STROUD District Council leader Geoff Wheeler keeps you up to date with what is happening at the council

Friday, May 8 – election results Following coverage in last week’s SNJ you’ll obviously be aware of the outcome of the local and national elections. Before the elections I alluded to the prospect of major cuts to council budgets being announced after the elections had taken place. Councils and other public authorities now wait, with bated breath, to see what the future holds, however we’re all pretty certain that there will be a huge impact on what we can do and how we deliver our services. On a more positive note, our district had one of the highest voter turnouts in the country at 76 per cent. This compares to the UK average of 66 per cent.

Tuesday, May 12 – local plan examination resumes Revisions to the district’s draft local plan were approved by the council in December. This week saw the resumption of the ‘examination in public’ by the government’s planning inspector assigned to evaluate it. You may recall that this was originally scheduled for January but was delayed due to the inspector being taken ill. Overall housing and employment numbers were covered. Dates are scheduled for the next round of examination of the plan at the end of this month, which is focused on a more detailed look at housing and employment. Following approval from the inspector, it will look at specific numbers and locations identified for homes and jobs. You can find out more about the examination process at tinyurl.com/omleyaa Monday, May 18 – Skills for Stroud, Forest Green Rovers This was the launch event for a new council initiative. The Skills for Stroud Work Experience Charter aims to raise work experience standards in the district. Our trained assessors check the work experience programmes of employers and education providers to give students the confidence that their work placements will be of genuine value. Decent work experience programmes aren’t just of value to students – they’re a great endorsement for schools and an excellent way for employers to encourage future apprentices and employees to join them. By the way, we don’t charge for this assessment, so if you run a business which has or wants to deliver a beneficial programme, it’s worth getting in touch and hopefully you can gain this positive endorsement. Anyone interested should visit skillsforstroud.org.uk Thursday, May 21 – Annual general meeting, Ebley Mill, 7pm At the AGM, the six new councillors who were voted in at the start of the month, including two former councillors, will be welcomed to the council chamber. This meeting will generally be concerned with formalities such as appointing councillors to committees and reviewing the council’s constitution. You can watch the meeting live, online at www.stroud.gov.uk/webcast