Minutes of Annual Parish Meeting 20.03.2017

New Rose Cottage Chapel Lane Hillesley Gloucestershire GL12 7RQ

Clerk Mary Leonard Telephone: 01453 844659 Email: [email protected] Website: www.kingswoodparishcouncil.gov.uk

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of Kingswood Parish held on Monday 20th March 2017commencing 7.00p.m.at Kingswood Village Hall, Wickwar Road.

PRESENT

Councillors: Chairman Cllr. D. Rockey, Vice Chairman Cllr K Wood, Cllr. Christopher Dunn, Cllr. S. Evans, Cllr Toby Phillips, Cllr. Hemming and Cllr. Jean Simmons

Clerk: Miss. M. Leonard

Public There were various members of the Public present

Kingswood Annual Parish Meeting

1. The Chairman of Kingswood Parish Council to open the meeting and explain the format.

The Chairman of Kingswood Parish Council opened the meeting by introducing himself and giving an over view on the format of the evening.

2. An open session for the public to meet representatives from the following organisations and to view information.

There were approximately 60 members of the public in attendance. The public circulated amongst the stands and presenters listed below:

 Meet with John Cordwell Gloucestershire County Councillor (Cllr John Cordwell will be in attendance for some of meeting due to other meeting commitments).  Meet with Mark Reeves Stroud District Council Councillor.  Meet with Simon Mahler Stroud District Council’s Neighbourhood Planning Officer and Mark Russell Stroud District Council’s Planning Strategy Officer.  Meet with Richard Lewis Ecologist from Stroud Valleys on the wild life project for Kingswood.  Meet with HC1 and view the proposals for Penwood Lodge Wotton Road  View Details of the Kingswood Neighbourhood Development Plan and find out more about the referendum.  View Reports from Kingswood Community Organisations.  View Kingswood Parish Council objectives for 2017/18.  View Kingswood Parish Councils draft accounts for 2016/17.  View draft minutes of the 2015/16 Annual Parish Meeting.  View Kingswood Parish Council’s Annual Report.  Take part in a consultation to name the road in the new Chestnut Park development.  To view details of a footpaths and cycle path consultation for the Kingswood, Charfield and Wotton area.  To view details and take part in a consultation on highways priorities for Kingswood Parish. The formal part of the meeting to start at 7.20pm

1. To receive and note apologies for absence. Apologies were received from the following people: PCSO Mark Lifton, Stroud District Council’s Neighbourhood Warden Rachel Pratt Stroud District Council’s Dog Warden Alex Myrie

2. To approve the minutes of the 2016 Annual Parish Meeting.

Cllr. Jean Simmons proposed that the draft minute of the 2016 Annual Parish Meeting be accepted as a true record. This was seconded by Cllr. Toby Phillips. All in attendance agreed with the proposal and the minutes were resolved.

3. To receive a report from Alex Myrie Stroud District Council’s Dog Warden

See Appendix 1

4. To receive a report from the Chairman of Kingswood Parish Council.

See Appendix 2.

5. To receive a brief financial report from the clerk to Kingswood Parish Council.

Questions were received on the amount of spend the Statement of Account. The chairman agreed that information of final spend would be sent to every household

See Appendix 3

6. To receive a report from County Councillor John Cordwell.

Cllr. John Cordwell apologised for his late attendance but he had attended another parish council meeting before arriving at the Kingswood meeting.

Questions were asked on pot holes and on the contractor Amey who holds the Gloucestershire County Council highway contract. Amey have stated that pot holes will be completed within 28 days of report to them. Cllr John Cordwell reminded members of the public that they can report pot holes on the Gloucestershire County Council web site on the Report it page.

See Appendix 4 7 To receive a Report from District Councillor Mark Reeves.

No questions were raised

See Appendix 5

8 To receive reports from any other Kingswood Community Group who wishes to give an update to the community.

See reports Appendix 6 -12.

No questions were raised.

9. To receive a presentation from Mark Russel and Simon Maher from Stroud District Council on the Kingswood Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) referendum.

Stroud District Planning Strategy Officer Mark Russell and Simon Maher gave a Power point presentation on the NDP process.

Stroud District Planning Strategy Officer Mark Russell updated the community on Neighbourhood planning and the Kingswood NDP including the appeal and the forthcoming NDP referendum. He confirmed that the Secretary for State for Planning had reconfirmed the weight and the importance of NDP’s within the planning system

Questions were asked in connection with why a NDP should be refused and the amount of weight given to NDP’s. Mark confirmed that as the Kingswood NDP is in accordance with the Stroud District Local Plan and does not allocated any development sites there would be little reason to object to it. Mark also confirmed that the Kingswood NDP together with the Stroud District Local Plan would work together. The NDP would have more weight on local issues.

10. To receive a presentation from Richard Lewis from Stroud Valleys on a new Wild Life Project for Kingswood.

Richard Lewis presented a brief slide show on the wild life area. He explained how the site was managed for the benefit of wild life particularly the Great Crested Newts (GCNs). This means that the grass is cut at different times and at different heights and left long. Richard confirmed that the level of GCN is increasing and the new pond is a successful breeding pond. Richard asked for volunteers to help work on the site on at 11am every Monday meeting by the Community Shed at Chestnut Park. Richard ended by saying Kingswood should be proud of what they have created as the area is a fantastic wild life oasis.

11. To receive a presentation from Stroud District Councillor for Wotton-Under Edge and North Nibley, Catherine Braun on a proposal and a consultation for cycle and footpaths linking Kingswood Wotten-under-Edge and Charfield.

Catherine Braun was unable to attend the Annual Parish Meeting due to another commitment. Chairman of Kingswood Parish Council David Rockey gave a brief over view of the proposed project to provide a cycle/pedestrian link between Kingswood , Charfield and Wotton under Edge. Questions were asked on the cost. Cllr. David Rockey confirmed no figures were yet available but that this would be a long term project and in its early stages and the parish council are keen to find out the views of the community on it.

12. To receive an update from Matthew Hale from Virgin Media on works planned for Kingswood.

Matthew Hale from Virgin Media outlined the proposed works that would be carried out in Kingswood to bring faster fibre broad band to every house within Kingswood. This would mean some disruption to the road network. The service would be available for members of the community to purchase from June 2017

13. To receive a presentation from Crest Nicholson on the building of the Chestnut Park Development.

Crest Nicholson gave a presentation updating the community on the proposed development. The first phase to commence would be the discharge of the archaeology condition, access road and link to the playing field. Questions were asked on deliveries and construction staff parking. It was confirmed that Banks Men would be used for reversing vehicles and access to the site would be from 9am -3pm. Ben Cook advised that there would be disruption but that they would do their best to work with the community and the parish council to mitigate the disruption.

14. To receive an update from HC1 on their plans for Penwood Lodge Wotton Road Update on consultation

HC1 are planning to submit a planning application for a new 80 bed nursing home on the current site at Penwood Lodge. They confirmed the following details; a total of 54/55 parking spaces would be provided, the current fee structure would remain, Dementia care would still be provided, the intention is to improve the pedestrian access.

Questions were raised on the highways access and on how the company would recruit adequate staffing.

15. To receive an update on details for the referendum on the Kingswood Neighbourhood Development Plan.

Please see Appendix 14

16. An opportunity for members of the community to ask questions or to raise issues with any of the representatives present.

A question was asked on how the money raised from the Community fund connected to the Wind Turbines would be managed. The Chairman confirmed it would be managed by a committee but that the parish council had no details yet.

Meeting closed at 9.25

Parish Council Members are reminded that the Council has a general duty to consider the following matters in the exercise of any of its functions: Equal Opportunities (race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status and any disability), Crime & Disorder, Health & Safety and Human Rights. Appendix 1 Report from Alex Myrie Dog Warden Report for Kingswood PC Meeting 20/03/17 Over the last 12 months I have dealt with 233 dog related complaints across the Stroud District. 114 of these complaints concerned dog fouling. 3 of the overall complaints came from Kingswood and only 1 about dog fouling. I appreciate this may come as a surprise to some of you, so I thought it might be beneficial to use this opportunity to go through the reporting procedure. If you feel an area of your Parish is particularly fouled, you can either, go onto the SDC website and use the Web Report It online form or you can telephone the Council and report it to our CSC who will log your report and allocate it to the officer. Once the report is allocated, the officer will increase patrols in the area, apply street stencils or erect signage if appropriate and arrange for a clean up if required. Whilst we appreciate calls of this nature and will make the necessary arrangements to get the area cleaned up, what we really need is for the community to be our eyes and ears. I cover half of the entire District as does my colleague for the Parishes in the North. Therefore, the likelihood of us being in the right place at the right time in order to catch irresponsible dog owners is very slim indeed. As the residents of Kingswood, you spend much more time in the area than I can, therefore I would very much appreciate any information you can provide on people failing to clean up. It might be that you left your house at 9am and the mess wasn’t there then, but it was when you came home again at 11am. This gives me a much narrower time frame of when it’s occurring and helps me target the times of my patrols more effectively. Or it could be that you’ve actually witnessed an incident of someone not cleaning up, if so, make a note of the date, time, description of dog and their owner and where the incident took place. Contact me with this information, I will take a brief witness statement from you and if I can trace the person (either from car reg, or you saw them enter an address or happen to know their name) I will issue the offender with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) fine. In fact I only did this last week in Nailsworth off the back of a statement from a local resident. The offender paid the fine the same day they received it. However, if the person fails to pay, the Council would pursue them through the Courts and the witness would be required to attend in order to present their evidence. I accept this sounds like a daunting task, and we’ve yet to have anyone fail to pay a dog fouling fine, but it’s only fair I make this clear. One final point I’d like to mention is that I have and will also issue FPN’s for littering on anyone caught not disposing of their used poo bag in an appropriate manner. Dog walkers can use any designated dog waste bin, any litter bin or their general household waste bin. Dropping it next to a full bin, dropping it next to a post where a bin used to be or flinging it into the nearest hedge are not appropriate means of disposal!

Appendix 2 Report for the night of the Annual Parish Meeting

Thank you all for coming along tonight we hope that you will enjoy listening to the speakers that we have invited to present to you tonight.

Planning The last year has once again been dominated by planning issues. The Chestnut Park developed has received permission and will be going ahead. Representatives from Crest Nicholson are here tonight to discuss and listen to your concerns on the actual building of the development. The parish council will work with Crest Nicholson to ensure that this build takes place with as little disruption as possible.

The Gladman application for a development at Charfield Road has been withdrawn from the appeals process. Just last week the Persimmon application for development at Cloverlea Barn Wickwar Road was withdrawn. The Kingswood Neighbourhood Development Plan has reached a crucial stage and is beginning to take effect. I believe that the onslaught of continuous speculative development may now be over. Mark Russell/Simon Mahler from Stroud District Council will speak about the referendum that will take place on the Neighbourhood Development Plan. I will talk about this later in the evening.

HC1 are here tonight to present to you their plans for Penwood Lodge site at Wotton Road. Some of you may have attended their recent presentation here at the village hall. Representatives from HC1 are here to night to give an overview of their plans and to take questions. This proposed development falls within the parish of Wotton under Edge but obviously has an effect on Kingswood due to its close proximity. Kingswood Parish Council will be consulting with all residents on this proposal to find out if residents support it or not.

This is the first time in for a very long time that Kingswood Parish Council is not involved in representing the community’s views on a major planning application or compiling a major report such as the Village Design Survey or Neighbourhood Development Plan. The parish council very much hope it can now concentrate on achieving its objectives on the land at Chestnut Park, the provision of allotments and highways objectives.

Wildlife land at Chestnut Park The land at Chestnut Park with the wildlife ponds and community orchard has finally been transferred to Kingswood Parish Council. Last year we managed this land in partnership with Stroud Valleys Project. We are pleased to announce that we have renewed this partnership for the year 2017/18. Richard from Stroud Valleys Project is here tonight to talk to you about the work that has taken place and what is hoped to be achieved this year. He will also update you on the many events that we have planned for this year. I do have one plea on this project! More people from Kingswood are needed to help manage the land. Richard and his volunteers will be at the shed at the community orchard from 10.00am every Monday morning. Please if you have the time come on down and help.

Allotments Work has started on getting the allotment site ready to rent out to allotment holders. There has been a slight delay as we need to ensure that we are preparing the site in accordance with regulations laid down by Natural England. The parish council has appointed an ecologist and have agreed funds for cutting the grass ready to mark out the site. There is a waiting list of potential

allotment holders. Please let the clerk know if you are interested in renting an allotment. Meetings are being held with potential allotment holders to discuss the setup of the site. Please view details on the website. The next meeting is tomorrow Tuesday 21st March at 7.45 in the village hall. Please also see the parish council website for more details.

Highways Objectives We are very aware of many issues in relation to highways within the parish and the parish council are committed to trying to resolve these issues if we can. The issues in the main relate to speeding, parking and lack of footpaths. The parish council has budgeted this year to purchase an automated vehicle number plate recognition camera. This can be permanently located in the village. We are awaiting the go ahead on this project from the Police. We believe that this camera and Community Speed Watch will have a significant impact and reduce incidents of speeding though out the parish.

The parking issues are more difficult to resolve as we do not want to just move an existing problem to another area. We are also looking at the provision of footpaths and cycle routes. Stroud District Cllr Catherine Braun is here tonight to introduce a project to provide cycle path and footpath links between Kingswood Wotton and Charfield. This is the start of a large project and Kingswood Parish Council along with Cllr. Braun want to know your thoughts on this. A consultation survey will shortly be issued to all residents.

The parish council has identified what they believe are key highways issues. These are listed on the wall. The parish council will be consulting with you on these issues. The first thing we would like to know is which issues are the most important to you. We are therefore asking you to priorities the objectives with number 1 being the most important. A consultation survey will be sent out every household. The survey will also be online. Please let us know your thoughts.

Website/Social Media

Please have a look at the Kingswood Parish Councils new website. There is a lot of information on there that may be of interest .Please visit Kingswood Parish Council’s Facebook page. This is proving a successful and speedy way of updating the community on information as it becomes available. Please like and follow our page.

I would like to end by thanking all the volunteers who help with litter picks, community speed watch, playground checks and water way checks. Your help is appreciated. Finally please ensure that you vote in the County Council Election on May 4th 2017 and vote in the Neighbourhood Plan Referendum. To do this you need to be on the electoral register. You have until 13th April to register. Thankyou .

Any Questions

Appendix 3

Accounts

The accounts are available for inspection with notice and by appointment with the Clerk. The books are here to night if any one wishes to view them. I will give you a very brief overview of the main points.

Kingswood Parish Council has set the amount of Local council tax 2017/18 for Kingswood at £86,900. Based on a property in band D this is an increase of £1.18 per month. This equates to an annual increase of £14.27 a 9.31% increase on 2016/17. Every house in the parish should have received a leaflet explaining the precept and a copy of the budget and objectives for 2017/18.

Receipts for 2016/17 are £195,247.29 and expenditure is £82,171.27. The parish council at the end of February hold £139,644.00 in the bank. This includes the amount of £108,931.75 received to manage the land transferred to the parish council. This money is earmarked for that purpose and cannot be used for any other reason. The parish council forecast that it will end the year with £129,839 which after deducting the money for the transferred land will leave a reserve of £30,984.00.

The parish council have spent £11,412 .00 on the NDP in 2016/17 and received a grant of £4300.00 to help with its completion. The main costs were incurred in defending the NDP at a public hearing. The total cost of the NDP is £29,452.00. The parish council received grants totalling £12,190.00. The cost to the community of the NDP is therefore £17,262.00. However we very much hope that if the NDP is adopted it will start to save the parish council money by making it easier to comment on planning applications. An adopted NDP will increases the amount of money that the parish council will receive from development.

The accounts are available for inspection with notice and by appointment with the Clerk. The books are here to night if any one wishes to view them. If anyone has any questions I will be available to answer questions after the meeting

Appendix 4 Report on County Council Matters to Kingswood Annual Assembly, 20th March 2017 John Cordwell

Ham & Stone Parish Council have also chosen this day for their Annual Parish Meeting. I intend to go there first and then come on to Kingswood.

County Council Membership During the year, Liberal Democrats retained a seat which became vacant when the member for Chuchdown died. UKIP membership of the council dropped from 3 to 1, with one joining the Conservatives and the other first sitting as an independent and then recently resigning. It is still a minority Conservative administration with a political composition of: 25 Conservative; 14 Liberal Democrat; 9 Labour; 1 UKIP; 1 Green; I PAB; 1 Independent and 1 vacancy. During the 2016/17 civic year, the council has had a Liberal Democrat chair and a Conservative vice-chair. Meetings of the County Council are now video recorded and available on the council’s website.

My roles on the County Council I relinquished my position as Shadow Cabinet member for Fire, Planning and Infrastructure when I was elected Chair of the Planning Committee. I continued as my group’s lead member on the Highways Contract Advisory Group and the Environment and Communities Scrutiny Committee. I also continued as a member of the Commons & Rights of Way Committee and the Traffic Regulation Orders Committee. More widely, I remained a member of South West Councils and continued to also serve on its Resources and Management Committee.

County Council Budget 2017/18 At the County Council’s budget meeting in February the Conservative administration proposed a 2017/18 budget of £402.68M, as previously recommended by a Cabinet meeting two weeks’ before. This figure represents a decrease in cash terms of £5.78M from the current year due to a significant reduction in Government grant funding (£17.28M or 14.5%). Overall, the budget will have absorbed £35.34M of “savings” to achieve this. Government grant funding will almost disappear over the next few years. The Liberal Democrats put forward a series of amendments totalling an extra £6.09M by drawing down on various reserves held by the County Council. This was therefore achieved without any further increase in council tax over the original Conservative budget. After a lengthy adjournment, the Conservatives proposed an amendment to their own budget incorporating very similar proposals to those put forward by the Liberal Democrats but with some differences in the way it would be allocated. The resultant budget reinstates the present year’s Highways Local funding at £30k per councillor and the lengthsman funding at £0.5M for the county. The £100k to assist making Traffic Regulation Orders was reinstated. Both groups’ proposals added £4M to the highways’ budget. The Conservatives are also claiming a further £6M added to highways spending, but this comes from Government grants to the council, which no administration would have refused! There were additions to the funding of services to children and young people and to adults. These were £0.5M less than proposed by the Liberal Democrats and with important differences. At the end of the meeting the increase in the council tax precept therefore remained as in

1 the consultation draft as 1.99% plus an additional 2% adult social care levy permitted by the Government. This increases the county council share of council tax at Band D by £45.25 to £1179.26. The Government would have allowed the council to increase the adult social care levy by 3%, and some councils have done this, but the Cabinet member responsible claimed this was not needed. Since the County Council meeting, the Chancellor’s budget statement this month included additional funding for adult social care. For Gloucestershire, this will be £10.6M in 2017/18, £7.2M in 2018/19 and £3.6M in 2019/20. I very much doubt that Gloucestershire will be turning it down! The announcement followed a vote by Surrey County Council to call a referendum for a 15% council tax increase to meet adult social care needs which the Government is alleged to have headed off by a special deal. The announcement will still leave a national funding gap of £1 billion in the coming financial year.

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) A few days before the budget meeting the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) announced that he was withdrawing from the Road Safety Partnership because of year- on-year Conservative reductions in the County Council’s contribution towards running it. So, at the meeting, the Conservatives had to propose an increase in this contribution of £390k to address the gap the PCC’s withdrawal will create. In answer to a councillor’s question Cabinet Members said there was a “robust working relationship” with the PCC. The PCC’s contribution was not actually “hard cash” but arose from the loss of Gloucestershire Constabulary support. The Government are encouraging PCCs to take over the Fire & Rescue Service. The Home Office has given Gloucestershire’s PCC £100k to consider the merits of this. County councillors are strongly of the view that the highly efficient Fire & Rescue service should remain with the County Council. The PCC would have to produce a business case for the change, as would the County Council for the service to remain with the council. The decision would be made by an independent person appointed by the Home Secretary…

National Funding Formula for schools The Government launched a major consultation on the introduction of a national funding formula for mainstream schools from 2018/19. Overall, Gloucestershire schools would gain £2.1M but drop 10 places down the funding league table from 102nd to 112th place. The average funding per pupil in Gloucestershire would be £4344 compared to £6582 in Tower Hamlets. The proposals favour smaller primary schools. In my Division, the Blue Coat C of E Primary School would lose 2.7%. All the other primary schools gain to varying extents. Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School, which almost all pupils in my Division attend during their school career, would lose £117k, the second biggest loss in Gloucestershire. The consultation ends on 22nd March. Last Tuesday a press report said that mounting opposition was likely to get the change dropped. It would still leave Gloucestershire schools poorly funded.

Highways Local Funding i) 2016/17 This year I was able to include a contribution to the traffic survey at the Renishaw roundabout requested by the parish council. Understanding the results has proved to be a challenge! I also made a major contribution to the patching scheme on Hillesley Road between Kingswood and Hillesley. An ambiguous notice gave some local people the impression that the road was to be closed for two months! ii) 2017/18

Because of the county elections in May, no funds will be committed to Highways Local until afterwards, meaning that it will not be possible to deliver all the projects by the end of the next financial year on 31st March 2018. The 2017/18 programme will therefore run until 30th June 2018. Existing members like me can identify potential projects ahead of the election. I have made the Local Highways Manager aware of the state of Nind Lane. He is also looking into ways of getting the historic fingerpost repaired and painted. I am meeting him again shortly.

Amey Highways contract Amey’s 5-year contract ends in April 2019. Given the complexity of retendering such a large contract a decision will be taken by the council’s new Cabinet in June/July this year, immediately after the elections, either to retender or to extend the current contract by two to three years. The council’s Highways Contract Advisory Group will be considering the matter in detail at the end of this month. The low satisfaction levels of the service were raised as an issue in a motion to the full council. The parish council satisfaction survey, originally due last December has now been delayed until after the elections. It was argued at a recent scrutiny committee meeting that this is a routine annual survey and will not form part of the consideration on whether to extend Amey’s contract. I disagreed! The previous parish council survey received a satisfaction level of just 2.41/5.00.

Children’s Activity Fund This fund is continuing next year at the current £5k per county councillor. During the current year the County Council has been keen to invest in community activities that promote the wellbeing of children and young people 0 - 11 years old. This does not preclude activities that also benefit older children and teenagers up to 18 years. This year, locally, I have been able to support taster badminton sessions at KLB school for primary school children. As with Highways Local I will not be able to commit funds for the coming year until after the elections.

Highlights from County Council Meetings Apart from the budget, the full council has dealt with numerous matters, usually as a result of motions raised by councillors. These included: - the slow issuing of death certificates, meaning many families were waiting beyond the statutory five-day period to receive them. This issue would not have come to light if it had not been raised by a councillor. As a result the situation has now much improved. - waste recycling rates (below target and ways to improve them should be sought) Lib Dem motion slightly amended and agreed unanimously. - a requirement for a twice-yearly report from the cabinet member on how the children’s centre service is performing. I spoke of my concerns over the Wotton centre particularly as the NHS decided to sell off the Symn Lane clinic. - meals on wheels (complaints about the new provider: driver not finding the client, no meal, late meal, wrong meal) Lib Dem motion agreed unanimously. - hate crime (increased since referendum vote) Lib Dem motion agreed unanimously following an amendment. - accident and emergency waiting times (Gloucestershire hospitals NHS Trust in breach of their licence). Conservative motion with Lib Dem additions, agreed unanimously. - a motion on grammar schools (support urged for their creation throughout Gloucestershire by the UKIP proposer and an Independent seconder!) has been postponed twice and is now on this Wednesday’s agenda. - on fracking, affirming the Council’s opposition in principle to fracking (and also opposing

3 personal payments to affected households and regretting the abolition of the Department for Energy and Climate Change) was agreed in a recorded vote with the Conservatives abstaining. - improvements to the inspection and fixing of footways, given that many in the county are in need of repair. This was only approved after the Conservatives had amended it to delete a sentence starting “Given the poor state of our county’s pavements”. - concern over the reducing budget for supporting bus services that need a subsidy if they are to run has yet to be debated. - concern over the increasing number of further education students (6th formers and above) with mental health problems. (Lib Dem motion). A task group has been set up to gather evidence and to produce recommendations to the council. The council also debated a report on ambulance response times successfully requested by a Lib Dem motion to a previous County Council meeting. The report included ten recommendations which were all approved. Also, a petition calling for 24-hour local urgent care services to continue at Stroud and Cirencester hospitals received in excess of the necessary 5000 signatures to be debated by the County Council. It is not a matter for which the council is responsible so at the end of the debate, where speeches supported the continuation of the Minor Injuries Units, it was referred to Gloucestershire Care Services and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group.

District Council planning applications I have kept the parish council informed where aspects of these applications have included a response from the county council including highways, archaeology and dealing with water runoff.

Street Lighting The LED lighting contract awarded to Skanska to convert around 55,000 street lights to LED lighting and for the general maintenance of the council’s street lighting. It is running ahead of schedule and, due to difficulties encountered in another part of the county, the conversion was brought forward to March this year in Wotton, North Nibley, Stinchcombe, Kingswood and Hillesley & Tresham. LED street lights use 70% less energy than the ones they are replacing. Much of the county’s carbon footprint is associated with the present lights. The lights can be made more directional, reducing light pollution, and their brightness will be able to be controlled from a central location. Maintenance costs are also lower.

Broadband Speed The Cabinet in February authorised the award of contracts including Area 3e (our part of Gloucestershire) for the deployment of superfast broadband to “Gigaclear”. Area 3e covers 13,000 premises and entails £11.6M private investment and £2.2M from Gloucestershire County Council. These contracts along with previous deployments will result in 97% of premises in Gloucestershire being served by either superfast or ultrafast broadband of at least 30Mbps. The report says that “remaining premises that need to be reached to meet the ambitions of the Broadband Strategy will be achieved through small scale procurement activity”.

Finally Thank you for the welcome you have given me to your council meetings over the last year and indeed the last 36 years. I hope to continue to serve you for the next four.

John Cordwell

Appendix 5 Stroud District Councillor Report for Kingswood Parish Mark Reeves ([email protected])

Introduction

On 05 May 2016, I was newly elected to the post of Stroud District Councillor for Kingswood Ward taking over a role previously held by Paul Hemming who stood down at this election following many years as Councillor.

Following the election, the Stroud District Council (SDC) Annual General Meeting was held on 19 May 2016. This was a fairly brief meeting which established that new Council will continue to be run by an alliance of Labour, Liberal-Democrat and Green Councillors under the new leadership of Steve Lydon (Labour) with Norman Kay (Green) as the new Chairman. The Conservative Party remained the largest single group on the Council.

The other key posts are:  Steve Lydon – Strategy and Resources Committee Chair  Simon Pickering – Environment Committee Chair  Mattie Ross – Housing Committee Chair  Steve Robinson – Community Services & Licensing Committee Chair  Tom Williams – Development Control Commitee (DCC) Chair  Nigel Studdert-Kennedy - Audit & Standards Committee (ASC) Chair

As the new SDC Councillor for Kingswood, I was asked to serve on the DCC and undertook the initial training, the first DCC meeting being on 07 June 2016. I was also asked to work on the ASC with the first meeting on 05 July 2016. The first full working Council Meeting was on 21 July 2016.

Three areas of Council business impacted on Kingswood over the last year:  Local Development and Planning Applications  Recycling and refuse collection  Budget and Council Tax

Local Development and Planning

During the previous SDC administration the (second) Chestnut Park Development in Kingswood was rejected by DCC but granted on appeal. Very unusually, the SDC elected to request a judicial challenge to the appeal however this was finally turned down hence the development returned to DCC for consideration in October 2016.

Following robust challenges introduced by Kingswood Parish Council, District Councillors and KKAV a unanimous decision was taken to defer the application for one month to allow time for the Parish Councillors and Developers to reach agreement on several key areas for example, road safety and footpath layout (both short term during the development and long term), protection from cricketball being struck from the playing fields, safe access to the village hall, access for drainage maintenance and housing density Progress was made in some areas, notably the position of the footpath to the playing field, provision for play equipment, provision for cricket nets and access to drainage however this progress was not yet formally captured. Other areas had not progressed, such as the design of shared vehicle-pedestrian space and distribution of affordable housing.

When the application was again referred to DCC in November 2016 however, having been to appeal and judicial review, the DCC decided by a majority vote that further debate was delaying the inevitable and voted to approve the application with conditions.

Follow-on discussion centres on minimising the short term impact of the development on local residents with respect to safety, property access and property damage.

At the SDC Environmental Committee meeting in February 2017 the Kingswood Neighbourhood Plan was presented and it was resolved to accept the examiners recommended modifications and proceed to local referendum on 04 May 17. This project seems now to have the end in sight and is a huge credit to the local team who produced it. Full adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan with provide significant weight to local views when the DCC considers future applications for development in Kingswood.

Very recently, two new Wind Turbines have been erected on the southern edge of the ward following several years of discussion and final planning approval in mid-2016. This is a local precedent and bears ongoing monitoring for both planning compliance and operational impact.

After the last DCC meeting in February 2017, the committee met to explore why we seem to have so few planning applications referred to DCC at the moment. We will be encouraging more local referrals by clarifying call-in rules.

Recycling and Refuse disposal

In July 2016 a new refuse collection agent, UBICO, started operations. One of the most visible SDC developments was November 2016 change in the refuse and recycling operations in order to increase the amount of material recycled rather than buried as landfill.

Residents recycling collections were revised to a two-weekly collection of a bottles/plastics/metals “wheeley” bin and paper/cardboard tubs plus a new weekly collection of food waste in specially provided tubs. This has produced another increase in recycled materials collected with a rapid local adoption of the new food waste service.

A garden waste recycling service, using another wheeley bin, also provides a two weekly collection service from February to November but this incurs an additional cost.

Refuse collection has been moved to a two-weekly service using a new wheeley bin to replace the previous plastic bag collection. This has proved more of a challenge to some local residents as the capacity of the refuse collection has been limited by the new bin size and the move away from weekly collections.

Despite some initial local problems on introduction the new service seems to be working, however your views are welcome.

Budget and Council Tax

A significant issue at the start of 2017 is the decision by the controlling coalition on the Council to spend more on public housing stock in the next four years, exhausting the reserve funds by 2020, making maximum advantage of annual council tax rises and using some general funds available for housing stock (capital) expenditure.

While a desire to increase housing stock spending to accommodate the Stroud District waiting list is understandable and there were elements of the total budget which were laudable (eg investment in revenue/jobs generating business-parks and the canal restoration project), the Conservative (opposition) group voted against the overall capital budget on the basis that by 2020 all funding sources would be exhausted and the sources for subsequent spending is unclear. Close monitoring of spending is now required.

For the reasons of capital expenditure commitments outlined above, the Conservative (opposition) group abstained in the vote to approve the budget which was however carried by majority.

Appendix 6 Kingswood Abbey W.I.

The 42 members of Kingswood Abbey WI meet on the second Tuesday of the month at the Village hall. Meetings comprise a talk or demonstration by an invited speaker followed by a social time and refreshments and then a discussion on current National and County WI issues. Within the WI there are groups who enjoy Gloucestershire walks, a lunch club, a craft group and a book club. Kingswood Abbey WI celebrated their 50th anniversary in November 2016. Two of the founder members still take an active role in meetings and events.

Although the majority of people think the WI is only interested in making jam and cakes - for the past 100 years the WI has existed to help give women a voice on things that matter, from domestic violence to organ donation to better maternal care.

Each year the National Federation of WIs chooses two resolutions to debate and to lobby the government about. This year the topics are : How to alleviate Loneliness in the local community and Plastic Soup: keep microplastic fibres out of our oceans.

In November last year the WI members joined other Gloucestershire WIs in making hundreds of poppies for the Royal British legion appeal.

The Kingswood Abbey members are at present working towards yarn bombing the Primary School playground to help celebrate the school’s 125th anniversary in June. Afterwards the knitted items will be made into blankets for local charities.

Kingswood Abbey WI run the cake/tea café for the annual Village Show and also help with the KVA’s New Year’s Eve lunch for Senior Citizens. The stunning displays of daffodils by the Kingswood entrance Signposts were planted by the WI very many years ago. Appendix 7

Neighbourhood| + Warden Service

Kingswood Annual Report

The Neighbourhood Warden Service operates across the district our role is to act as the eyes and ears of the community to provide a reassuring presence and to work towards reducing anti social behaviour and lowCam level & Stinchcombe crime. We will deal with fly tipping,

abandoned vehicles, litter, graffiti, dog fouling, we provide support /signposting residents to other local services, home security checks, emergency planning and assistance within the community.

The Neighbourhood Warden Service consists of 8 Wardens who cover the district on a shift basis, Monday to Saturday which includes daytime and evenings.

The area’s I cover are Uley, Dursley, North Nibley, Wotton-under-Edge, Kingswood, Alderley, Hillesley and Tresham.

I have completed various patrols of Kingswood since I started as a Neighbourhood Warden in January 2016 and have dealt with many resident issues.

I have dealt with car parking disputes within the village, abandoned vehicles, carried out foot patrols to deter anti social behaviour, waste management visits, litter picks of the playing fields, dog fouling

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Appendix 7 patrols and applied pick up or pay up stencils in area’s of fouling and met many local residents. I have also patrolled with PCSO Mark Lifton looking at parking issues and speed checks and arranged a community clear up day.

In early April I will be moving to Stroud Town and however you will have a new warden looking after Kingswood.

Please feel free to approach me with any issues/concerns you may have, my contact details are as follows:

Mrs Rachel Pratt Senior Neighbourhood Warden – Stroud District Council Email: [email protected] Tel: 07834 419332

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Appendix 8 Kingswood Neighbourhood Watch 2017 report

The annual summer party continues to be a popular event for Kingswood villagers although attendance was slightly down on last year with 58 tickets sold. This will be monitored and possibly the event tweaked slightly in time to come to ensure its still meeting local needs. The amount raised was £390.00 converted to funds which as ever go towards local activities and funding such as Grapevine printing costs. Kingswood Neighbourhood Watch group were also able this year to offer a financial contribution to Kingswood Cricket Club to assist in the repair or possible replacement of the shed used to store their equipment which had fallen into disrepair. There are still funds available to local groups and the KNWG encourage any group to contact any member of the team to discuss their requirements. The KNWG Facebook page is still popular and still appears to be a good medium for quickly sharing news and information to the local community. We continue to promote its use and keep Kingswood in the world of social media and would encourage all to visit/like and share information and local photographs. The local constabulary continue to share local information with us which can then be cascaded down to the village community as appropriate. This can be anything from a spate of local thefts or missing persons. The next Kingswood Neighbourhood watch AGM will be held in July, this meeting is open to any resident to attend, details will be advised through Grapevine and posted on the Facebook page. Following the meeting minutes will be available to any interested party.

Appendix 9 KINGSWOOD SPORTS AND RECREATION FUND

KSRF is a registered charity with a very broad remit “for the benefit of the people of Kingswood”. Following the Tubb`s Turf project committee`s difficulties in fund raising because it was not a registered charity, it was determined that no future village should ever that problem again. Hence a few villagers founded KSRF. Though its first job was the “unfinished business” of raising money for the Tubb`s pavilion, it is not part of Tubb`s. Nor is it primarily a fund raiser, a function excellently done by KVA. Its main attribute is as an incoming channel for donations to village projects or organisations, which are not charities, and thus can inhibit potential donors` claims for tax relief or prevent the project from claiming it. Charitable status can also encourage more generous donations because of this tax advantage. The fund raising for the Memorial Fingerpost in The Chipping was a classic example of this, extra thousands being paid to the project by the tax man. Furthermore, other trusts and charities sometimes will only give to registered charities.

If you think KSRF can help please do not hesitate to get in touch with me on 843398.

Rod Alexander, Chairman KSRF. 24 Feb 2017

Appendix 10 KINGSWOOD VILLAGE CRICKET CLUB. 2016

For the first time in decades no player scored a century. The closest, KLB student, Callum Niddrie was cruelly run out in the season`s last game for 93. Nevertheless, the club was delighted to win the Pratt 20/20 cup for the second year in a row, this time unbeaten in all games.

Off the field, but very much around it, the battle with the housing developers, Crest Nicholson, rumbled on. In the end the developers won, as they nearly always do. The club fought hard. Its concern was not just building but, rather, the damage from cricket balls. Thankfully its case had effect. Fewer houses will be built to accommodate a building line 10 further metres back and will be protected by a wall. The club has also been promised an 8 metre retractable net. These defences will certainly help. In sporting terms, we might even regard the result as a draw. It remains to be seen. Do developers bother about “The Spirit of Cricket”?

Socially, the club continues as ever. Its facilities, hog roast, teas, tours ( home and away ), its support of youngsters, and its on and off field bonhomie, continue to be benchmarks. None of this would be possible without the splendid backing from the community, evident on many occasions, none more than during the battle with the developers or the need for repairs to its equipment shed.

We would love to see new players. At the time of writing we have just started pre season nets. Young or old , good or bad, you would be most welcome. We share indoor nets with our good friends and rivals, North Nibley, at KLB Sports Hall at 1100 on Saturdays. The last session is on April 8. For any details about the club please feel free to contact me, Rod Alexander, on 843398, 07746 62 49 47 or [email protected].

The first game will be away to Hawkesbury Upton on April 23. The first at home will be against The Travellers on May 7.

Many thanks.

Rod Alexander, Chairman, Kingswood Village Cricket Club. 28 Feb 2017.

Appendix 11 NDP Report The Kingswood Neighbourhood Development Plan is now almost complete. The Examiner appointed by the Secretary of State has examined the NDP and listened to the objections put forward by the developers Gladman, Persimmon and Crest Nicholson. The Examiner has found the plan sound subject to minor modifications. The group are busy proof reading and getting the plan ready for the referendum on May 4th 2017. The question that will be asked on May 4th 2017 is “ Do you want Stroud District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Kingswood to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?” If more people vote Yes than No in the referendum then the Kingswood NDP will have statutory weight and be used to assist in deciding planning applications for Kingswood. The NDP Steering Group has been working on the NDP for more than 2 years and it follows on from the evidence provided by the Village Design Statement, Conservation Area Statement and Environment Character Assessment. The NDP group

has consulted with you on the policies and information that it contains. We believe that we have produced a NDP which conforms to regulation and also reflects the views of the community. It is now your opportunity to vote on the NDP and let Stroud District Council know whether you support it or not Due to legislation around referendums the NDP Group and the parish council are not allowed to comment on or discuss the NDP after 24th March 2017. This is the reason that the Annual Parish meeting is being held early. Until after the referendum the work of the NDP Group and the parish council is done. We have asked village organisations to help promote the referendum as we are unable to. The NDP is available to view online on either the Kingswood Parish Council website or Stroud District Council’s website. Copies will be held in the Pub, the gym the telephone box and Wotton library. The NDP is very much your plan and we are handing it back to you the community. It will now be up to the community as to whether this plan is adopted and used to help decide planning applications for Kingswood. We want to thank you for the part you

played in compiling it, by helping with the evidence and for responding to consultations. The last task we are asking of you is to vote in the referendum on 4th May 2017

Thanks you

Appendix 12 Tubbs Turf Management Committee Report to The Kingwood Annual Parish meeting, March 2017 The Tubbs Turf Management Committee is responsible for the maintenance and improvement of the recreational courts and the surrounding garden which are located close to the centre of the village. The Committee comprises both elected members and members appointed by local organisations. Tubbs Turf is a facility provided primarily for the parish of Kingswood, though membership is not restricted to the parish. The grounds and courts can be used by all, though membership permits booking of the courts as well as helping provide the funds needed to maintain the facility. With the courts and the pavilion in good condition there have been no major maintenance activities this past year. Some regular maintenance activities have been undertaken such as repainting of the pavilion, pollarding 2 trees, and replacement of sections of the court fencing. These have all been undertaken by volunteers. Further maintenance is planned for this year to maintain the court surfaces and to have regular maintenance carried out on the waste system. Both of these activities will involve external contractors. The limited need for maintenance has allowed us to continue our focus for a third year on re-landscaping and maintaining the gardens, where significant improvements have been made. Gardening mornings have continued throughout the year, with volunteers giving their time in what is a sociable morning activity with cakes and refreshment provided. If you are interested in helping with the garden, you will be very welcome. No expertise is required, just turn up on the day. Gardening mornings are advertised on the Tubbs Turf notice board. Finals Day, the main event and fundraiser for the year, is a day of tennis competition and other family activities. In 2016 we expanded the activities on offer, including a country dance performed by pupils of Kingswood Primary School, after which parents were encouraged to join in as well. The additions to the programme were well received and we hope to expand the activities further this coming year. With Tubbs Turf now providing kitchen/toilets and BBQ in addition to a sporting and leisure venue, the Management Committee are keen to see increased utilisation of the enhanced facilities by the local community. Any suggestions for events or uses which you would keen to see would be welcomed by the committee. Anyone interested in joining or finding out more should refer to the contact information on the Tubbs Turf notice board.

Appendix 14 NDP Report The Kingswood Neighbourhood Development Plan is now almost complete. The Examiner appointed by the Secretary of State has examined the NDP and listened to the objections put forward by the developers Gladman, Persimmon and Crest Nicholson. The Examiner has found the plan sound subject to minor modifications. The group are busy proof reading and getting the plan ready for the referendum on May 4th 2017. The question that will be asked on May 4th 2017 is “ Do you want Stroud District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Kingswood to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?” If more people vote Yes than No in the referendum then the Kingswood NDP will have statutory weight and be used to assist in deciding planning applications for Kingswood. The NDP Steering Group has been working on the NDP for more than 2 years and it follows on from the evidence provided by the Village Design Statement, Conservation Area Statement and Environment Character Assessment. The NDP group

played in compiling it, by helping with the evidence and for responding to consultations. The last task we are asking of you is to vote in the referendum on 4th May 2017

Thanks you