Welcome to our Archive news page – here you can see what our councils and councillors were discussing
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Forest of Dean District Council Press Release – 4 February 2019
Have you ever thought about becoming a Councillor?
Are you interested in working with and helping your community as a local Councillor?
Being a Councillor can be very rewarding and makes a difference to lives across the Forest of Dean district.
All seats on Forest of Dean District Council and parish/town councils within the district are up for election on 2 May 2019.
Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the role of a district, parish or town Councillor is invited to come along to an information event on Tuesday 5 March between 4pm – 7pm in the Council Chamber at the District Council’s Coleford offices.
People who come along will be able to find out more about what the role involves and what they can expect. Information will be available on how to put yourself forward as a candidate.
Returning Officer Claire Hughes said: “We’re hoping lots of people will come along to this event to find out more about being a Councillor.
“The session is designed for anyone who may be considering standing as a Councillor to give them chance to ask questions and find out more.
“Local councillors can play a big role in their community representing the interests of people in their ward and contributing to decisions that affect everyone.”
Anyone planning to come along or who requires further information about this event can contact Democratic Services on 01594 812625 or email democratic.services@fdean.gov.uk alternatively just drop in between 4pm – 7pm on 5 March.
Leaflets about becoming a Councillor will be available at the event or can be obtained from the council’s Democratic Services team on 01594 812625. Information of the nomination process will also be available.
More information on this year’s local elections can be found by visiting www.fdean.gov.uk/go/elections
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Forest of Dean District Council – Press Release – 25 January 2019
Sign up now for new Private Landlords Forum
In the wake of key legislative and policy changes regarding the private rented sector, Forest of Dean District Council is launching a new Private Landlord’s Forum for all local landlords.
The proposed date is Monday 13th May 5pm – 6.30pm in the Council Chambers, Forest of Dean District Council, Council Offices, High Street, Coleford, GL16 8HG.
The aim of the Forum will be to:
- Gain feedback on the Council’s proposed new incentive scheme.
- Support and inform landlords about key legislative/policy changes concerning the private rented sector.
- Give presentations in partnership with Housing Benefits, Universal Credit, The National Landlord’s Association, the Citizens Advice Bureau and more.
- Provide an arena for landlords to share best practice and discuss how we can all work together to provide good quality housing to local people.
- Enable landlords to voice concerns with the Council and receive our support.If successful, this will be one of a series of similar meetings in future.
- More information about the Private Sector Landlord forum is available now on the Forest of Dean District Council website.
- Please email your interest and what you would like to see on the agenda to Chauncy Seed, Housing Property Manager (chauncy.seed@publicagroup.uk)
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Forest of Dean District Council – Press Release – 25 January 2019
Seeking suggestions of land suitable for housing
Forest of Dean District Council is inviting people and organisations to suggest where land in the district could be used for housing, as it carries out its annual assessment of possible sites.
The yearly study is required by the UK government, and will help to determine potential areas for future housing. The study allows the council to keep its list of potential sites as up to date as possible.
All the sites suggested are then assessed to see if they are suitable for development – although the assessment does not determine whether a site will be allocated for housing development in the future.
Forms must be returned by 31 March 2019 to be considered as part of the 2019 round.
The council will still accept submissions after the deadline but these will be treated on a rolling basis and assessed as part of future SHLAA updates in 2020 and beyond.
If you have a site or sites that were considered last year or before, you do not need to do anything unless you wish to make changes to the site, or remove it from the study, as past sites will be carried forward.
Any further sites put forward may be considered on a long-term basis and retained within the council’s records for the future. All information supplied to the council will be available publicly.
Cllr Alan Grant, cabinet member responsible for planning policy, said, “We’re really keen to hear suggestions from local residents, businesses and other organisations about possible sites for housing development. Housing is a top priority for the council and a lot of work has gone on in the district to deliver homes for local people. We can continue this good work in the future if we can identify possible new sites for development.”
If you wish to put forward a site to be considered in this year’s review, download a form from the council’s website at https://www.fdean.gov.uk/shlaa or call Sarah Rizvi on 01594 812335 or email localplans@fdean.gov.uk for more information.
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New booklet helps prepare for emergencies
Release date: 28 November 2018
Across the District communities are always looking to improve their resilience in the event of an emergency, and a booklet has been produced by the Gloucestershire Local Resilience Forum to make the task easier.
The ‘Are You Ready?’ booklet provides clear practical advice to help people prepare for and respond to an emergency.
Advice includes: devising a family emergency plan; looking out for neighbours; establishing ‘emergency friends; community alarm systems; and coping with severe weather, security incidents and loss of power.
Cllr Paul Hiett, Forest of Dean District Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for communities, welcomes the ‘Are You Ready?’ booklet,
“It’s very useful to have this booklet easy to hand as it brings together a wide range of common sense precautions to cope with emergency situations. It has been designed so that people can refer to it easily and quickly, and it also provides some very useful checklists and contact numbers.”
You can download a copy of the booklet on the Forest of Dean DC website now.
Queries about the booklet should be directed to:
Gloucestershire County Council Civil Protection Team
Tri Service Centre, Waterwells Drive, Quedgeley, Gloucester, GL2 2AX
Tel: 01452 888764
Email: civilprotectionteam@glosfire.gov.uk
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Let’s talk waste….
Are you interested in how we can recycle more? Do you have a view on how the service could be better promoted?
Forest of Dean District Council is looking for local people who will give their views and opinions about waste and recycling in the area.
The council is setting up a special panel and is inviting anyone in the community to come and take part.
Cllr Chris McFarling, cabinet member for environment, wildlife, heritage and culture said, “You don’t need to have any specialist knowledge of the waste service -we’re just looking for your views and ideas.
“Your input will help us plan the future of our waste service so I really welcome any residents with an interest to take part.”
The first meeting of the panel, known as the Waste and Recycling Community Panel, is being held at the council offices in Coleford on Tuesday 20 November at 5pm.
Panel members will be asked for their views on the current waste and recycling service and how it is communicated to residents. The session is expected to last about an hour and a half and free parking will be available.
To take part please email ECBO@fdean.gov.uk or call 01594 812414 before Friday 9 November.
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Midweek closure days announced for county recycling centres
From 28th October Gloucestershire County Council Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) will be closed one day mid-week, either on a Tuesday, a Wednesday or a Thursday.
As the evenings get colder and darker, the HRCs across the county receive almost 30 per cent less waste and recycling. In order to reflect this and save taxpayers money, HRCs will be open from 10am until 4pm, six days a week.
On Tuesdays, Fosse Cross (Cirencester) and Oak Quarry (Coleford) will be closed. On Wednesdays, Pyke Quarry (Horsley near Stroud) and Wingmoor Farm (Bishops Cleeve) will be closed. On Thursdays, Hempsted (Gloucester) will be closed.
Gloucestershire County Council has collected data from recycling centres and this told us that midweek is the quieter period at our sites. This closure rota also means HRCs in the county will still be open on Bank Holiday Mondays and Good Friday, which are especially busy periods at the sites.
Cllr Nigel Moor, cabinet member responsible for household recycling centres at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “I would like to reassure residents that we have considered a wide range of options. We need to make sure tax payers’ money is spent wisely, while making sure our HRCs are open when people need them.
“We have made sure residents will have a reasonable alternative recycling centre with this closure pattern, by closing sites at opposite sides of the county. We will be monitoring the new opening arrangements and how the sites are used.”
More information on the closure days, new seasonal times and your nearest alternative site can be found online at www.recycleforgloucestershire.gov.uk
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Press Release – Forest of Dean District Council – 22 June 2018
Can you fix it? Yes you can!
Local residents are being encouraged to repair and reuse rather than throwing broken household goods away, which can be detrimental to the environment.
Most faulty household goods end up being disposed of in landfill, yet the life of most items could be extended by carrying out a simple repair.
Today’s throwaway culture is driven by a lack of knowledge about how to fix things or a perceived view that carrying out repairs to goods may be expensive.
Repair Cafes have started springing up across the UK to kindle enthusiasm for a more sustainable society. The aim of the Cafes is to teach people that repairing items can be fun and often quite simple and inexpensive.
The first Forest of Dean Repair Café was set up in Yorkley in March this year and following on from this a second Café was launched in Newent in April.
Residents are invited to take along their broken, damaged or worn items along for repair. A group of enthusiastic and skilled volunteers will be on hand to tackle a variety of items including, clothing and textiles, small electrical and electronic goods, computers, furniture, knife sharpening and more. Repairs are normally undertaken for a small donation with an additional charge to cover any replacement parts. Electrical items are PAT tested for safety purposes.
The Cafes also sell hot and cold drinks and delicious homemade cake.
The Forest of Dean Repair Cafes are held on one Saturday a month as follows:
- Yorkley Repair Café is held on the second Saturday of each month from 11am to 1.30pm at Yorkley Community Centre, 2 Bailey Hill, Yorkley, GL15 4RS. For more information visit the @yorkleymendandrepaircafe facebook page.
- Newent Repair Café is held on the third Saturday of each month from 10am to 1pm at the Chill Out Zone, 36 Broad Street, Newent, GL18 1AJ. For more information visit the Newent Repair Café facebook page or telephone Viv Price 01531 890 609.
Councillor Paul Hiett, Cabinet Member for Communities & Parish and Town Councils and Community Safety said: “Unfortunately we live in a world where throwing items away has become the norm because people believe it’s easier to buy a replacement rather than carry out a repair. Not only is this costly for the consumer, but it’s also damaging for the environment.
“In recent times many people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they’ve never been shown how to do it. Fortunately repair cafes are springing up all over the country, as likeminded people are realising the benefits of repairing goods rather than disposing of them.
“The Council is pleased to have been able to offer our support for the district’s two Repair Cafes and we hope that residents will support them by putting themselves forward as repair volunteers or by taking items along to the Cafes to be repaired.
“If you interested in volunteering at a Café or you’re looking to set one up in your local community, contact Nikki McClean, Community Engagement Officer on 01594 812372 or email Nicola.Mclean@fdean.gov.uk”
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Mobile Library
Follow the links for the dates and times the mobile library will be visiting.
Mobile Library Dates August 18-Nov18
Mobile Library Dates November 18 – March 2019
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PREVENT – Information from Gloucestershire PREVENT Partnership Board
Please click on links for more information relating to preventing terrorism and extremism in our communities.
PREVENT Overview PREVENT Community Leaflet
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Love Your Forest Anti Litter Campaign
Overview
Each year, over 250 tonnes of litter are collected in the Forest of Dean. Whether it is the financial cost to the tax payer, the harm to wildlife, how it detracts from our local environment or how it impacts on the local economy, litter affects us all. By supporting the campaign you can help us take a stand against litter and keep the Forest of Dean a beautiful place to live, work and visit.
Over the summer, local organisations are again joining forces to raise awareness of the problem of rural litter by supporting the #Love Your Forest campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2016 by environmental charity Hubbub and Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) to highlight this issue of littering in the Forest of Dean and to look at innovative communications that would encourage those that litter to stop. A pop-up ‘con-venience’ shop (displaying items of collected litter), cigarette butt voting bins, roadside ‘take your litter home’ signs and communitrees (faces created from litter and mounted on trees where litter was a problem to act as a deterrent) were just some of the communication methods employed last year. Visit https://www.hubbub.org.uk/Love-Your-Forest for more information regarding last year’s activities.
The campaign was supported by both the Forest of Dean District Council and the Forestry Commission.
This year, the campaign is gaining momentum with more partners – including Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism and Foresters’ Forest – coming on board to help tackle this important issue.
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District Council issues anti-littering reminder
The District Council is reminding residents and businesses that littering is an offence and if you are witnessed discarding waste in public the Council is prepared to take action.
Anyone caught dropping litter may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN), and if you fail to pay the fine you could find yourself in front of a magistrate and ordered to pay additional costs.
Discarded cigarette butts, takeaway containers, rubbish thrown from vehicle windows and parking tickets that have blown off car dashboards onto the ground are still classed as littering and could result in a fine.
Cllr Marrilyn Smart, cabinet member for environment said: “The council takes littering very seriously. Not only is this practice illegal and anti-social but it clearly impacts on the local environment in which we live and work and is potentially damaging to tourism in the area.”
“Every year, we spend thousands of pounds picking up other people’s litter, which could be better spent on other services. Sadly the clean-up cost ultimately falls to the local taxpayer.”
“As well as regularly litter picking streets, we’ve installed more litterbins across the district, worked on anti-littering campaigns with schools and organised community clean ups to try to encourage residents to take pride in their local area.”
“More recently the Council has supported the ‘Love your Forest’ campaign in partnership with Hubbub, the Forestry Commission and Lucozade, Ribena, Suntory to target littering hot spots, reminding people to take their litter home with them.”
“Sadly, there are still people who think its ok to drop litter and for others to pay to clean it up, which is why we are working hard to take action against those people that drop it in our district.”
“If someone wants to avoid paying a fine for dropping litter, clearly the best approach is not to drop it in the first place.”
“We would urge anyone who witnesses littering to report it to the Council by calling 01594 810000. With the help of information supplied by residents we will continue to work hard to eliminate littering across the district.”
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District Council supports the launch of a new helpline number for power cuts
The District Council is backing the launch of a new number that aims to support members of the public if they experience a power cut. Many people don’t know who to contact during a power cut and wrongly call the electricity supplier they pay their bill to.
A new telephone number has been set up to help people get through their local electricity network operator – the company responsible for the power network that delivers electricity to their door. From Tuesday 6 September 2016 the new number to call will be 105. It’s a free, easy-to-remember number that people can call to report or get information about a power cut in their area. It puts callers through to the people who will repair their local power network and restore their power.
The Council is supporting the introduction of calling 105, as it will make it quicker and easier for residents to call for help and information in the event of a power cut. Councillor Terry Hale, cabinet member for the community said: “We welcome the introduction of the new 105 telephone number and believe the service will be of great benefit to residents.” “Power cuts can leave people feeling confused about what to do. The 105 telephone number will help to tackle this. We believe the number will be particularly important when there’s bad weather, as severe storms can cause disruption to the electricity supply into homes and businesses.” The 105 number will be available to electricity customers in England, Scotland and Wales.
The number can be accessed from most landlines and mobile phones. It doesn’t matter who you choose to buy electricity from – anyone can call the new number. The number is jointly funded by electricity network operators – the companies that manage the cables, wires and substations that bring electricity into homes and businesses. Network operators can also be contacted directly by phone or via their website, and most network operators can be contacted through social media too.
The public can also call 105 if they spot damage to electricity power lines and substations that could put them, or someone else, in danger. If there’s a serious immediate risk, the emergency services should be called too.
Visit www.powercut105.com to find out more about the new 105 telephone number and electricity network operators.
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Outdoor Gym Equipment
Tidenham Parish Council made a successful grant application for funding under the Gloucestershire County Council Active Together grant scheme, designed to encourage a more active lifestyle, for items of outdoor exercise equipment for adults. The cross country skier, air walker and arm and pedal bike (which is suitable for people who are less able) have been installed on land in Wyebank Road. For safety reasons the equipment has been installed away from children’s play equipment and in the hope that it will encourage a wide range of more “mature” people to enjoy some exercise in the fresh air and maybe help improve their general fitness. The Parish Council would like to thank Gloucestershire County Council for their support.
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Gloucestershire County Council – Local Transport Plan
On the 29th June 2016 Gloucestershire County Council formally adopted its new Local Transport Plan (2015-2031). To access a full copy of the plan please visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ltp3
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Volunteers Required
The Foresters’ Forest is a Heritage Lottery Funded Landscape Partnership Programme to raise awareness of what makes the Forest of Dean special in terms of its built, natural and cultural heritage. There are opportunities now to volunteer for wildlife surveys, archaeological surveys and a range of other projects coming up soon. As there is training for each type of survey method, this might help develop skills which could be useful for work experience or just increasing your knowledge and understanding of the Forest. Please contact forestersforest@fvaf.org.uk or telephone 01594 822073 to find out more.
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Forest Voluntary Access Forum
Are you looking to obtain funding for a project? Funding Opportunities Bulletin – information from Forest Voluntary Access Forum (District Council) with details of external funding through grants offered by a wide range of providers – follow link for list http://www.glosvcsalliance.org.uk/external-funding-opportunities-bulletin/.
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Gloucester Association for Voluntary and Community Action (GAVCA)
Follow link to the website for information and news for voluntary & community groups/organisations in Gloucestershire, giving information on funding and resources. www.gavca.org.uk
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Speed Detector Trial, Gloucester Road.
The Parish recently carried out a trial of a speed detector in Gloucester Road measuring the speed of vehicles travelling towards the A48. The results were quite alarming. Over the five days of the trial 5,203 vehicles passed the detector of which 3,189 exceeded the 30 mph speed limit; a few as high as 60+ mph. These are alarming figures. Many children cross this road on their way to school and the situation is likely to become more dangerous when new houses are built either side of the road. The council will be presenting the report to the Police, Gloucestershire Highways and the Road Safety Partnership. Full report.
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Smell from Castleford Hill Care Home.
Have you noticed, or been affected by, the sewerage smell from Castleford Hill Care Home?
The Parish Council has received complaints over a long period of time and duly reported them to the Environment Regulatory Service (ERS) at the Forest of Dean District Council. The service has been in contact with the care home over a period of time and small improvements have been made. However, to progress the issue further ERS has to react to complaints from members of the public who are affected by the nuisance. So, if you are one of those, you can complete a nuisance log sheet and send it to ERS. Alternatively, you can complain directly to ERS at the forest of Dean District Council 01594 810000.
