May brings us better weather, spring flowers, and blossoming trees (plus many birthdays in my family). It is also the season for Annual Parish Meetings, which play a key part in the local calendar each May. These meetings give residents the opportunity to come together, discuss what is happening in their communities, meet their elected representatives, and ask questions. They also usually coincide with parish AGMs where officers are elected for the coming year.
Public attendance varies from place to place. In Beverston, it is common for most residents to attend, while other meetings are less well supported. I enjoy these sessions because they give me the chance to meet more people than I would at regular parish council meetings and are a less intimidating environment than full Cotswold District Council (CDC) meetings. I will be at as many of these as my diary permits and look forward to seeing you.
It’s traditional to provide a review of the previous year, and the last 12 months have introduced government initiatives that will fundamentally change the Cotswolds and the way the public interacts with its elected representatives! CDC is working towards Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which will see CDC dissolved into a larger unitary authority. A decision from the government on how this will look is due in the summer. I have expressed my concerns over costs, and how it may affect the efficiency of the council where senior officers are diverted onto complex LGR programmes of work.
Planning: You may recall the government has also called for some 18000 houses to be built in the Cotswold district by 2043, which means around 9000 in our area! Following representations by council leader Mike Evemy in February, when he presented ministers with dozens of comments from residents and town and parish councils, the Government has once again told CDC that it must use the Local Plan process to set out the constraints that meeting its huge housing target – effectively saying just get it done!
This was a key consideration when CDC recently withdrew from a public enquiry into a proposed 195-home development in Moreton-in-Marsh claiming that the national planning system now leaves councils with little realistic chance of defending refusals of this kind.
At CDC the planning team are now largely meeting processing service level targets for new applications, but issues remain in the Enforcement team.
The problems associated with missed bin collections following a significant change in routes last summer have now largely been resolved, and the council are now reaping the cost savings as planned.
Roads continue to be a major issue locally, and while this is a County Council service I will continue pressing for improvements.
The next year promises to be one of major change, and I will continue to summarise the key points in my monthly updates.
Councillor Tony Slater
Cotswold District Council, Representing Grumbolds Ash with Avening.
email: Tony.slater@cotswold.gov.uk Tel: 07793669930