STROUD District Council leader Steve Lydon keeps you up to date with council matters

  • Tuesday, November 29 – Safeguarding

Chief executive David Hagg and I attended this very important seminar on Safeguarding Children and Adults in Gloucestershire, organised by the Gloucestershire Health and Wellbeing Board. The meeting explored the pressures in the system, particularly at the “front door” of all organisations and looked at what this means for each organisation involved in safeguarding vulnerable children, young people and adults.

  • Thursday, December 1 – Get Ready for Winter

This week was a particularly cold one. After last year’s mild winter, temperatures well below freezing saw many of us returning home after a day’s work to the ground still covered in frost and car windscreens still frozen. The Gloucestershire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) reminded us that the Get Ready For Winter campaign was now live. The forum is made up of Gloucestershire councils, the emergency services, health bodies, the Environment Agency and other local organisations who all work together to prevent and deal with civil emergencies – in short, its aim is to keep us all safe, especially during times of adverse weather, flooding or other large scale incidents. You can find more about the LRF and a link to the aforementioned winter campaign at glosprepared.co.uk

The campaign covers a wealth of information and advice on travel, the home, health and general preparation for winter. It’s worth a look and could save you a lot of grief – in the broadest context.

  • Friday, December 2 – Garden waste

In recent weeks I’ve mentioned how the new food waste collections have been going, however today saw the end of the first year of garden waste recycling collections. This is an optional, paid for service, with a one-off £20 charge for the wheelie-bin and an annual subscription fee of £36. Subscribers receive a brown wheelie-bin for grass clippings, twigs, leaves, bark, hedge cuttings, flowers, plants, weeds, fallen fruit and small branches, which is collected fortnightly over the 10-month period from February. The first year saw close to 6,400 households sign up for the scheme. The annual subscription fee equates to £1.64 per collection. Visit stroud.gov.uk/gardenwaste or call 01453 754424 for details.

  • Eat safe at Christmas

Christmas isn’t far away now and whilst many of us will have already attended one, or have parties planned, it’s worth remembering the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme if you’re planning to eat out. Our environmental health officers go out and assess establishments across the district to ensure that they meet standards and give them a food hygiene score. If you’re thinking about booking a table somewhere and want confidence in the standards of cleanliness in places you eat, visit food.gov.uk/ratings.