We would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2018.
It is always a good time of year to look back at what has happened in the last year and look forward into 2018. As it is Christmas I think it is only right that we focus at the many good things done by local government, rather than the important task of challenging and holding to account those things that don’t always work well.
At Stroud District Council we have seen the first full year of the new refuse collection and recycling scheme. Although there are financial challenges implementing this the increase in recycling has been nothing short of phenomenal. The amount of landfill has been halved, recycling has increased and food waste collected exceeds 500 tonnes when previously we didn’t collect this at all.
In other good news with the Stroud Local Plan in place we have seen an improvement in planning decisions. More appeals for inappropriate development have been rejected and some for appropriate development succeed. We have also seen the start of work at West of Stonehouse. There are still issues about the detailed plan for this development but I believe we have made progress. For example we have got commitment to buffers and I am now working with the Parish Council on the detailed definition of these. This will not be easy but we will continue to work to get the best result we can. It is important that we build these much needed homes.
Looking forward to 2018, the consultation on the next revision of the local plan has started and Eastington Parish Council has started to discuss their input into this process.
Personally I am pleased that Ecotricity have dropped their plans for a business park, and we await a new application for just a football stadium and will judge that appropriately. 2018 will be another busy year for planning and vigilance is key.
Finally if there is anything we can do to help, please contact
District Councillor John Jones at cllr.john.jones@stroud.gov.uk or
District and County Councillor Stephen Davies at cllr.stephen.davies@stroud.gov.uk.
Stephen….