In her diary this week, Stroud District Council leader Doina Cornell discusses how the council is acting to protect high streets from declining.

WE are a district with many distinct communities, and people’s deep care for the place where they live has come out very strongly in these last few months, with the proposal to introduce car parking charges feeling like a symbol for many other issues.

In part, the decision to call a halt to the proposals to introduce charges was influenced by the changing economic climate as regards the fragile health of the high street, that has come more to the fore in the year since we originally considered these proposals.

And that won’t go away as an issue, car parking charges or no.

Studies show that austerity is hitting market towns harder than big cities.

We need to look at our high streets, and see what, if anything, a district council can do to help buck national economic trends against a background of central government cuts to public services and spending.

Rural road traffic is still rising, town centres are finite, and transport alternatives are poor – rural bus services are too expensive and infrequent and county subsidies have been cut.

So what can we do to make our common spaces more for people than for cars?

With all these issues at play, how we all work together, from district council to corner shop, is going to be the challenge we now face.

I am really pleased to see that SDCis extending the Active For Life event to cover a huge range of sports and activities with something for everyone.

On Saturday, September 8, The Pulse in Dursley and Stratford Park Leisure Centre in Stroud will have 43 free-of-charge sessions lined up between them – everything from cardio-tennis to skateboarding.

It’s a great chance to try something new, or perhaps return to a sport you once played, at no cost. See bit.ly/2wiUAGs