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

Wednesday, December 3 – autumn statement

By all accounts, large cuts to local government funding are on the cards after next year’s election. In the meantime, our committees are working this month on budget setting for the year ahead.

Thursday, December 4 – Community services and licensing, Ebley Mill

The first of December’s committee meetings, with its aforementioned budget focus. However, it wasn’t all about the head-scratching work of finance. Much attention was given to our health and wellbeing work in the form of our sports centres. There were updates on the performance of Stratford Park Leisure Centre, our four part-time sports centres and on the major redevelopment work at Dursley Pool. Recent years have seen great progress at our sports and leisure facilities.

Monday, December 8 – Food allergy training

New national regulations came into force on Saturday meaning that restaurants, cafes, takeaways and other caterers will need to provide allergy information for the food they sell. Seventy catering businesses attended training sessions at the council offices and another 50 on Thursday, to make sure that they had everything they needed to meet the new requirements.

Tuesday, December 9 – Special council meeting

Councillors were due to vote on the council’s draft Stroud district local plan at this meeting.

Thursday, December 11 – Environment committee, Ebley Mill

This committee meeting was preceded by a visit from a local food business which won funding from the council’s food grants scheme. The scheme aims to help food related businesses in the district to expand. It was a great opportunity for the committee members to see the real life impact of its decisions as they meet the business owner and sample their wares. You can view this meeting at www.stroud.gov.uk/webcast