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Local residents are reporting that they are being targeted with scam messages about the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

The messages state that you can claim a rebate for your energy bills, and instruct you to click a link within the message, to “apply” for the rebate.  This takes you to a phishing website whereby you enter personal details, which are then stolen by the fraudsters.

There is no need to apply for the Energy Bills Support Scheme and you’ll never be asked for your bank details.

Under the scheme, households will receive a £400 discount on their energy bills via six instalments, starting this month.

Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/government/news

Links to fake websites

Fraudulent emails and texts containing links to fake websites are hard to spot because they look so realistic – the message may be almost the same as you’d receive from the company and may even include the official logos. 

So what can you do to protect yourself? Always take a moment to stop and think before you give out any information. This simple action could save you hundreds – or even thousands – of pounds. Remember, a genuine firm will never pressure you into an immediate decision.Don’t click on any links sent to you out of the blue, even if it looks legitimate. Go to the official website for the information, or for the correct contact details to get in touch yourself.Never agree to work by anyone who knocks on your door uninvited, or rings you out of the blue. If you want work done on your home, go to the relevant trade association website or local good trader scheme – your council’s website is a good place to start. Or get recommendations from friends and family members. Don’t be afraid to be impolite. If you’re at all suspicious about a caller, you are well within your rights to shut the door on them or hang up the phone. 

The Friends Against Scams website can help give you the skills and confidence to spot scams, and to help protect others. Visit www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk for more information.

Above all, it’s important to look after yourself, your loved ones and neighbours. Anyone can be vulnerable due to their situation or circumstances, so we all need to stay alert. Talk about scams and share information. If you think you have been a victim, report it to  Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. 

Please help us raise awareness of this scam by informing your elderly or vulnerable relatives, friends and neighbours.

Please note, we’re unable to accept reports of crime through Your Neighbourhood Alerts. You can report non-emergency crime online here. Always call 999 in an emergency.

Message Sent By
Fraud Protect Officer

There will be a community daffodil planting day on Saturday 22nd October, in Tuffley Park. The brief from local resident Sarah, who has done brilliant work to organise this event, is below:

Join us for our first community event: Daffodil Planting in Tuffley Park ?. Flowers should appear next Spring.

?‍? All tools and instruction provided
☕️Light refreshments / packed lunch provided
✅️OPEN TO EVERYONE! (Children to be accompanied by an adult)

Meet at the Club @ Tuffley Park at 10:00 for pre-job brief & hot drink and then we can crack on! Wear something you don’t mind getting muddy. .

Please indicate your availability using the invite and share amongst friends. Please also send through any dietary or accessibility requirements.

Thanks ?,

Sarah

You can find the event on Facebook here.

We held a successful bike marking and advice session with the police and myself in Earls Park on Thursday.

We got some good comments, and the police were able to mark some 20+ bikes.

Whilst in the vicinity I checked on the Neven Place play park and was very disappointed to note that the issues still haven’t been resolved.

I have asked Matthew Homes to sort out urgently:

* The fence (dangerous metal exposed)

* The leaning child’s bike toy

* The full waste bin 

Once again I would have urged Matthew Homes to install dedicated dog waste bins at the parks – the bins are being predominantly used for dog waste anyway.

Other issues that are outstanding:

* The storage area in the corner of the park – the council believe this should not be in this location.

* Residents have noticed that the site gate was open on a Friday evening 2/10. This needs to be closed.

There is also a dangerous cable hanging out of a property in the estate, but I am seeking clarification as to who is responsible.

I am seeking a meeting with management in the next month to talk through issues and represent the views of residents. Do email me any issues on seb4podsmead@gmail.com.

Postal voters in the Tuffley by-election are being urged to return their postal votes in good time ahead of strike action by Royal Mail staff.

A postal strike has been announced for Thursday, October 13, the day of the election.

The by-election is taking place following the passing of long serving member for Tuffley, Colin Organ, who also served as Mayor of Gloucester and was the driving force behind the Gloucester Goes Retro festival.

Postal voters are urged to post their votes by Monday, October 10 at the latest to ensure they have the best chance of reaching the council in time.

Anyone who misses this date this is encouraged to contact the Gloucester City Council elections team on 01452 396203.

Postal votes can also be taken to a polling station on the day of the by-election. Polling stations will be open from 7am-10pm.

Residents can check where their nearest one is on https://wheredoivote.co.uk/ or by calling the team.

Voters are reminded that the deadline to appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf is 5pm today (Wednesday, October 5).

More information https://www.gloucester.gov.uk/about-the-council/elections-and-voting/upcoming-elections/

Asda are offering customers over 60 a meal deal to help with the cost of living. For £1 you can have soup, a roll and unlimited hot drinks.

Sadly the nearest Asda to Podsmead, the Kingsway branch, does not have a cafe anymore, but the main Asda in the city does. So if you are going to Asda for a shop, this meal deal is a good offer. Well done Asda.

I recently wrote to BT about the phone box on Podsmead Road.

A couple of years ago it was earmarked for removal due to lack of use. This was supported by the police who said they have to deal with a lot of prank or nuisance calls, which they legally have to attend.

There was little response to a consultation on the phone box, suggesting that residents would not miss it greatly.

Then came Covid, and the removal was put on hold while there were other priorities. I have been checking in about the box periodically since then.

Earlier this year the box was vandalised, with the glass being smashed. Although I reported this and got the glass cleared up, it has not been replaced.

The response I have received from BT this week indicates that the phone box is due to be kept and upgraded:

There has been a change of plan with this Payphone. BT is looking to expand and diversify its communication network over the next few years and our payphones will play a key role in this project. We’ve already begun to install equipment inside telephone boxes that makes it easier for people to use mobile telephones and other digital devices while they’re out and about.

We’re looking at other ways of repurposing our public payphones and given its location it’s highly unlikely that the box in question will in the short term feature in any of our removal projects.

I have now arranged for our Payphone engineer to attend to attend to carry out the necessary repairs to bring this box up to standard.

I have mixed feelings about this response as I am just not convinced this box is used by the community. Nonetheless I am willing to keep an open mind and will see if the improvements make a difference to the usage.

Do let me know your thoughts on this phone box by emailing seb4podsmead@gmail.com.

Back in the summer I met up with Dan and Neil from Tuffley Rovers, to discuss how I could help them.

We talked about some joint events to bring people in to the club, and also about future needs such as training pitches. Rovers have recently been deprived of some training pitches by the management at Homleigh Park, so they are very interested in the potential development at Blackbridge. I have also had contact from other clubs about this development.

I will always speak up for Tuffley Rovers when I can. I’m proud that they play their home games in my ward of Podsmead, although given that they train and have their clubhouse in Tuffley I don’t think a name change to Podsmead Rovers is on the cards! #uptherovers

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters to take further national strike action on the following dates:

• Thursday 13th October 2022
• Thursday 20th October 2022
• Tuesday 25th October 2022
• Monday 28th November 2022

Further dates have also been announced by the CWU for functional strike action on the following:

• Processing, Distribution, International, Collections, Admin: 3rd, 9th, 15th, 24th November and 1st December 2022
• Delivery: 4th, 10th, 16th, 25th November and 2nd December 2022
• Network: 2nd, 8th, 14th, 23rd, 30th November 2022

Royal Mail is ready to talk further with the CWU to try and avert industrial action. We’re sorry this strike action is likely to cause you some disruption. We will be working to get our services back to normal as quickly as possible.

Royal Mail has well-developed contingency plans, which we will be updating over the next few days to respond to the new dates, but we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce. We’ll be doing what we can to keep services running, but you should expect significant disruption on dates when strike action is taking place.

There’s more information online at royalmail.com/latest-news but we wanted to provide you with some of the important information, directly.

Parcel and Letter Deliveries

On days when strike action is taking place:

• We will deliver as many Special Delivery Guaranteed parcels as possible. We will prioritise and deliver as many Special Delivery Guaranteed items as resources allow. We cannot however guarantee delivery by 9am or 1pm next day, so we’re making changes to our delivery guarantee for items posted from Thursday 29 September, up to and including items sent on Saturday 1 October 2022. Customers will not be able to claim for delays to items during this period. Further information around how this impacts future strike dates will be communicated closer to the dates.
• We will deliver as many Tracked 24 parcels as possible including prioritising delivery of Covid-19 test kits and medical prescription items wherever possible. However, significantly reduced resources mean there will be a delay to some Tracked 24 items during strike action.
• On strike days, we will not be delivering letters (with exception of Special Delivery)

Other items posted the day before, during strike action or on the days after any strike action will be subject to delay.

Business Collections 

We won’t be able to provide a collection service to business customers on days when strikes are taking place. We’re asking customers to post before strike days or hold items until after strike action finishes.

Business collections will resume on the next working day after a national strike day.

We are unable to accept bookings for additional or one-off collections on the day of strike action or for the next working day

Delivery Offices and Customer Service Points

Delivery Offices and Customer Service Points will be closed on days when strike action is taking place. Customers will not be able to collect or drop off items on these dates.

If you usually drop off bags of items to Customer Service Points, you can take them to a Post Office branch or to one of c1700 Collect+ sites which will accept Royal Mail items on days when strikes are taking place. You can check your nearest available Collect+ drop off here.

Delivery Offices and Customer Service Points will reopen the day after strike action has finished.

Post Offices

Post Offices will be open as usual, collections by Royal Mail from Post Offices will be limited on the days of strike action. Customers can still collect Local Collect items at Post Offices on strike days.

Getting services back to normal after strike action

We want to get your services back to normal as quickly as possible after any strike action. We’ll be increasing our network capacity and using additional resources to assist with this.

Collections and deliveries will resume the day after strike action finishes, including accelerating the delivery of NHS and healthcare letters, and critical Government mailings in the days following strike action.

Useful links:

• You can find the latest industrial action information at https://www.royalmail.com/latest-news 
• You can sign up for proactive service updates at https://www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates

We are working to minimise disruption and to get your services back to normal as quickly as possible.

Kind regards,
Royal Mail
Email Address: emarketing@royalmail.com

I noticed the street name plate at Podsmead Place had been damaged, so I reported it to the council.

It has now been replaced at my urging and is looking good.

Annually the council has budget to replace a maximum of 120 street name plates across Gloucester.

If you spot a damaged or missing street sign in our area, please let me know.

There is offensive graffiti on the wooden play equipment in Tuffley Park.

I reported this back in May when I was first made aware of it, and then again in July when it still wasn’t done. I was surprised to hear from a park user that their child had seen the same offensive graffiti the other day and had asked what the words meant!

I have reported this again to the council, saying it is very urgent, and hoping that the third time is the charm.

The council has a standard target time for removing offensive graffiti. On this occasion they have missed that target by months rather than days.