producing its local plan.

With the majority of planning authorities across the country having established a local plan, the Tory politician is right to make the point.

A local plan, while not bullet proof by any means, is endlessly talked up as an essential in warding off unwanted development – an often one-sided fight due to the National Planning Policy Framework, stacked as it is in the favour of the developers.

If this is indeed the case and the plan would prove a thorn in the side of money-driven developers buying up Gloucestershire’s countryside then why would our elected councillors be so slow in producing one?

They need to act fast before it is too late.

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Magnox announced last week their plans to drastically slash their workforce, cushioning the blow of the announcement with their insistence it is a natural part of the decommissioning process.

Certainly the unique nature of the work carried out by Magnox at nuclear stations like the one in Berkeley will lead to a reduction in their workforce as time goes on, but is 1,600 too many people to lose?

Trade union Unite fears the “shocking” cuts within the group will slow the decommissioning process and we are inclined to share the same concerns.