REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2017-18

The Annual Report of Cotswold District Council

COTSWOLD DISTRICT COUNCIL

Welcome to Cotswold District Council’s Review of the Year for 2017-18

We have had yet another good year in 2017/18, addressing a wide range of top tasks and also achieving planned savings of over £200,000.

Our success stems in part from our partnership (within the Publica Group) - with three other councils - West Oxfordshire, Forest of Dean and Cheltenham. Through working within this partnership, we managed to freeze our portion of the Council Tax bill for 2017/18 at a time when the vast majority of authorities increased costs. Previously we froze our share in 2016/17, reduced it by 5% in 2015/16, reduced it by 3% in 2014/15 and by 5% in 2013/14 . The freeze for 2017/18 meant that the actual amount being charged was lower than the figure ten years ago. In other words, the typical payment for a resident in a Band D property would have seen a real terms cut of 25% over the last six years. We have also frozen charges for car parking and garden waste collections.

We can also report further progress on several flood alleviation projects in the Cotswold district. Additionally, we delivered 247 affordable homes during 2017/18, comfortably ahead of our goal of delivering a minimum of 150 homes.

Thanks to the efforts of our residents we continue to achieve the highest levels of recycling in Gloucestershire (almost 60%% of all household waste is recycled, reused or composted).

We know that government funding will continue to decrease, and we are always looking to find even more savings through efficiencies and innovation. Our staff have have done extremely well in the circumstances, and have maintained services to residents,. All of these savings have been made with no noticeable impact on the standard of our ‘frontline’ services.

This annual report provides readers with an overview how the taxpayer continues to get excellent value for money in Cotswold District. If you would like to find out more about us and our achievements, please see www.cotswold.gov.uk.

Councillor Mark Annett Leader

1 Our aim and priorities

We aim to be recognised as the most efficient Council in the country.

• Our priorities are to: Provide high quality services at the lowest possible cost to Council Taxpayers

• Protect and enhance the local environment whilst supporting economic growth

• Champion issues which are important to local people and that will enable them to benefit from good health and well being

Our top tasks

Our performance against our Top Tasks in 2017/19

To help meet our priorities, we identify and then work towards meeting a number of top task. During 2017/18 we addressed 11 top tasks, three of which were rolled forward from the previous year. We achieved six tasks and partially achieved another, One task was behind target and the remaining three were progressing as expected. More details are as follows:

Submit the Local Plan to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government for examination by early summer 2017. Achieved

Complete further flood alleviation works, including at Moreton-in-Marsh, by the end of July 2017. Achieved

Deliver a minimum of 150 affordable homes in 2017/8. Achieved

Lead the implementation of anti-fraud arrangements with partner councils and deliver savings as planned by the end of March 2018. Achieved

Roll out the community defibrillator project across the District and support communities in improving health through enabling physically active lifestyles during 2017/18. Achieved

Review emergency housing accommodation and consider options for direct provision by the end of March 2018. Achieved

Improve buildings and asset utilisation to deliver revenue savings by working with key partners to the public and voluntary sector by the end of March 2018. Partially achieved

Implement the 2020 Vision to deliver savings of £1.84 million per year by 2020. On target

2 Work with Fastershire and BDUK to improve the roll out of high speed broadband to all parts of the District, including hard to reach areas, by the end of this Strategy. On target

Work to address Cirencester’s car parking needs by pursuing a range of solutions, including the provision of a decked car park at the Waterloo site by the end of March 2019. On target

Work to progress the Brewery Court developer-led scheme for a cinema and retail scheme during 2017/18. Behind target

More details about our top tasks

Submit the Local Plan to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government for examination by early summer 2017. Achieved

The Local Plan Submission Draft Regulation (including Focused Changes and Minor Modifications) was submitted to the Secretary of State on 7 July 2017, along with the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Draft Charging Schedule.

The Planning Inspector, William Fieldhouse, was appointed to examine the Submission Draft Local Plan and the CIL Draft Charging Schedule during October-December 2017. The inspector identified a number of modifications which were required to make the Local Plan sound.

Following a six week public consultation on the Main Modifications, which concluded on 4 April 2018, officers summarised the representations and sent them to the Inspector for review. (The Inspector’s final report was published in the summer of 2018 and confirmed that the Plan was sound.)

3 Complete further flood alleviation works, including at Moreton-in-Marsh, by the end of July 2017. Achieved

A series of new culverts and ditches was created as part of the continued flood alleviation works for Moreton-in-Marsh. The work began in early December 2016 and was completed by the end of June 2017. Final accounts still need to be settled with landowners regarding claims.

Deliver a minimum of 150 affordable homes in 2017/8. Achieved

We delivered a total of 247 affordable housing units during 2017/18, exceeding our target by nearly 100. Delivery is likely to continue to exceed the target in 2018/19 but this is expected to reduce throughout the remaining life of the Local Plan 2011-31 as the remaining sites are built out.

In the fourth quarter of 2017/18, we delivered 46 units which included affordable rented and low cost home ownership properties for families and single households in Fairford, Mickleton, Moreton-in-Marsh and Tetbury. Work began at sites in Cirencester and Willersey, and the first affordable homes at the Bassett Road site in Northleach were completed.

Lead the implementation of anti-fraud arrangements with partner councils and deliver savings as planned by the end of March 2018. Achieved

Since October 2017, the Counter Fraud Unit has been delivering work to all Gloucestershire councils and West Oxfordshire District Council. In addition, the unit provides counter fraud support to a number of third party organisations including Cheltenham Borough Homes, Gloucester City Homes, Ubico Ltd, Places for People, Bromford Housing and Publica Group.

Income generation and savings are reported to the Corporate Management and Audit Committees at partner sites following the completion of work streams and delivery of additional days via third party contracts.

4 Roll out the community defibrillator project across the District and support communities in improving health through enabling physically active lifestyles during 2017/18. Achieved

We are working with the South West Ambulance Foundation Trust (SWAFT) to extend the availability of defibrillators (CPADs) across the District, with particular attention being given to the more rural communities.

The Cabinet approved the sum of £2,000 for each councillor to use in their wards towards the cost of purchasing and installing defibrillators. Overall, a total of 37 applications have been processed since the introduction of the scheme resulting in £19,500 of investment to date by the Council. The scheme will continue in 2018 /19.

We are also promoting physical activity as a key prevention tool with statutory and voluntary sectors. We are working closely with our leisure contractor, SLM, and Active Gloucestershire to create accessible physical activity opportunities locally to reach vulnerable groups and those facing health inequalities.

Review emergency housing accommodation and consider options for direct provision by the end of March 2018. Achieved

The Housing Support service has completed a review of emergency accommodation, and is considering a number of longer-term solutions, including:

• Increasing the capacity of Spring House which currently provides 18 units of supported accommodation. Our four Client Support Officers are working with the Neighbourhood Officer at Bromford to prepare residents for a tenancy and independent living or to refer them to other agencies. Four occupants have been rehoused and the units they vacated can now be used as emergency accommodation.

• Utilising private rented accommodation – a shared Property Manager has been appointed and he will be responsible for increasing the availability of private rented stock in the District by identifying potential properties and building relationships with private landlords, encouraging them to provide longer term accommodation.

• Working with Bromford to identify four units to be used as emergency/temporary accommodation in the north of the District – not continuing due to insufficient demand.

5 Improve buildings and asset utilisation to deliver revenue savings by working with key partners to the public and voluntary sector by the end of March 2018. Partially achieved

Over the last two years we have been letting out vacant areas of the south wing at our Trinity Road headquarters, particularly to organisations which might provide additional benefits to our customers or the community.

The first floor of the south wing, including the area that was used by the 2020 programme team will be fully let by the end of May/June 2018. Some of the organisations include Jobcentre Plus, Cotswold Counselling, Gloucestershire Carers and Rural Planning Practice.

The final section to market and let out is the ground floor space which is currently used as storage. A small part of this area has been cleared for use by APCOA Parking, who are expected to move in during May/June 2018. Further work to vacate and market remaining ground floor space will be subject to available staff resources.

Implement the 2020 Vision to deliver savings of £1.84 million per year by 2020. On target

In September 2016 the 2020 Vison partnership councils agreed to move from a Joint Committee arrangement to a company model. The company, Publica Group, was registered in the latter part of 2016/17. Executive and Non-executive directors were appointed to the board in March 2017 and the first monthly Publica board meeting took place in April 2017.

The majority of staff transferred to the company on 1 November 2017, delivering services on behalf of their partner councils. A business plan has been developed and approved by all partner councils. Over the next 18 months services will be redesigned to deliver the 2020 Vision.

The savings for Cotswold set out in the business case for 2018/19 have been built into the new year budgets and we have taken actions to deliver them.

Work with Fastershire and BDUK to improve the roll out of high speed broadband to all parts of the District, including hard to reach areas, by the end of this Strategy. On target

Fastershire has received some additional funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) to extend superfast broadband to those not currently in the plan for delivery under Phase 1 or Phase 2 of the Fastershire project. A number of property ‘clusters’ have been identified in the Cotswolds which could use this funding to access superfast broadband.

Fastershire is now completing the procurement of this extension scheme and will shortly be in a position to advise us on what further funding may be required from the Council.

The latest position indicates that 97% of the District is covered by superfast broadband, ahead of the government target of 95%. With the addition of the potential EAFRD properties, coverage should reach 98%. In terms of full fibre coverage, Cotswold has the 8th best in the UK out of 437 local authority areas.

6 Work to address Cirencester’s car parking needs by pursuing a range of solutions, including the provision of a decked car park at the Waterloo site by the end of March 2019. On target

Independent consultants reviewed the available options for increasing the capacity of our car parks and concluded that the development of the Waterloo car park would be the best. In February 2017 the Council agreed to award funding, procure an architect and prepare an application for a decked car park at the Waterloo.

In October 2017, the Council approved additional funding to enable the appointment of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to undertake a two stage procurement for an architect and will also include a design competition.

We are also procuring a project management consultant with parking expertise to support and progress the next stages, including working with RIBA. We have appointed consultants to provide specialist parking project management support and they are undertaking the internal operational design of the decked car park before we begin a procurement exercise to appoint an architect for the external design and construction of the car park.

We have secured space at Cirencester rugby club for decant parking during the construction phase of the Waterloo development and permit parking thereafter. We are preparing a planning application for this site which will include the commissioning of traffic studies and modelling, as well as detailed site design.

Work to progress the Brewery Court developer-led scheme for a cinema and retail scheme during 2017/18. Behind target

Legal agreements have been prepared for the transaction to cover the disposal of the Council land as part of the site assembly and to secure the completion of the development works.

The developer has discharged the pre-commencement of the planning conditions, and carried out the necessary works to implement the planning permission. We are continuing discussions with the developer to progress this project.

7 Further information about our priorities

Keeping Council Tax down

We continued our commitment to keep our portion of the Council Tax bill as low as possible by maintaining a tight control on budgets and finding more efficient ways to work.

As a result, we froze our share of local residents’ council tax payments for 2017/18, following a freeze in 2016/17, a 5% cut in 2015/16, a 3% cut in 2014/15 and a 5% reduction in 2013/14.

This means that the actual amount being charged for a Band D Council Tax payer – without cutting frontline services – has been reduced by £17.98 per year (12%) over a period stretching back to 2010/11. Even more significantly, the £126.40 charge is on a par with what residents were paying back in 2005 and, taking the average annual inflation rate into account, represents a real terms reduction of about 45%, saving tax payers about £50 per year.

The Council also agreed unanimously yet another freeze on the cost of parking and garden waste collections, and approved the following additional allocations:

• Extension of the ‘free after 3 pm’ parking scheme until the end of March 2019 at selected car parks across the District, including in Bourton-on-the-Water, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, and Tetbury.

• An initial allocation of up to £300,000 to extend the network of Electronic Vehicle Charging Points in the Cotswolds.

• Each Ward Member to receive an allocation of £1,000 to help fund local youth activities.

• No cuts to frontline services.

Our finances

During the year, there was an over-spend against the net cost of services budget by £276,000 but – when the funding sources (business rates and government grants) are included - our out-turn position showed a surplus of over £1.69 million. The Gloucestershire Business Rates Pool generated a surplus of around £4 million and our share amounted to over £482,000.

We achieved our £201,000 savings target on annual expenditure for 2017/18 following on from savings of £1,204,000 during 2016/17, £419,000 during 2015/16, £316,000 during 2014/15, and £850,000 in 2013-14.

On 1 November 2017 the Council’s new service delivery company (Publica) became operational and the majority of the Council’s staff transferred over, along with employees from Forest of Dean, West Oxfordshire and Cheltenham. From that date until the end of the 2017/18 financial year, Publica delivered operational savings of over £256,000.

It is estimated that the formation of Publica should save taxpayers in excess of £55m over10 years.

CDC and other councils across Gloucestershire, together with West Oxfordshire District Council have also successfully established a special combined unit to counter fraud and misuse of public funds.

8 The new unit is using investigators’ specialist skills and expertise to tackle all forms of fraud and abuse against the public purse and provides a dedicated resource to assist in enforcement and prosecution. The Unit also provides services for environmental services company Ubico Ltd and Cheltenham Borough Homes and has the ability to extend these services to other Registered Social Landlords.

Every penny counts

At the end of 2017/18 we had collected 99.1% of all Council Tax payments due - this means that we are one of the best performing local authorities when it comes to collecting the tax.. Additionally, our officers continue to pursue the remainder so they can keep costs down for the following year. We implemented a new payments system in November 2015 which enables officers to be more proactive in recovering Council Tax and domestic rates. This will help to reduce the number of summons, and costs to the customer.

In July 2017 the Council identified businesses which were likely to meet the discretionary business rate relief scheme’s criteria, and wrote to them, encouraging them to apply. Consequently, in November 2017 we approved almost £127,000 worth of discretionary business rates relief for 111 small companies. They benefited from a government relief scheme that provides support to small businesses facing large increases of over £600 a year.

Additionally, almost £35,000 was awarded to 35 public house accounts under a Public House Relief scheme, and over £18,000 was awarded to support 20 businesses facing high increases.

9 Maintaining and protecting our environment

Over 80% of the Cotswold District falls within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and many residents and visitors value the high quality of our environment. Thanks to them, we continue to record higher than average levels of recycling with almost 60% of all household waste being recycled or composted – the best performance in Gloucestershire. There has been a slight decline in recycling rates nationally, and we continued a range of initiatives to maintain momentum across the District. These included:

• We worked with the Joint Waste Committee on campaigns to raise awareness about the value of recycling, especially at Christmas and other public holidays when there is potential to generate more waste. A successful promotional campaign led to a record number of over 18,500 residents purchasing green waste licences for 2017/18. This followed a very successful campaign which saw almost 17,000 licences issued for 2016/17.

• We introduced additional ‘bring’ banks to collect textiles and cartons and we now also have banks which will accept tetrapaks and coffee cups.

Restricting the landfill tax burden

The cost of Landfill tax continues to rise – it now costs well over £85 to bury one tonne of waste in the ground. This underlines the need to improve our recycling rates year on year. Over half of the eligible households in the district subscribe to our garden waste collections, emphasising how the public is working with us to help protect our environment.

Residents in the Cotswolds also respond well to initiatives to recycle textiles, with clothing donated through over 20 Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd recycling banks in the area.

Improving Waste Collection

The Council’s environmental services company, Ubico Ltd is owned jointly by Cotswold, Cheltenham Borough, Forest of Dean District, Tewkesbury Borough and West Oxfordshire District councils. Ubico began trading in April 2012 and provides shareholder councils with a range of value for money environmental services including waste and recycling collections, street cleaning and grounds maintenance.

The company is currently on target to deliver savings of £6 million in its first five years.

10 Outlawing litter louts and fly tippers

Our Environmental Wardens continue to work with the public in helping to combat littering and the illegal disposal of waste.

The Council operates a ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards fly tipping, and will not hesitate to seek prosecutions. We now have the option of issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for fly–tipping offences without recourse to law courts. We can issue fixed amount fines on the basis that the amount will reduce to £200 for early payment.

We will also continue to press for prosecution through the courts when fly tipping offences are severe.. We had a very good response to our ‘Great Cotswolds Clean up’ community competition that took place during Spring 2018,, attracting over 20 entries. The overall winner was a group of residents from The Barringtons who won the £500 first prize for arranging a widespread ‘clean up’ around the area, while encouraging local people to form friendships and conduct additional litter picks. . A runners- up prize of £300 was awarded to Coln Valley residents who cleaned up their surroundings, while the third prize of £200 was awarded to Primary School pupils in Bourton-on-the-Water who patrolled a large area in the village. All prize winners will be spending the money on environmental improvements, including additional waste bins.

Reducing carbon emissions

We are reaping the benefits of new video conferencing technology, including specialised ‘Jabber’ software on laptops and new video phones. We extended the reach of our previously established video conferencing link, now enabling us to conduct video meetings across four local authorities. These advancements have reduced the need to travel long distances to meetings.

However, staff business travel continues to increase arising from the development of the Publica partnership. To try and reduce the number of individual journeys, we created a fun staff awareness campaign to encourage car sharing, where practicable, for business journeys.

We currently offer motorists two rapid electric vehicle charging points– one at our Old Market Way car park in Moreton-in-Marsh, and another at the Beeches car park, Cirencester. This has encouraged more local people to adopt a greener mode of travel, as the chargers provide them with the flexibility to travel between locations in the north and south of the District. It also means that there are two important strategic links between existing charging points on the M4, M5 and M40, encouraging more electric vehicle drivers to stop off in the Cotswolds. We are planning to introduce more charging points across the District.

11 Working with local communities

Our commitments include providing more homes for local people, promoting health and fitness of all age groups, and supporting resilience in communities to help withstand flooding and other emergencies.

Providing homes for local people

During 2017/18 the Council succeeded in preventing 25 households from becoming homeless and took on the full responsibility for re-housing 29 applicants

We have modified conditions relating to the resale of properties in the local Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which were originally purchased from the authority under the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme. This has ensured that local people will have more time to purchase the properties before they can be made available on the open market. Additionally, we have deemed that members of the armed forces should be recognised as local people so that they can take advantage of the enhanced conditions.

In January 2017 the Council was awarded over £880,000 from the government’s Community Housing Fund. The money is allocated to councils in areas where there are high levels of second homeownership, and takes account of the affordability of housing for local people. Under the scheme, the Council is working even more closely with communities across the District to deliver local, community–led affordable housing of mixed tenure.

Building your own home can often provide a more affordable route to home ownership and create an opportunity to own a bespoke and sustainably designed, high quality property. To assist in making this become a reality, we offer a self-build register on our website. Ensuring the anonymity of contributors, the Council uses information on the register to guide local planning policy on self-build homes and help potential self-builders find suitable plots.

Serving Children and Young People

During 2017/18, there were 3,217 visits to the Council’s holiday sports coaching schemes, and children enjoyed a range of sports – including martial arts; lacrosse; hockey; street dance; cricket; football; handball; rounders; dodgeball; gymnastics; tag rugby; basketball; netball; athletics; tennis; and badminton – at venues across the District.

12 In 2017/18 Gloucestershire County Council provided Youth Activities Funding of £50,000 to each District Council in Gloucestershire to develop universal youth activities. In Cotswold an equal amount of this funding was made available to each of our Councillors. This has resulted in projects taking place throughout the District. Contributions from time to time have been pooled to enable larger scale multi- site projects to take place. Some examples of projects receiving support in 2017/2018 were:

• Blockley Parish Council received funding to extend their junior youth club, providing young people with a place to meet and receive support

• Funding for holiday programmes was awarded to Fairford and Longborough so that young people and their families can access good quality activities close to home

• Phoenix Festival successfully applied for assistance towards activities which actively engaged with young people, as part of the wider festival programme

The Council, with the guidance and expertise of World Jungle, initiated the Cotswold Youth Network – a forum created especially with small voluntary sector youth providers in mind. The network is set to meet twice a year and share experiences, learning and concerns whilst boosting connections between these small groups and the statutory youth services.

The Council was awarded £43,000 by the Prevention and Self-care board to deliver a health improvement programme in Bourton-on-the-Water over the next two years. The programme will see the Council working closely with partners in the community to understand the assets and needs of the area before combining efforts to take action. We expect a wide-ranging programme of activities will be generated which will be aimed at all ages.

The Council’s contractor SLM launched a pilot ‘inclusive sports’ session for disabled children at Cirencester Leisure Centre in 2015/16 in partnership with Allsorts. This is now a weekly event and attracts up to 12 participants on each occasion.

We continue to support community-focused activities for young people. Students have gained work experience, assisting Environmental Wardens, working in Print Services and carrying out Press Office duties at the Council’s headquarters.

An apprenticeship scheme at Cotswold District Council’s Revenues and Benefits service has now become a permanent fixture after the service reported its best ever performance, thanks in part to the young recruits.

Supporting wellbeing of vulnerable groups particularly older people

There is a growing ageing population in the Cotswolds with the North Cotswolds seeing the highest proportion of patients aged 65+ and 85+ in the county and an older population projected to grow by 27% by 2021. The Council established ‘memory clubs’ in 2012 to support people with dementia and their carers, and voluntary sector partners have ensured that a number have continued to operate successfully. . They bring together those with dementia and their carers to take part in group activities offering social interaction for the carers and those with the disease as well as some carer respite.

We have continued to work alongside the countywide ‘Keep Safe’ scheme. This invaluable project identifies places of safety within towns for people with disabilities (including dementia) and trains customer service workers, building their confidence and understanding of the disease and developing communication skills. The Council has continued to run the Dementia Action Alliance for the district, bringing together clinical staff and the voluntary sector. 13 Looking ahead, we intend to build on this and work with Town and Parish Councils on a broad health and wellbeing agenda to enable them to play an active role in the health of their local community. The scheme continues to operate well in all eight surgeries in the South Cotswolds. The feedback is very encouraging with GP’s reporting that appointment times have been released for more critical cases. Cotswold Friends delivered the scheme in the North Cotswolds.

Thanks to NHS funding the Council was able to provide grants to voluntary sector organisations who are receiving referrals from us as part of the Social Prescribing project. There are significant and widely reported challenges facing the NHS. Social prescribing is one way in which we can help to reduce the burden on the primary and secondary care services. Another is to promote the fact that prevention is better than cure.

Community transport is a critical service for our rural district. Many residents rely on it for journeys to medical appointments and shopping. It is critical in reducing isolation. The closure of the transport service operated by Cotswold Volunteers prompted the Council to quickly pull together a task group involving the County Council, community transport providers and user groups to find solutions, share intelligence and provide mutual support.

The Council continued to deliver falls prevention classes in the community and runs a highly successful GP referral scheme including cardiac and pulmonary rehab care, in the Council’s Leisure Centres. We hope that this helps people to stay well for longer, reduces the risk of falls and puts off visits to hospital.

The Council continued to meet its obligation as responsible body to convene the Cotswolds Community Safety partnership. The group provides an opportunity for the Council to work closely with other partners - including the Police, Fire service, Health and Social care and the voluntary sector - to identify issues of concern to residents and work to address needs together. Funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner supported a range of projects in the district.

The Council provided community welfare grants to a number of partner voluntary sector organisations who provide key services to residents – Cotswold Counseling, the Churn Project in Cirencester, Cotswold Friends, Stroud and District Citizen Advice Bureau and Gloucestershire Rural Community Council.

The Council works very hard to collaborate with the voluntary and statutory sector and convenes the highly regarded Health and Wellbeing Partnership which meets three times a year to share intelligence, good practice, ideas and experience. In addition officers of the Council work very closely with the countywide health bodies and GP’s and engage fully with countywide consultation activities and strategic discussions.

Some residents in our community have needed support to remain living independently in their own homes. Through the Disabled Facilities Grant programme we approved grants totalling almost £561,000 during 2017/18. Following assessments by an Occupational Therapist we have been able to provide assistance for projects such as: level access showers; stairlifts; room extensions; downstairs bathrooms. In addition our partnership working with South West Energy Agency has contributed to cavity wall and loft insulation along with energy efficiency advice to residents helping to keep them warm and well.

A partnership comprising Gloucestershire County Council, the Clinical Commissioning Group, and district councils in the county (including CDC) secured up to £990,000 Social Impact Bond (SIB) funding for long-term homeless people in the county. This kick started a four year project which will be dedicated to delivering a new service to help long-term rough sleepers and repeat homeless people. The new service began across the county in 2017.

14 In September 2016, Public Health England published a review covering all areas in England, and the profile for Cotswold District indicated that the health of residents is generally better than the national average. Cotswold was described as being one of the 20% least deprived districts/unitary authorities in England, and life expectancy for both men and women was higher than average, regardless of whether they live in the most affluent or the most deprived areas of the District. On average men in the Cotswolds are living beyond the age of 80 and women beyond the age of 85. .

Increasing resilience

During 2017/18, the following progress was made on flooding and drainage works:

Cirencester – a partnership involving CDC, Gloucestershire County Council, the Environment Agency and Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group has been established to progress designs and work which will protect Cirencester from any flooding arising from the Daglingworth stream and the River Churn. The first tranche of work was planned for the Mill stream in the Autumn of 2017.

Moreton-in-Marsh – the final stage of a major flood relief scheme has now been completed. This was a partnership scheme involving CDC, Gloucestershire County Council, the Environment Agency, and Moreton Town Council.

Poulton and Broadwell – Utility surveys and land surveys were carried out to enable the production of designs for flood relief construction which should be completed during 2018/19. be carried out before Spring 2018.

Somerford Keynes – work to install a flood relief pipe from the watercourse that flows towards Water Lane and the residential area will be undertaken during 2018/19..

The Council played a leading role in the establishment of the Cotswold Flood Action Group which co- ordinates multi-agency responses to tackling flood problems. This member-led group has identified key areas, based on river catchments, which require a co-ordinated approach to tackling fluvial, sewer, and surface water flooding.

The Council, in conjunction with our colleagues in the County Civil Protection Team, continues to advise communities on producing community emergency plans. Working with us, a large number of Town and Parish Councils have now developed and published community emergency plans, and more are anticipated.

15 Our officers have also provided communities with advice about how to protect against flooding and how to safeguard their properties, and have encouraged residents to sign up to the Environment Agency’s flood warning information service.

In addition, there are now about 80 communities in the district which have identified at least one place of safety in their areas to supplement designated Council rest centres which can be established quickly during an emergency.

Many volunteer groups continued to do valuable resilience work, including the clearance of watercourses, ditches and culverts.

At Leisure

Under the terms of a 10-year agreement, SLM/Everyone Active is now responsible for delivering and managing services in the Cotswold leisure centres at Cirencester, Chipping Campden and Bourton- on-the-Water, and cultural services at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester and a resource centre in Northleach. Responsibility for the ‘dual use’ leisure facilities based at Farmors School, Fairford and Sir William Romney’s School, Tetbury transferred to the schools in early 2014.

By bringing in an external provider to manage and deliver these services, and handing the facilities at Fairford and Tetbury to the schools, the Council is making savings of over £280,000 per year.

Figures for 2017/18 showed that 623,767 visits were made to the three Council-owned leisure facilities at Cirencester, Bourton and Chipping Campden while visits to the Corinium Museum totalled 48,067.

Customers using the health and fitness facilities at all three of our leisure centres benefit from the use of state-of-the-art equipment. Users can watch TV, and listen to the radio – and even browse the Internet in some instances - while they work out. Other improvements include the upgrading of the air conditioning system in the gym and dance studio.

The Council set aside £380,000 to finance fitness equipment upgrades at the leisure centres in Cirencester, Bourton-on-the-Water and Chipping Campden. Additionally, CDC authorised the expenditure of just under £90,000 on a new environmentally friendly air conditioning system which has been installed at Cirencester leisure centre. Meanwhile, Everyone Active – the company that manages the facilities on behalf of CDC - invested £50,000 in new spinning bikes at both Cirencester and Bourton for group exercise classes. Additionally, Everyone Active fitted £60,000 worth of LED lighting at all two leisure centres and the Corinium Museum. The improvements were completed during December 2015.

In January 2018, Cirencester pool saw the installation of £12,000 worth of new equipment to benefit disabled users. This involved the provision of a powered transfer hoist, an adjustable changing bed, a ‘ranger’ chair to transport swimmers to the poolside, and a pool hoist to lift the chair in and out of the water (including for those using a sling). Funding for the equipment was provided by a grant from

16 Cirencester SCOPE (a small independent charity affiliated to the National SCOPE organisation), financial support from Cotswold District Council and through the fund raising efforts of Denise Martin who undertook a range of sponsored activities.

According to Sport England’s Active People Survey, almost 30% of the adult population in the Cotswold District (age 16 and over) participated in sport and active recreation for 30 minutes or more on at least three days of the week. This is higher than many areas.

The Corinium Museum began its £1.3 million project – ‘Stone Age to Corinium: Discover the Archaeology of the Cotswolds’. This will support a wide range of activities, including the new prehistory curriculum. It will also revitalise important galleries, creating many more opportunities for local people and visitors alike to see more fascinating objects that tell the story of the Cotswolds through the early periods in our history. The improvements will also enable the Museum to expand its formal learning programme, especially for primary school students. Additionally, a new Discovery Centre at the front of the building will serve as a valuable new space and a community heritage hub.

Having received £100,000 worth of funding to develop the project, the museum successfully bid for a further £677,000 to complete the project by January 2020. The Council gave financial backing of £50,000 to this new project.

The Museum was also successful in securing £60,000 worth of funding from the Arts Council England’s Resilience scheme. The project created a new museum website with online bookings and better access to its collections and a new museum brand.

The improvements will also enable the Museum to expand its formal learning programme, especially for primary school students. Additionally, a new Discovery Centre at the front of the building will serve as a valuable new space and a community heritage hub.

Corinium Museum staff won Bronze in the Small Visitor Attraction category at 2017 South West Tourism Awards. A record 647 entries across the South West were considered by judges. We provide almost £55,000 to support the visitor information centre at Bourton-on-the-Water, and visitor information points at Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold and Tetbury.

The tourism sector continues to be a very valuable source of income – about £1 billion per year for the Cotswolds area – and, in partnership with Cotswolds Tourism, we helped to promote attractions and support accommodation providers. The Cotswolds destination has received extensive favourable media coverage in traditional and emerging markets such as China, Korea, Brazil, Australia, USA, Belgium, France and Germany.

17 With this in mind, the Council agreed to provide grants totalling £54,000 per year to Visitor Information Centres (VICs) over a three year period, to help fund them. Even in an age when people rely more heavily on the internet to research destinations, we are still seeing heavy use of the VICs to the extent that – based on 2014/15 figures – it only costs 35p to service the needs of every customer.

We provide almost £55,000 to support the visitor information centre at Bourton-on-the-Water, and visitor information points at Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold and Tetbury. Even in an age when people rely more heavily on the internet to research destinations, we are still seeing consistent use of the information centres to help and guide visitors.

The tourism sector continues to be a very valuable source of income – about £1 billion per year for the Cotswolds area – and as the lead of Cotswolds Tourism, we helped to promote the wider region, attractions and support accommodation providers. The Cotswolds destination has received extensive favourable media coverage in traditional and emerging markets such as China, Korea, Brazil, Australia, USA, Belgium, France and Germany. The destination website www.cotswolds.com receives over one million unique visitors annually and engagement on all forms of social media is high.

A 2016 report, compiled by the South West Research Company Ltd, showed that tourism was responsible for 15% of employment in the District. This means that around 7,000 people serviced the direct and indirect needs of almost 7 million day visitors and over 540,000 tourists staying one night or more.

During 2016 tourists spent over £53million on accommodation within the District, another £44 million on local attractions and £29m on travel. Other interesting facts included the impact of tourism on local shopping and the food and drink sector; visitors bought over £73 million worth of gifts, clothing and other goods, and spent over £109million in restaurants, cafes, pubs and other catering establishments.

In October 2017 representatives from Cotswolds Tourism, VisitBritain, and the Foreign and Commonwealth, hosted six journalists from the Far East who are collectively followed by over 3 million people. The delegation spent three days touring the area and enjoying the sights and tastes of the region.

Organisers of the OVO Tour of Britain cycle race and several participants thanked Cotswolds Tourism for backing and help to promote Stage 7 of the event in September 2017, Large crowds turned up to greet the riders, and also stayed to enjoy the festival atmosphere generated by local communities and traders. Live international TV coverage captured the excitement of the occasion, including several Sprint and King of the Mountain sections

18 And there’s more… other news from across our services

Motorists can park for free on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays at the Council’s Trinity Road car park. The same offer is available at the St James’s Place wealth management fund company at its Tetbury Road car park in Cirencester. Since the beginning of 2016 we have permitted motorists to park for free after 3 pm in several car parks across the District – including the Brewery and Forum sites in Cirencester . We’ve continued to keep down the cost of parking for motorists. We are maintaining an all-day £2 tariff at the Cirencester Beeches car park and the 50p short-stay charge at all of our car parks. We also offer an annual five-hours-per-day parking permit which reduces the costs.

Technological advances in the way that we process applications for car park season tickets means that the service can now be delivered more cheaply. As a result, the Council offers significant savings for those who choose to make one, three or six month flexible payments.

19 The Development Management team was recently awarded ISO 9000 Quality Management accreditation. This adheres to guidelines intended to increase business efficiency and customer satisfaction. The goal of ISO 9000 is to embed a quality management system within an organization, increasing productivity, reducing unnecessary costs, and ensuring quality of processes and products.

Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner agreed to provide over £50,000 in grant funding to improve safety and wellbeing in the Cotswolds. The bid for the funding was led by CDC and at least 11 statutory and voluntary sector organisations are now working together to deliver a package of seven projects, all of which contribute to the Commissioner’s priorities for a safer Gloucestershire. These include: combating loneliness amongst older people; developing better community transport options; music and physical activity projects for young people; cyber security; dog micro-chipping; and improved road safety. Funding is being phased in over three years.

The Council can award grants from £1,000 to a maximum of £10,000 for physical (capital) projects which enhance community facilities or develop play and recreation facilities. Over the last nine years 91 projects have benefited from grants worth approximately £630,000 . They have been particularly useful in making improvements to accommodate the needs of children, young people, the elderly and those who are disabled, and have enabled many facilities to become more widely usable and financially viable.

We continue to provide financial support to voluntary sector partners such as Gloucestershire Rural Community Council, Citizens Advice Bureau, Cotswold Volunteers, Cotswold Volunteers North, Cotswold Counselling, and the Churn Project.

At the request of local communities, the Council has designated 12 neighbourhood areas across the district. This has given these communities the green light to develop a Neighbourhood Plan which will determine where development can take place in their localities. Lechlade’s Neighbourhood Plan passed the referendum stage in October 2016 and was ‘made’ by the Council in November, Tetbury with Tetbury Upton’s Neighbourhood Plan passed referendum and was made in December 2017.

Homeless people in the Cotswolds will be offered improved support, thanks to almost £1million worth of new government funding for Gloucestershire.

A partnership comprising Gloucestershire County Council, the Clinical Commissioning Group, and all district councils in the county, has secured up to £990,000 Social Impact Bond (SIB) funding for long- term homeless people in the county. Only seven other areas in the country will benefit from this funding. This paves the way for a four year project which will be dedicated to delivering a new service to help long-term rough sleepers and repeat homeless people.

Ubico Ltd, the environmental services provider for Cotswold District Council, has fitted 360 degree vehicle cameras to all new collection vehicles, and the ones in place so far have improved the safety of crew members and other road users. Additionally, if the vehicle gets too close to an object or vehicle - either at the front or the rear - an alarm will sound and the brakes will be applied automatically. Another alarm sounds if the vehicle strays out of marked lanes while travelling on dual carriageways.

20 Visitors to the Cotswolds are now be able to pick up free leaflets which provide very useful information about key features and attractions in several market towns across the area. Working with local Town Councils, Cotswolds Tourism has so far created leaflets for Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, and Tetbury, with more to follow on Cirencester, Chipping Campden and also a range of locations in West Oxfordshire.

Cotswold District Council was thanked by the BBC for providing support to a ‘DIY SOS’ team that was working on a project in Avening during Spring 2017. An army of volunteer craftsmen adapted a family home to accommodate the father who was paralysed from the neck down. Officers from the Council negotiated the use of CDC-owned land at Jubilee Gardens to facilitate the project, and granted a temporary licence for the BBC team to occupy the area around the site. Other officers helped to install a security fence around the site to protect trees, and arranged special waste collections to cope with the extra demand for clean-up services.

Taxi and private hire drivers across Cotswold District now receive free training sessions to help them identify the signs that a young or vulnerable person is at risk of exploitation. The training is delivered by the Gloucestershire Child Sexual Exploitation team on behalf of Cotswold District Council and it is now mandatory for all drivers licensed by the authority.

Members of Cotswold District Council met on 19 October 2017 and agreed unanimously to award the title of Honorary Alderman to former Councillor Jim Parsons who died a few weeks earlier. Cllr Parsons was first elected in 1999 and served as a Chairman of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Tetbury Sport and Leisure Centre Liaison Committee for a number of years. Additionally, he held Vice Chair posts on the Overview and Scrutiny, Community Services Grants, Best Value and Review, and Audit committees. He was a member of virtually every committee formed at CDC during his tenure, most notably the Planning Committee.

Members of Cotswold District Council have allocated £200,000 to a long-standing Community Projects Fund which helps local residents update community buildings and invest in play facilities for children. The scheme awards projects sums ranging from £1,000 to £10,000 on the basis that the CDC grant will constitute up to 25% of a project’s total cost. However, experience shows that these grants could be much more valuable because they often enable bidders to attract further contributions to the costs from various charitable sources. Based on previous funding, the Council estimates that an allocation of £200,000 should meet demand over the next four years.

Booking building control site inspections with Cotswold District Council has become even easier, thanks to a new app which has just been launched.

CDC has launched a free app that allows builders and householders to contact the Council’s Building Control team at any time of the day, via a smart phone or tablet. The app uses a Global Positioning System to pinpoint the site and the correct building control authority before sending the inspection request straight through to the Cotswold team. To install the app please visit www.labc.co.uk/app or for more information [email protected] or phone 01285 623537.

The Council funded the removal of an historic oak staircase from the Old Memorial Hospital and its transfer to a church in Limerick, Ireland. The staircase – which is regarded as an official war memorial - was originally donated to the hospital by the Limerick-based family of Major Edgar James Bannatyne, who was a member of the Royal Flying Corps during World War 1 and died at Rendcomb airfield in the Cotswolds in 1917. Once the staircase has been restored, it will be incorporated into Saint Munchins Church in Limerick, which contains a number of graves and monuments commemorating the Bannatyne family.

21 Every financial year, each Member of Cotswold District Council receives a £1400 share of a Youth Activities fund delegated by Gloucestershire County Council. Members often pool their portion to support larger projects.

In February 2017 a former Daglingworth resident was prosecuted for falsely claiming over £2,170 in Council Tax Support from Cotswold District Council. She pleaded guilty to 10 offences under the Fraud Act 2006 after making false representations and failing to disclose information.

Members of Cotswold District Council have given their full support to what they believe is the best option to solve the A417 ‘Missing Link’ problem. Meeting in March 2017, the CDC Cabinet resolved that Option 30 (estimated to cost £485 million) was better than Option 12 (estimated to cost £465m).

Cotswold District Council joined forces with the Alzheimer’s Society and several local organisations to organise the Cotswold Dementia Action Week during May 2017. The public attended free events across the District which were designed to highlight the range of activities that people with dementia can enjoy.

Each year the Building Control team carries out around 5,000 inspections across the District. These vary from checking small projects such as replacement windows at domestic premises to larger-scale inspections for construction companies on housing development sites.

We have worked closely with the Cotswold Tree Warden Group for over 20 years to promote and preserve our green heritage, encouraging residents to plant and care for trees.

All of our 110 polling stations provide access for the disabled and comply with the recommended standards.

We publish all items of expenditure on our website. This means that all costs - including items ranging from computers and phone bills to bin bags and paper clips – are available to the public for scrutiny.

We have achieved ‘Smarter Planning Champion’ status which means we promote the online submission of planning applications (which now amount to almost 70% of the total received) and will also encourage the planning community to adhere to best practice guidelines.

Social media and texting are becoming a very useful means of ensuring residents can obtain information about Cotswold District Council quickly and easily. The Council’s twitter account @CotswoldDC now has over 4,000 followers and the tourism-oriented @CDCTourism account has well over 6,000 followers.. More recently the Council has launched a Facebook page which is already proving to be very popular.

We successfully bid for over £400,000 from the Department of Communities and Local Government to expedite the establishment of a Gloucestershire-wide Counter Fraud Unit, with the funds arriving in April 2015. This enabled the project to move forward into 2015/16 with the introduction of a project manager and other resources to bring in a new data warehouse and matching system which supports a dedicated counter fraud team in Gloucestershire. The new team has developed ways to identify potential fraud proactively through the use of data matching and intelligence sharing across all Gloucestershire-based local authorities and social housing providers.

Our food and safety team carried out 485 interventions during 2017-18 and assessed that 92% of food premises were broadly compliant with hygiene standards.

22 The Environmental and Regulatory Services (ERS) group - a partnership between Cotswold, West Oxfordshire, and Forest of Dean District Councils delivers environmental health, licensing, and building control services. The partnership went live in April 2016 following the conclusion of a two year transformation project, and is on track to deliver £8.5M of savings over the next ten years. The partnership was shortlisted for two Local Government Chronicle Awards – Team of the Year and Efficiency – in late 2016, and subsequently received commendations.

In September 2016 Public Health England published a review covering all areas in England, and the profile for Cotswold District indicated that the health of residents is generally better than the national average. Cotswold was described as being one of the 20% least deprived districts/unitary authorities in England, and life expectancy for both men and women is higher than average, regardless of whether they live in the most affluent or the most deprived areas of the District.

On average men in the Cotswolds are living beyond the age of 80 and women beyond the age of 85.

Cirencester’s Jobcentre Plus services are now co-located at our Trinity Road headquarters. This allows both organisations to provide a more joined up face-to-face service for customers. By working more closely together as key partners, we are saving on overheads and reduce costs to the taxpayer. The move fits very well with the Government’s programme of welfare reform and service transformation and will further support the delivery of Universal Credit which went live in Cotswold district from May 2015.

23 For Children in Need 2017 staff at Cotswold District Council hosted a range of fun fund raising events which raised just over £1,000. Highlights included a Trinity Road ‘Bake Off’ competition which tested the cake making skills of a number of officers with a flair for baking.

CDC contributed £10,000 to the bid for a Saturday stage of the OVO Tour of Britain cycling race which was passed through the Cotswolds in September 2017. The global TV coverage provided a significant boost for accommodation and catering providers.

The Council participated in a national social media campaign on November 2017 which highlighted the work of local authorities in the space of a working day. CDC posts were extremely popular. Our Finances

Each year, Cotswold District Council spends part of its capital on one-off projects, which can be anything from improving buildings to buying new computer systems – as long as the benefits are long term. During 2017/18, the Council spent £1,921,000 on the following:

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE £s

Disabled facilities grants 566,000 Car Parking 133,000 Waste and recycling vehicles and equipment 298,000 ICT equipment and ICT infrastructure improvements 267,000

Community Project Fund Grants 26,000 Flooding and land drainage schemes 631,000 1,921,000

Council Tax

Your Council Tax bill does not just cover services provided by Cotswold District Council. Like all district councils, we collect Council Tax from our residents on behalf of ourselves, the county council, the county police and crime commissioner, and town and parish councils.

If you live in a Band D property, your total bill for 2017/18, excluding any payment to your town or parish council, was £1,424.63. Only £126.40 (less than 9%) was kept by the District Council. The bulk of your payment went to Gloucestershire County Council, while the remainder went to Gloucestershire Police Authority.

24 About the District

The Cotswolds is one of the most pleasant areas in the UK. The countryside is dotted with villages characterised by picturesque stone-built villages, the market towns are vibrant, and the gentle rolling landscape is a walker’s paradise.

The Cotswold District is one of the largest in England, covering approximately 450 square miles. It is situated in the eastern half of Gloucestershire. According to the 2011 Census, about 83,000 people live in the district, scattered over115 Parishes (which are represented by 86 Town and Parish Councils) and nearly 200 settlements. About 80% of the district lies within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and there are144 designated Conservation Areas. Additionally, no other district in England contains as many listed buildings and structures – some 6,000 in the Cotswolds. The district is also home to a wide range of Scheduled Ancient Monuments, Historic Parks and Gardens.

Cotswold District has excellent transport links, being within easy reach of the M4 and M5, which provide convenient access to London, Bristol and Birmingham. Train stations at Kemble and Moreton- in-Marsh have direct lines to London and other regional centres. Education facilities are very good with many students at secondary schools achieving excellent results, while vocational and further education requirements in land and business-based subjects are met by Cirencester College, and the Royal Agricultural University.

Throughout the recession in the UK, employment levels and economic activity remained encouragingly positive in the Cotswolds. The district’s principal town, Cirencester, is one of the main centres for commerce and leisure and there are several other thriving settlements across the district: Bourton-on- the-Water, Chipping Campden; Fairford; Moreton-in-Marsh; Lechlade; Northleach; Stow-on-the-Wold; and Tetbury. The whole area boasts a range of beautiful villages, and it offers many fun-filled tourist attractions, good value accommodation, excellent local services, and superb commercial opportunities. The award-winning Corinium Museum in Cirencester explores the area’s Roman heritage, and exhibits some of that era’s finest artefacts; the district is also home to Britain’s largest water park, with more than 133 lakes providing opportunities to get close to rare wildlife and enjoy many water sports.

25 About the Council

Cotswold District Council has 34 Councillors, representing 32 wards. The Chairman of the Council during 2017-18 was Cllr Mark Annett (who was later appointed Leader of the Council) and the Vice- Chairman was Cllr Julian Beale. Reporting to the Council is a Cabinet (chaired by the Leader and comprising five other Councillors) and three Committees covering Planning and Licensing, Audit, and Overview and Scrutiny. The Council’s Head of Paid service is Nigel Adams.

Our main office are in Cirencester, and we have an Area Centre in Moreton-in-Marsh. We own three leisure centres at Cirencester, Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Campden which are run by SLM (former CDC dual use leisure centres at Tetbury and Fairford are run by the schools in which they are located.) The Council-owned Corinium museum is located in Cirencester and also houses a Visitor Information Centre. Additionally, we have a Visitor Information Centre in Moreton-in-Marsh and provide grant aid to three Visitor Information Points at Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Campden and Tetbury.

Population: 85,160 Households: 43,000 Chipping Campden A429

Area: 450 square miles A44 Moreton -in-Marsh

CHELTENHAM Stow-on- the-Wold GLOUCESTER A424

Bourton A40 -on-the- Water

Northleach A417 WEST

A429 (Fosseway)COTSWOLD OXFORDSHIRE DISTRICT DISTRICT

M5 Cirencester A417 Fairford A419 A419 Lechlade

A433 Tetbury

M4

Parishes: 125 Town & Parish Councils: 114 This document can be produced in Braille, large print, audio tape and in other languages.

If you would like a copy in one of these formats, please phone the Print and Design Department on 01285 623215.

Trinity Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1PX Tel: 01285 623000 Fax: 01285 623900 www.cotswold.gov.uk 16