The city council have renewed the councillor community fund for all the council wards in Gloucester. This means an allocation of £750 per councillor, to support community projects.

Last year, I supported three projects or community groups:

• 1: Read with Me literacy project – working with local children
• 2: Tuffley Rovers – pitch repairs at Glevum Park
• 3: Poets Pantry food support.

If you have an idea for something you’d like supporting, let me know.

From the city council: ‘The fund can be allocated to support projects or activities that benefit the communities within your ward boundaries. Examples include startup costs for a community group, purchase of play equipment or the installation of a bench seat in a public space.’

There are terms of reference for the funding, so it’s best to drop me an email to sebastian.field@gloucester.gov.uk and let me know your ideas. There is a couple of small bits of paperwork that each applicant will need to fill in.

There is an open training session at Gloucester Athletics Club this Saturday, 2.30pm at Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics Track, Podsmead. You can book your place by emailing enquiries@gloucesterac.co.uk.

I’ve asked the council who is responsible for this rusted metal box on Shakespeare Avenue. It needs making safe.

We’re reaching out regarding an upcoming fundraising event in aid of Read With Me. We are an organisation that offers one to one reading time to children in Gloucestershire, twice a week, to improve their literacy skills. Currently 200,000 children leave primary school every year unable to read. This event will help us to fund the vital service that we offer to schools, building children’s confidence and allowing them to develop a skill that will greatly enhance their life chances.

Held at the wonderful Gloucester Brewery , Fox’s Kiln, West Quay, Gloucester, GL1 2LG, on Thursday 20th April from 7pm, the evening will feature live music sets from SUSAN, Huw and The Greater Good and Pumpadelic. Three bands with their own distinct style; this event offers something for everyone.

To accompany the entertainment there will be a supper available, on a pay as you feel basis. This can be washed down with some of Gloucester Brewery’s sustainably crafted beers and gins, with soft drinks available. 

There will also be a chance to win some great prizes during our raffle, with all proceeds helping to ensure every child learns to read before they reach secondary school.

Tickets are just £10 (available here). More information is available via our Facebook and the event page which can be found here. We have also created a press release to be shared, which contains some more details.

We would really appreciate it if you could share the event within your community as we are aiming to fill the brewery! Please get in touch if you have any questions, and we hope to see you there. 

Thanks so much

Linda Cohen

This crossing on Cole Avenue was damaged and awaiting repair for some time. I checked in with Highways and it has now been done. Let me know if you see any other highways issues in our area.

Gloucestershire County Council is proud to announce which 52 community projects will receive funding from their £1.5 million Levelling Up Together grant scheme.

The council launched the grant scheme in response to the government’s Levelling Up agenda, which aims to support local areas in need of investment to create opportunities and improve economic growth.

Levelling Up Together grants will support the areas in Gloucestershire that are in the bottom 10% most deprived nationally, helping communities to deliver the initiatives they have said will be most effective for them and their area.

The fund received an overwhelming response, with nearly 130 applications submitted from community groups and organisations across the county. The projects selected cover a diverse range of areas, including health and wellbeing, education and skills, arts and culture, and the environment.

The successful projects include a mental health support service for boys and young men, a project helping children to read, young people’s groups working with diverse communities, helping people to access food, and refurbishments of community spaces including projects to refresh the look of neighbourhoods. The funding will enable these projects to make a real difference to the lives of local people, helping to level up communities across Gloucestershire.

I am particularly pleased to see Read with Me, The Friends of Tuffley Park, and Tuffley Rovers, all get grants. Congratulations and thanks to all those who worked on the bids.

The full list of bid winners is here.

There are some good, free events for children in Podsmead and elsewhere in the city this Easter. If you know of a free event and would like me to publicise it, please let me know.

A planning application has been submitted to Gloucester City Council for the Blackbridge project.

You can view the plans and make comments here.

A few houses on Stroud Road by New Dawn View and Sunnycroft Mews, come under Podsmead ward.

I recently received reports that the street lights in this area were out.

I reported the issue to the street light team and they sent me the following response:

‘We attended to the outage on 4. January 2023.  The engineer reports that there is no service going to columns 85, 86 & 87.

National Grid have been informed and have 25 working days to attend to find where the fault lies in their cabling to enable them to restore the supply.’

I often get contacted by residents in November and at New Year about fireworks and their release.

Below are some extracts from Ask the Police, which readers should feel free to share.

As always this issue needs a common-sense approach of speaking to each other about concerns. I am always happy to hear from residents on this topic.

This is taken directly from www.askthe.police.uk

It is an offence to:

• possess adult fireworks (all fireworks except category 1 fireworks – party poppers, sparklers, throwdowns etc) in a public place by anyone under the age of 18;
• possess category 4 fireworks (professional display fireworks) by anyone other than a fireworks professional;
• it is illegal to supply adult fireworks to those under 18;
• throw or cast or fire any firework in or into any highway, street, thoroughfare or public space (this would include throwing or firing from a private place into a public place, street, highway etc);
• to light any fire or discharge any firearm or firework (without lawful authority or excuse) within 50 feet of the centre of a highway which consists of or comprises a carriageway, and as a consequence, the highway is damaged.

There is a curfew on the use of adult fireworks between 11 pm and 7 am, except on:

• Bonfire Night (when the curfew is between 12 midnight and 7 am);
• New Year’s Eve (when the curfew is between 1 am and 7 am);
• Chinese New Year (when the curfew is between 1 am and 7 am);
• Diwali Night (when the curfew is between 1 am and 7 am).

The penalties for using fireworks outside the above curfew hours are imprisonment (maximum 6 months) and a substantial fine. Please note, you could also commit offences if they were being used to cause a nuisance.