LOOKING back on some of the stories the Gazette has reported through the years...

January 2008

A NEW parking enforcement scheme came under fire from residents, who branded it “ineffective”.

Stroud District Council took over responsibility for enforcing car parking across the area, including in Berkeley, Cam, Dursley and Wotton-under-Edge in November 2007, employing three parking attendants to cover the district.

Between them, they have responsibility for monitoring more than 500 streets with parking restrictions.

However residents and traders say there has been little improvement, with the attendants scarcely seen.

A total of 135 parking tickets have been issued across the whole Stroud district , but only six in Dursley, one in Wotton and Cam and no tickets handed out in Berkeley.

Paul Helbrow, community safety manager for Stroud District Council, said: “The feedback we’ve had from officers has been that just by having a presence is having the desired effect on motorists.

“We are still putting together a rota to ensure regular visits of all streets and with a focus on highlighted problem areas.

“Some people have expected that there would suddenly be no parking contraventions but there will always be some chancers.”

WORKERS at the Airbus plant in South Gloucestershire enjoyed a more relaxed Christmas thanks to a partnership deal with engineering giants GKN.

The British firm was announced to be taking over wing manufacture of the Filton plan, building a £200million factory to make wings from lightweight materials.

It had been feared that up to 600 Airbus jobs could have been lost, if an alternate deal with American rivals Spirit went ahead, but under the GKN deal, around 1,800 Airbus workers would become GKN employees by the following summer.