The Liberal Democrats have branded proposals to move Elmbridge out of Gloucester and into Tewkesbury as “farcical”.

The Boundary Commission for England has published its revised proposals for the review of parliamentary boundaries.

Under the plan the Elmbridge area of Gloucester will be represented by an MP from a town 12 miles away and join neighbouring Longlevens in the Tewkesbury constituency.

The Liberal Democrats have long argued for Longlevens to return to Gloucester and have criticised the Boundary Commission for England for ignoring community and identity and concentrating on the numbers.

Councillor Jeremy Hilton, leader of Gloucester Liberal Democrats, said: “It is bitterly disappointing the concerns of local residents have been ignored by the Boundary Commission.

“It is completely farcical to take another chunk out of Gloucester just to fit an arbitrary size of a constituency.

“The key to this review is identity and community and identity and community have been ignored.

“We’re pleased Barnwood is being retained within the boundaries of Gloucester but by taking out Elmbridge the heart is being ripped out of the city. I know local residents will be really angry about this.

“If you travel from Tesco in Brockworth in a straight line along the Hucclecote Road into the city centre you pass through the North Cotswolds, Gloucester, Tewkesbury and then back into the Gloucester constituency. It’s utterly daft.”

Under the initial proposals, the Boundary Commission also suggested moving Barnwood out of Gloucester and into the Tewkesbury constituency.

Gloucester Liberal Democrats opposed this and put forward an alternative plan, which would have seen the newer and more self-contained community of Quedgeley joining the neighbouring Hardwicke in the North Cotswolds constituency.

Liberal Democrat councillors for Barnwood, Elmbridge and Longlevens also addressed public hearings held by the Boundary Commission in Gloucester to speak out against the proposals.

Councillor Hilton added: “The furthermost boundary of Elmbridge is less than a mile from the city centre.

“You can hear the roar from Kingsholm on match days – yet Longlevens and Elmbridge will be represented by an MP from a town 12 miles away.

“The Boundary Commission says the City of Gloucester is too large to be a single constituency. The limit of a 5% variation in constituency sizes is hurting Gloucester.”

A final consultation has now been launched and residents have until December 5 to have their say on the proposals.

Comments can be submitted at https://www.bcereviews.org.uk/.

For more information, please contact Councillor Jeremy Hilton on 07771 794407.

Gloucestershire councils have been awarded £2.9 million in the latest round of the government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI).

The funding was awarded to the Gloucestershire Housing Partnership, made up of the six district councils, the county council, the Integrated Care Board and Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Since 2017, the partnership has received funding through the RSI scheme to support those who are rough sleeping, to find sustainable accommodation and support. 

The scheme has supported a reduction in rough sleeping in the county over the past five years.

The funding supports a range of services that address the factors which lead to rough sleeping: ranging from help to access immediate accommodation and longer-term housing, to assistance around mental health, addictions problems and other common challenges.

An example of the type of service provided are the county’s dedicated outreach teams who aim to build relationships, and encourage those sleeping rough into accommodation and to focus on any issues such as mental health.   

The countywide ‘Somewhere Safe to Stay Hubs’, are another key part of the help on offer, providing advice and assistance to people to help them access supported accommodation and other services.

Ruth Saunders, co-chair of Gloucestershire’s Strategic Housing Partnership, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in our bid for further funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative. This is testament to the strength of our partnership working in Gloucestershire, and the huge amount of work done by both our own staff and partners over the past five years. However, we know there is more to do, and we are committed to continuing this work to ensure that no-one needs to sleep rough in Gloucestershire”.  

Members of the public can contact Streetlink if they see anyone sleeping rough so can that outreach teams can offer them support. They should report the location, time and a detailed description of the person on 0300 500 0914 or via the StreetLink app or website, www.streetlink.org.uk

Gloucestershire Libraries have been recognised as a National Portfolio Organisation and awarded £750,000 funding over three years by Arts Council England.

The announcement was made today as part of the Arts Council’s 2023-26 Investment Programme, called Let’s Create, which aims to develop the offer of accessible culture around the UK.

Gloucester was singled out as a priority place for development and cultural ambition which formed the basis of the application for funding. 

Gloucestershire Libraries will receive £250,000 a year over the three-year period to help continue its development to provide an ambitious and forward-thinking service for everyone in the county.

This will align with the new libraries in Gloucester, Stroud and Oakley in Cheltenham, as well as financially support the cultural elements of the newly drafted five-year Library Strategy (2023-2028).

The application was awarded on the basis that resources will be put into customer development, data and work with hard-to-reach groups.

Key partners involved with the project will include the University of Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucestershire NHS, Immersive Reality and many more. There will be specific emphasis on new activity and engagement within Gloucester and the Forest of Dean as priority places.

The funding will begin in April 2023 and Gloucestershire Libraries will use the time over the next four months to develop project plans and set up a governance board to oversee the developments planned over the three-year funding period.

Gloucester Guildhall has been chosen to join the prestigious Arts Council England’s National Portfolio and is set to receive funding over three years.

As a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) Gloucester Guildhall joins many other respected arts and cultural organisations across the country. 

The award recognises excellence, innovation and leadership in the arts with the Guildhall receiving £250,000 per year from 2023 making a total investment of £750,000. 

The funding allows the venue to offer workshops and programmes that enable communities from across the city to develop and showcase new skills in dance, circus, live music and performance. 

Masterclasses from experts will be delivered along with pop-up live music performances in the refurbished café-bar. 

The Guildhall run by Gloucester City Council, will also be working with partners across the city and beyond to deliver a vibrant and engaging programme, that develops emerging talent and reach new audiences.

Gloucester Guildhall is the city’s main venue for live music, comedy, dance, and contemporary film as well as participatory workshops and art exhibitions, and sees over 50,000 people passing through the doors annually.

The grade II listed arts venue has recently undergone a huge renovation which saw the creation of a new dance rehearsal space with a sprung floor, the installation of super-fast broadband and Improvements to the lighting and audio equipment.

The building’s mosaic hallway was also exposed and brought back to its former glory.

Gloucester City Council is one of four organisations to be awarded ACE NPO funding in the city. The full list of NPO supported organisations can be found here

More information at www.gloucesterguildhall.co.uk and room hire by emailing hireofguildhall@gloucester.gov.uk or by telephoning the room hire booking team on01452-396372.

Keep up to date on upcoming events by following Gloucester Guildhall on Twitter @GlosGuildhall 

About Gloucester Guildhall

Gloucester Guildhall is the city’s liveliest venue with state of the art facilities for live music, dance, performance, film, events, conferences, live music, dance and more. It boasts the largest sprung dance floor in the county, a beautiful 75 seat cinema, an auditorium for 230 seated and 400 standing, café, bars, rehearsal spaces and meeting rooms housed within a Grade II listed building. Formerly it was the civic centre for the city council and has since been converted into a well-respected live music and performance venue.

Residents are being asked to give their views on how Gloucester City Council should spend taxpayers’ money and to choose their priorities as the council sets its budget.

The council has launched its consultation for the proposed budget for 2023/2024, due to be approved in February next year.

It is currently looking at how it can achieve more efficiencies and identify income opportunities, while still delivering key services and value for money.  

The council continues to deal with the financial impact of the pandemic and other budget pressures, and as a result continues to look for ways to save money.

Its recent move to offices above the Eastgate Shopping Centre, owned by the council, will see ongoing yearly savings of around £200,000.

Now residents are being urged to have their say by filling in the survey that takes just a few minutes to complete.

It will help let the council know what residents would prioritise when investing in services like waste collections, street cleaning, combatting rough sleeping or helping to address climate change.

The consultation will close on Sunday, January 15, 2023.

An online version is available here. For paper copies call 01452 396396 or email budgetconsultation@gloucester.gov.uk

The clocks go back an hour tonight.

If you have a smart phone they will generally set themselves like magic.

Traditional watches and clocks will need doing by hand, of course.

For car clocks and cookers, you can read the manual or wait six months for them to come back right again.

The good thing is you get an extra hour in bed.

Below is a rare shot of workers moving the Avebury stones so that they are in time tomorrow. ?

The county council recently launched its Levelling Up Together fund.

It has £1.5 million to allocate across Gloucestershire. The funding is being targeted at ten communities in the county where there are higher levels of financial hardship, and people that need extra support. Podsmead is one of the areas in the list.

Residents and groups are encouraged to put together proposals.

There is no lower limit on applications, so applicants could request small amounts of money, whilst the maximum that any one application can bid for is £150,000.

The deadline for proposals is 27th November. Do get in touch with me – I will be liaising with the county council over this scheme and will be looking to support Podsmead bids via the county council.

More information can be obtained at:

www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/your-community/levelling-up-together

Applications must demonstrate how the funding will contribute to Gloucestershire County Council’s ambitions to level up:

• By 2030, the gap in Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) between local areas where it is highest and lowest will have narrowed, and by 2035 HLE will rise by five years.
• By 2030, well-being will have improved in every area of the UK, with the gap between top performing and other areas closing.
• By 2030, the number of primary school children achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths will have significantly increased.  In England, this will mean 90% of children will achieve the expected standard, and the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the worst performing areas will have increased by over a third.
• By 2030, the number of people successfully completing high-quality skills training will have significantly increased in every area of the UK.  In England, this will lead to 200,000 more people successfully completing high-quality skills training annually, driven by 80,000 more people completing courses in the lowest skilled areas.
• By 2030, pride in place, such as people’s satisfaction with their town centre and engagement in local culture and community, will have risen in every area of the UK, with the gap between top performing and other areas closing

The Levelling Up Together webpages will also be helpful: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/levelling-up-together particularly the FAQs.

The contractor is on site this week working on the pond at Milton Avenue.

I have been advised that most of the material that is removed will go off site, but some may go on the far bank.

A planting plan is below, with the species to be planted. Please let me know if you can’t see this image and I will email you a higher res version.

Planting is to be done between November and January – we don’t yet know the exact dates.

The pond already looks much better and this work will help to purify the water and attract wildlife.

Fruit trees:

Apple:
1 no. Ashmead Kernel (2 year half standard, M26 rootstock)
1 no. Rhead Reinette (2 year half standard, M26 rootstock)
1 no. Severn Bank (2 year half standard, M26 rootstock)
1 no. Bramley (2 year half standard, M26 rootstock)
Pear:
1 no. Concorde (2 year half standard, Quince C rootstock)
1 no. Doyenne du Comice (2 year half standard, Quince C rootstock)
Plum / Damson:
1 no Victoria plum (2 year half standard, Pixy rootstock)
1 no Merryweather damson (2 year half standard, Pixy rootstock)

Native Shrubs

Planting Mix:

3 no. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

3 no. Dog Rose (Rosa canina)

3 no. Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus)

3 no. Crab apple (Malus sylvestris)

3 no. Elderflower (Sambucus nigra

3 no. Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus)

Mixed Native Hedging:

25% Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

25% Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

10% Dog Rose (Rosa canina)

10% Wild Privet (Ligustrum vulgare)

10% Hazel (Corylus avellana)

10% Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

10% Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus)

You can now book to visit your local Gloucestershire Household Recycling Centre on the same day.

In the past residents wishing to bring their household waste needed to book at least a day in advance, but the new system will make visits to any of the county’s five HRCs easier.

Put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the requirement to book a visit has been retained as it has reduced queuing and congestion around all sites. 

Customers are also making fewer trips but are taking larger volumes of waste with them, which is helping to cut congestion and reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles. Overall trips have reduced by over a third, the equivalent of over 250,000 unnecessary journeys a year.

The booking system has also allowed visits to sites to be spread throughout the day, rather than having large numbers of customers visit at peak times. This has made visiting HRCs easier for our customers and allows the recycling centres to run more efficiently.

All bookings to visit HRCs are subject to availability and can be made by visiting https://www.gloucestershirerecycles.com/.

Recycling will help us all work towards a Greener Gloucestershire. To find out more follow #GreenerGloucestershire on social media, visit Greener Gloucestershire – Gloucestershire County Council and sign up to receive updates via our Greener Gloucestershire newsletter.

Note

• This excludes Swindon Road Recycling Centre. This site is operated by Cheltenham Borough Council.https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/info/5/bins_and_recycling/919/recycling_centres_and_bring_banks

The county council have launched a Support Hub – a wealth of information to help everyone find the right support needed during the cost-of-living challenges.

The hub is split into five key areas:

? Money
? Food
? Energy
? Warm spaces
? Protecting health and wellbeing

They’re also launching a warm bank offer called ‘Warm and Welcome’. This will allow residents to access free warm and welcoming spaces within libraries.

Find out more about the hub and the Warm and Welcome offer ? https://orlo.uk/Jk1BK