Milton Avenue green space has been the site of much good work by local groups in recent years and it will be the location for exciting works to come.
With money from the European Union (safe despite Brexit), the area will be improved with extensions of the pond and planting of wildflowers. It is also hoped that we can improve accessibility at the site.
Covid has obviously delayed things but we hope to start planting in the autumn, with the project running until 2022. There will then be a 15 year maintenance period where the council and partners will need to keep what we plant etc in good order.
The key thing at the moment though is to get the heavy bramble cleared to allow for planting.
The above sketch is an indicative plan and is by no means a final proposal – it’s just to indicate what could be done at the site. I have permission from council officers to share it.
I have had meetings on this subject regularly in my time as city councillor for Podsmead. There is a lot of goodwill and positive energy going into this. My thanks as always to the volunteers and groups who have maintained this site up to now.
Please do get in touch if you have ideas or questions. This will very much be a team effort and I look forward to helping steer it through.
A few days ago I wrote on Facebook about the issues at Tuffley Park with the gate and the mud in the entrance.
I have been speaking with council officers and trying to find a solution with them.
Reseeding at the moment would be impractical and a waste of money until the weather improves. We need the ground to dry out a bit before we can plant new grass. Putting stones down now to solidify the ground would risk damaging the council mowers when the grass comes back and it needs cutting.
So in the interim we are looking at wood chips as a better option. We are also going to try to sort out the gate and liaise with The Club at Tuffley Park in order to keep an eye on it.
As ever I am grateful to the several residents who brought this to my attention. If you know of an issue in our parks or in Podsmead generally then please get in touch.
Gloucester City Council is reviewing its festival and events programme including considering socially distanced events or online alternatives to ensure that the city’s vibrant cultural life continues.
The city council and its partners are closely monitoring the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic and are looking at how Gloucester can continue to provide a cultural programme for 2021.
Work is also taking place behind the scenes to ensure that cultural events and festivals can continue in the city when it is feasible to do so.
Last year’s Bright Nights festival in December and Of Earth and Sky by Luke Jerram in the autumn, demonstrated how cultural events can still be held in a safe and socially distanced manner.
Both events took place outdoors, laying down a template for how art, music and performance can be experienced by the community safely.
In addition, the city’s History Festival went ahead with a varied programme of talks and events online.
The museum’s latest exhibition, Life in Lockdown can also be accessed online along with a series of 40 talks about the museum’s artefacts now available on YouTube.
I am a member of the working group that looks at cultural matters in Gloucester during the pandemic, and we have been working hard to get events happening again.
Last month I also asked a written question of the cabinet member about plans for the future as Covid hopefully abates.
Some work was done in a residential area of Podsmead last year and this barrier was left by the roadside.
A resident contacted me and asked if I could get it removed. I reported it to Highways in the hope that either it was one of theirs and they could collect it, or they would recognise the contractors it belonged to if not.
I will check on this next time I am walking past and report back.
Two notices of motion from the Liberal Democrat group on the city council tonight:
1. PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR BRAZIL
“This council notes the increase in cycling as a mode of transport since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It agrees we should encourage improvements in facilities for cyclists in Gloucester and throughout Gloucestershire.
This council notes that many cyclists might also want to carry their bicycle on public transport, especially on buses.
This council calls on the county council to investigate the provision of carrying bikes on buses in the county and request they work with the bus companies looks at how this may be achieved.
This council agrees that we need to work towards encouraging and sustaining climate friendly transport.”
2. PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR HILTON
“This council notes that on 26th December the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government awarded £830 million to 72 areas in England to help transform their high streets.
Despite Gloucester City Council putting in a 17-page bid, this council records its disappointment that the city centre didn’t get a penny from MHCLG.
Others city and town centres nearby, were successful. Swindon got £25m and Kidderminster £20.5m, with provisional funding awarded of £10m to Leamington Spa, £10m to Yeovil and £14m to Taunton.
This council calls on the leader to provide members with a written report of what went wrong. Highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the submission and what could have been done better.”
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Whilst the best US civics education is arguably to be gotten from a television series, namely The West Wing, there are a number of political books which provide insight into the US presidency and political campaigning in the States.
My choices show a leaning towards the Democratic side of things, but there are lots of chapters and essays about Republicans in these volumes as well.
I’m deliberately not writing about Obama, Biden and Harris’s books yet, partly because I haven’t finished them but partly because I suspect they will need a post on their own.
So, in no particular order:
The Way to Win: Mark Halperin & John F. Harris
Actually bought in the States. A fascinating ‘candidate’s manual’, introducing the concept of the ‘freak show’ as applied to the media, and the ‘trade secrets’ which candidates needed to follow to win. It praised Hillary Clinton as a seasoned operator who knew how to win. Then 2008 showed the opposite as she ignored the aforementioned secrets entirely! Very strong on the biography and abilities of Republican strategist Karl Rove.
Reporting: David Remnick
A superb writer and interviewer. I love this book for the introductory essay on Al Gore alone. Remember when presidential candidates used to accept the results? For UK readers there’s a witty piece on Tony Blair and the ‘masochistic’ campaign of 2005.
Assassination Vacation & The Partly Cloudy Patriot: Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell is a highly entertaining writer. She has an eye and ear for interesting facts, coincidences and historical rabbit-holes which she draws the reader into with ease. A Democratic-leaning pundit, Vowell is interested in all things presidential and the heart of America.
‘Assassination Vacation’ is a riotous tour through the four presidential assassinations, but is much funnier and lighter than it sounds!
Leadership: Doris Kearns Goodwin
No doubt President Biden will have read and be drawing on these lessons from four Presidents. He will especially need the wisdom in the chapters on FDR and how he solved the depression, but there is much to gain from the lessons of the other three, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Nimbly alternating by chapter between the two Republicans and the two Democrats, this makes for an engrossing read.
Our Revolution: Bernie Sanders
The face that launched a thousand memes, Bernie Sanders has much to say on where things have gone wrong and how to fix America.
This is the charming history of how Bernie got started, and his prescription for the ills of the country. Ultimately too left-wing and radical for the Democratic primary electorate, it’s interesting to think what might have been had Sanders got the nomination in either 2016 or 2020.
The Audacity to Win: David Plouffe
One for the nerds. This account of the 2008 campaign from one of Obama’s top lieutenants vividly conveys the drama and tension of the election race. Granular in its detail about spending decisions, messaging issues and where, frankly, Team Obama messed up, this book shows how and why Obama won.
What it Takes: Richard Ben Cramer
The original. ‘What it Takes’ is an exhaustive (and at times exhausting) history of the 1988 presidential election, told through the eyes of the front-runners as they fade in and out of favour. The book tracks back to the early biographies and even childhoods of the main personalities in 1988. I am still reading this one, as it is very long, but coincidentally I have just reached the account of the first Biden campaign.
The Presidents: Stephen Graubard
This is a riveting collection of essays on the twentieth century Presidents, not including McKinley (who was arguably the last of the 19th century presidents even though he lived until the first few years of the 20th).
Most entertaining is the essay on those Vice Presidents who went on to become ‘accidental’ Presidents through assassination or death. Be warned, there are some curious biases to Graubard’s portraits, but overall it is an interesting read.
Race of a Lifetime & Double Down: Mark Halperin & John F. Harris
In the same style as ‘What it Takes’, these two volumes cover the 2008 and 2012 presidential races. Based on hours of interviews, these books really get inside their subjects and create highly believable personalities. They are real page-turners, but beware the excessive alliteration especially in ‘Double Down’, and the sometimes obscure political jargon. On the plus side, it’s a good primer on the language of US politics.
The Devil Problem: David Remnick
A sparkling collection of portraits by the editor of the New Yorker. The most intriguing to me was the essay on Gary Hart, democratic presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988. Hart’s came close second to Walter Mondale in 1984, and was the frontrunner for the nomination in 1988 until his campaign collapsed amidst scandal. The piece shows a complex and flawed character.
