The NEWS 2013 ECONOMY: Canal Latest; Stroud Ambitions; Tourism News
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December, ThE NEWS 2013 ECONOMY: Canal Latest; Stroud Ambitions; Tourism News AFFORDABLE AND SOCIAL HOUSING: Concord Allotments; Grange View Partnership; Tenant Service Annual Report ENVIRONMENT: Green Deal Surveys; Stay Warm & Well RESOURCES: Community Development News; Don’t have pets if..; Enforcing Dog Control Orders; LLPG Award; Museum News; Waste & Recycling; Winter Warmth Grant HEALTH AND WELL BEING: Dementia Exhibition; Dursley Pool News; Joint Use Centres; Sport Development News; Stratford Park Leisure Centre; Voter Registration CORPORATE AFFAIRS: e Recruitment; Hairy November; Karen Toole Fundraising; Staff Appraisals TOWN & PARISH COUNCIL NEWS: WHAT’S ON: Museum Events; Sub Rooms Events; Christmas at Woodchester Mansion WELCOME Tamarie Lloyd Sheltered Housing Officer 28th October Rebecca Short Business Support Assistant, Revenue & Benefits 28th October Elinor Croxall Business Support Assistant, Revenue & Benefits 20th November Mark Graham Public Space Officer 25th November FAREWELL Phil Dean Housing Officer 5th November Eion Trevallion Repairs Advisor 20th December CONGRATULATIONS Hannah Emery, Democratic Services and Elections Officer, has passed her final assignment with a credit and has completed her Certificate in Electoral Administration. ECONOMY: Help local people and businesses recover from the recession, grow the local economy and increase employment CANAL PROJECT LATEST Ocean: We have reluctantly decided to accept the hand operated swingbridge from the contractor. The only real way of improving its operability would be to install power – the cost of which would always have fallen on the canal project budget. Dudbridge: Work on the upper lock is complete, with the focus now very much on the lower lock. As reported previously, the brickwork here was found to be in a worse condition than expected. Despite this, the contractor has made good progress. We are fairly confident that the gates to the lower lock will be fitted on Tuesday, 10th December – weather permitting of course. The nearness of Dudbridge Bridge to the lock means that an unrivalled grandstand view of the operation will be available. Volunteers are about to begin installation of the paddle gear. This was designed by Cotswold Canals Trust engineers, and closely follows the appearance of the originals, but incorporating modern safety features. The gear is manufactured by local companies, while the timber jackposts are made by CCT volunteers. Repairs following flood damage are also complete. This week will see the reinstatement of Ruscombe Brook’s discharge into the canal channel. It had been diverted into the bypass channel whilst work was underway. This means that the upper lock and the channel between the two locks are now in water. We plan to allow around 20 canoes from Stroud Canoe Club to be the first boats to pass through the upper lock in over 60 years. We are hoping that most will be junior members. This will take place shortly. The contractor expects to be off site by Christmas. Wallbridge Lower Lock: Timescales here are extremely tight, as we cannot begin any work on the channel until May – the end of the fish spawning season. This work is also dependent upon the developer completing the piled wall to retain their land above the lock before that time. In order to buy time, we are planning to construct the bypass channel in advance of this work, as it does not directly affect the channel. Contract documents are being drawn up and we hope to invite tenders in January. Capels Mill: Now that winter is here, contractors are about to begin planting 60 mature native trees, of which 5 (near the entrance) will be local varieties of plum, apple and pear. The Stroud Valleys Project has been awarded external grant funding for further planting of trees and wildflowers on the site, together with the installation of interpretation features. Cheapside: We are hopeful that it will be possible to retain the slope above the canal. Landslips have occurred here previously. Any form of retention will be dependent on the stability of the ground underneath, so we will have to commission ground investigations in the form of boreholes and trenches. Tenders for this work will be invited shortly. Depending on the outcome, it may well be possible to eventually restore the canal to its original width here. Bowbridge: As part of the effort to cut costs, we have produced our own, in-house, design for a wall to retain the slope above the lock and below Bowbridge Veterinary Surgery. This would involve using ‘porcupine’ blocks left over from construction of the retaining slope above Dudbridge Locks. We are now in the process of obtaining costs and we are hopeful that it will produce a considerable saving. Volunteers: The Tuesday group has finished erecting Dog Control Zone notices along the towpath. It has also installed 20 ‘What’s This’ panels – small boards which explain a feature where a full panel is not needed. They have also begun erecting Thames & Severn Way markers along the towpath. Eventually, these will mark the whole pedestrian route between Saul and Lechlade. The Thursday group has been laying towpath topping at Capels Mill and Griffins Mill. They have also been learning how to use the mechanized roller now that the REACH community payback team is no longer involved in the project. Sub groups have been repainting Jubilee Bridge at Thrupp and erecting cycle barriers. The Waterway Recovery Group annual reunion ‘Bonfire Bash’ was extremely successful, with a large amount of work done – mainly tree and vegetation clearance. We now have 1518 users following the latest canal news on @cotswoldcanals Contact: Dave Marshall, Canal Partnership Manager (754646) (back to index) 2 STROUD AMBITIONS EVENT ‘Being able to speak to people who know about what I want to do and could advise me of options for the future’ ‘The inspiration & how helpful people were’ ‘It gave me ideas of what would be expected of me with different areas & the sort of choices I should make at GCSE’ ‘Getting to talk to people in work about what would be good routes into that area of work’ These quotes from students who attended the first Stroud Ambitions at Stratford Park Leisure Centre typify feedback and underline the success of a careers-event-with-a-difference. Designed to assist yr 9s with forthcoming GCSE choices and promote education and business links, over 50 companies & organisations represented 30 employment sectors and offered interactive workshops during the daytime to 1,000 students from 7 local schools. A traditional careers event took place in the evening, with 12 Universities & Colleges, the JCP and the National Careers Service also on hand to offer advice & guidance to a further 600 people. Stroud Ambitions was organised by SDC’s Policy Team and the Head of Schools Engagement at SGS, with additional sponsorship from the University of Gloucestershire. The enthusiasm and commitment of participants was fabulous and cannot be underestimated. The owner of one small business in the District said that he was glad to ‘give the pupils an insight into my trade and feel that I have contributed towards their future’. Despite the extremely long day, many participants immediately offered to be at the next one! Sincere thanks are also due to the support team, which included local business partners, LSP members, councillors and 6 of our apprentices. A report is being prepared and will be available shortly. For a 2 minute taster of the day, visit: http://stroudcommunity.tv/snapshot-of-stroud-district-ambitions- careers-event/. For a 30 minute film with interviews see: http://stroudcommunity.tv/stroud-district- ambitions-careers-event-some-of-the-57-businesses-who-supported-the-day/ Contact: Jackie Godwin, Policy Officer (754296) (back to index) TOURISM NEWS NEW Cotswolds Visitor Guide 2014 The launch of the new guide coincides with VisitBritain’s new Tourism: Jobs & Growth report which highlights tourism as one of Britain’s fastest growing industries, responsible for 10% of the UK’s jobs and 10% of GDP. The new guide is hot off the press and ready for visitors to pick-up from tourist information centres across the whole country, including Stroud TIC. It will be distributed nationally and internationally in response to a targeted marketing campaign and also available to download from www.visitthecotswolds.org.uk and www.cotswolds.com. On Yer Bike We are ahead of the game with our forthcoming 2014 promotional campaign for cycling in the south Cotswolds. We have just discovered we will be able to generate extra marketing coverage via VisitEngland’s new ‘On Yer Bike’ campaign, capitalising on the renewed enthusiasm for cycling as a result of the successes in the Olympics and Tour de France. Thanks to the efforts of Stroud District residents, our routes have been tested and we are working on producing printed circular maps for the benefit of local people and to entice a new market from further afield. 3 Quality in Tourism grants Stroud News & Journal featured information about our grants to drive up quality in the accommodation businesses in the district. New businesses or those that haven’t already joined Visit England’s Quality in Tourism scheme need to apply to us to see if they qualify for a 50% grant towards their membership of the scheme. Recent research showed that 80% of visitors base their decision on where to stay on whether their chosen accommodation has a star rating. Press coverage We are starting to get press enquiries from a press release we put out about Laurie Lee’s 100th anniversary next year, which should generate some great coverage in 2014. Twitter and What’s On? @DiscoverStroud has over 1500 followers. Keep an eye on visitthecotswolds.org.uk/whatson for some festive fun. Contacts: Sara Chardin and Shirley Wood, Regeneration Officers (Tourism) (754307) (back to index) AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Provide affordable, decent and social housing CONCORD ALLOTMENTS Although there were allotments at Concord when the scheme first opened in the 1970s, they had lain derelict for more than 20 years when senior sheltered housing officer Lizzie Thornhill was approached by tenants to revive them.