Many of us had sort-outs during the various lockdowns, and charity shops can be the beneficiary of these.

There are lots of clothing and shoe banks dotted around the city – often in supermarket car parks so you can drop off your bags of clothes when you do your shopping. There are different banks for different charities so you can even decide which one to support – or just take to your nearest.

You can also donate textiles such as old sheets or towels. It really helps the charity workers if you can bag the clothes (even a bin bag will do) before putting them in the clothes banks.

This week culture has been on my mind, as I’ve been at the Three Choirs Festival in my work as a singer and Gloucester Cathedral lay clerk. I was very taken by the music, of course, as I always am, but also was impressed by the elephant trail in the city of Worcester.

I also had a briefing with the city council’s Director of Culture, in my role as cultural spokesperson for the Lib Dem group. I heard about some of the challenges and opportunities for the city as we emerge from the pandemic.

We need to build on and celebrate our history but also look to the new and innovative. Music would be a must, but other things like dance, theatre and literature have a part to play. But these are my thoughts – what are yours?

I’d like to know what residents think, about what more could be done for culture in Gloucester. You can send me your views by email to seb4podsmead@gmail.com, or via any of the other channels on my website.

I was pleased to see this week that the damaged street sign at St Albans Road that I reported has now been fixed.

I will continue to take action to ensure that street signs in Podsmead are kept in good repair, clean and legible.

Please contact me if you see any signs that need attention.

Some residents in Tuffley Avenue contacted me concerned about trees being cut down at the rear of their property.

I contacted Matthew Homes about this and also asked for an update on the play areas.

I received the following response:

‘We can confirm that we have cleared to the fenceline/boundary to our plots 76 to 85 and that the approved landscaping shows that we will be replanting 1 betula tree per plot in each of the rear gardens

We have the insurance in place now for the play areas and are still waiting for the signage as detailed in the safety audit to be delivered and erected prior to opening – nearly there!’

I will keep pressing Matthew Homes to get the play areas open as soon as they can.

Finally, a resident let me know that a bollard has been knocked over. I’ve sent this to Matthew Homes to make them aware.

If you spot any issues around Podsmead that need my help please let me know.

Visit Gloucester is running a summer activity, for residents and visitors alike, called My Gloucester Passport. 

It’s sponsored by Gloucester Bid, Gloucester Quays, the Aspire Trust and a number of other local businesses and attractions.

The citywide event launching on August 1 and running until September 5, is aimed at children to encourage them to explore the amazing city of Gloucester. 

Visitors can pick up one of the 1,000 passports at the Tourist Information Centre in the Museum of Gloucester.

Affixed to a Lanyard, sponsored by Gloucester Bid, ‘My Gloucester Passport’ is a loyalty style card, which sees participants collect a sticker from eight of the 18 sticker destinations to complete their passports. 

Once they have eight different stickers, they take their passport to Customer Services at Gloucester Quays, to get their passport stamped and receive a fabulous aluminum drinks bottle, sponsored by Gloucester Quays. 

Everyone who completes their passport can then enter the Grand Prize Draw backed by the Aspire Trust who are offering a six month Aspire Academy membership. 

The activity is free of charge, so everyone is encouraged to get involved and enjoy discovering places in the city they may never have been before, as well as visiting old favourites!

For more information including a map showing the locations of the sticker destinations can be found at visitgloucester.co.uk/mygloucesterpassport

Road will be closed once more on Monday 26th July 9pm-7am.

Below is an update from Gloucestershire Highways:

?UPDATE A430 Bristol Road/Cole Avenue #Gloucester ?- we will require one more shift of closure on Monday 26th July from 9pm to 7am to complete the resurfacing works.
The good news is that we will be able to keep the majority of the junction open. Only A430 Secunda Way and Bristol Road will remain closed as per the attached plan (blue section).
Additionally there will be lane closures in place between 27th and 29th July from 8pm to 7am. Please expect some delays. Thank you for your patience.
Please don’t forget that closures are still in place this weekend!

I am grateful to residents for alerting me to some trip hazards in Podsmead.

These have all been reported to the councils but do take care outside Poet’s Pantry, on the play area at Scott Avenue, or on Podsmead Road at the Crypt School end.

If you know of any other issues like this please do let me know.

The sinkhole is the second to appear in recent weeks so I have asked the council if this is indicative of a deeper problem after recent contractor works in Podsmead by several agencies.

A traffic calming scheme is being proposed for Tuffley Avenue.

In a briefing from Highways I and other stakeholders received this week, I was told that:

‘This scheme is being proposed as a result of the review of Gloucestershire County Council’s 2015-17 road safety collision data which showed four personal injury collisions along the route including three of which caused serious injury and one involving a slight injury. There have been another four personal injury collisions (all slight) since that data was reviewed.

Early this year in January 2021 there was also a serious personal injury collision involving a pedestrian. When the review was undertaken analysis of the data showed that loss of control was a possible factor and therefore the scheme was developed with the aim of reducing traffic speeds along the route. The scheme includes priority give way build outs and speed cushions to slow vehicles along the route.

Whilst developing the scheme, the local community requested that a facility be provided to help pedestrians cross the road near to the access to the local community social club as the local primary schools on Calton Road want to promote this as a ‘park and stride’ site to encourage more children to walk to school. The request was assessed in line with the overall aim of the scheme of slowing down vehicles and therefore a full width road hump with informal crossing point is proposed.’

Any comments should be submitted to David Wilson by Friday 13th of August 2021. david.wilson@gloucestershire.gov.uk

I get quite a number of contacts about the litter problem on Bristol Road.

I have reported the issues before and litter picks have been carried out by the council contractor. The hedges and land on the bridge are privately owned so it is very difficult to get these cleared. The council can trim the hedges if they start to create a problem on the footpath/highway.

Council officers tell me they are looking to install another litter bin by the bus shelter on Bristol Road, near to the advertising hoardings. They will also look into installing one outside Lidl, if resources allow.

They also tell me that one of the biggest causes of litter is drivers throwing litter from their cars as they go over the bridge or along the road. The area by the bus shelter acts as a wind tunnel and collects the litter.

Of course, the best solution to littering is for people not to do it. Huge amounts of money are spent by the council on emptying bins and picking litter. The council collect a decent amount of items from the doorstep, and we will be pushing for this service to be better in the future. But we all need to play our part by recycling, taking our litter home, and if we do dispose of rubbish whilst out, by using a bin and not littering.

Lib Dem Leader, Cllr. Jeremy Hilton said:

“The Tories have been obsessed for some time about a city of culture bid, despite senior officers at the city council saying that such a project was ‘all consuming’. It’s obvious they didn’t even have the resources to put in an expression of interest by the 19th of July.

This ‘vanishing council’ has recently lost two senior directors. It’s clear there was no-one available to write the bid document. The latest example of the negative impact of the Tory cuts.

“Following the debacle of the Marketing Gloucester scandal, Lib Dem councillors were very sceptical that there was the capacity or competence to deliver such a project over the next few years. At least the Tories finally got the message. Don’t take on projects unless you can deliver them.”

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Gloucester City Council Press Statement Wednesday 21st July 2021

Gloucester City Council and Gloucester Cultural Trust will not be submitting an Expression of Interest for the 2025 City of Culture but will instead be focusing efforts on the city’s cultural recovery.

A joint statement on behalf of the two organisations said: “While the City of Culture title undoubtedly brings new opportunities and Gloucester was proposing a truly ambitious cross-county approach we have decided on reflection to concentrate our resources on delivering the city’s cultural recovery and existing projects that we are committed to, whilst supporting the fantastic work that has been done to grow Gloucester’s creative communities.

The bid process requires significant resources and it has been decided to focus that energy and investment into the recovery of the city following the challenges of the pandemic. However, the conversations which have taken place around creative collaboration across the county are set to continue as will the work to invest in local artists, performers and producers to nurture our emerging talents. We are proud to already have fantastic cultural events and activities in the city which will be further boosted by the regeneration of Kings Square into a world class events space and the launching of Jolt artist studios and entrepreneurial hub later this year.

We’d like to thank all those partners and supporters who have come together to offer their support and hope to be able to harness that enthusiasm as we continue to develop the cultural scene and recovery in Gloucester.” 

Future cultural projects include 

·         Launch of Jolt on Kings Square as the city’s primary cultural industries incubation space and development of King’s House as a cultural ‘hotspot’ within the city with The Music Works facilities for accessible music production and skills development

·         Cultural Development Fund (CDF) bid focused on developing the Guildhall arts and culture venue

·         Delivering the city’s revised Cultural Strategy with a particular focus on developing the cultural infrastructure and local creative capacity

·         Growing and developing Gloucester’s events and festivals programme including Kings Jam, The Rooftop Festival, Tall Ships, Gloucester Carnival, Gloucester History Festival and The Three Choirs

·         Establishing King’s Square as a world class events space with a vibrant programme of events and activities

· Work with established and emerging cultural groups such as Strike a Light and artists developing talent which reflects the diversity of the city