Joseph is a young resident of Podsmead who has had to overcome some challenges with his loss of hearing. He is doing an amazing thing running the TCS Mini London Marathon on 20th April, to raise money for the National Deaf Association.
He’s already raised well over £500 as I write. Do support him if you are able. Click here to visit his fundraising page.
After a meeting in Podsmead I checked out this street sign, which has been uncovered recently at my urging.
It could probably do with a clean.
If you know of any more damaged or dirty street signs in our area please let me know:
It was good to have a walkabout with PCSO Sexton and PCSO White in Podsmead.
We looked at issues around parking, community safety and fly-tipping, around Oakland’s Park, Earls Park,Tuffley Crescent and Avenue and Podsmead Road. More walkabouts are planned in the coming weeks.
If you have an issue you need my help with you can contact me here:
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I am pleased to see that work is going on to repair and restore the area in the corner of the green space at Earls Park.
This has been being used as a storage area up till now, to the frustration of residents and me. Now that some more houses and flats have been finished, the storage area has been removed by the developer.
If the park can be repaired and enhanced up to an adoptable standard, it should then be able to be adopted by the city council as an additional area of green space, and they can then service it along with other parks in the city.
I have been pushing for this for some time so I am delighted to see progress.
The whole estate is due for completion by the end of 2024. Hopefully this date won’t slip but there is much uncertainty in the world of construction currently.
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The school crossing light by the Crypt School is flashing on and off continuously, according to residents.
I have reported this to the county council streetlight team.
If you know of any damaged or faulty lights in our area do let me know:
Update 11.3.24 – this is now being fixed after my report
There will be elections to the city council and for Police and Crime Commissioner, on May 2nd 2024.
I am standing for reelection to the city council. You can register to vote here.
This will be the first election in Gloucester since the new rules came in, so you now need some form of ID to vote. You can apply for a free ID by following this link. Gloucester Liberal Democrats have produced a handy advice page on their website, explaining the new rules.
I am currently knocking on doors in Podsmead, as I do all year round. The other parties only appear at election time when they want your vote. It’s been great to hear residents’ views on what matters to them in Podsmead. I hope to see many more people during the course of the campaign.
I am currently delivering letters in Podsmead asking for views and examples of poor roads and pavements in our area.
Whilst we’ve had some successes due to persistent requests for action, such as Scott Avenue and Podsmead Road, many more roads remain in a poor state due to Conservative inaction and underinvestment at the county council.
It occurred to me that I have been pressing for Laburnum Road to be repaired since 2019, when I was first elected to Podsmead. The road surface is still bad.
I have reported the potholes once again, and have asked for it to be added to the resurfacing schedule. The highways manager hopes this will be done in 2025/6. In the meantime we will keep vigilant and report the potholes for patching as and when we see them.
I’m delighted to see that graffiti has been removed from the post box on Tuffley Avenue, at my urging.
Royal Mail obviously saw my report and have actioned this.
Elsewhere in the Podsmead ward I have reported graffiti and am campaigning for its removal. It doesn’t help that the council will only remove it from council land or buildings.
So if, for example there is an electricity box or a phone box, the council will reply to say I need to contact the owner. On some of the boxes there is no information about who owns them, only a warning about voltages.
Needless to say, I will not be opening these up or looking too closely. I will leave it to the professionals.
I have reported graffiti in Tuffley Avenue, Podsmead Place and at Blackbridge. If you know of other instances in our area, please let me know.