In her diary this week, Stroud District Council leader Doina Cornell explains how the council picked its new chief executive.

I HOPE you’ve been enjoying your half term and getting some time off to spend with friends or family.

As we’ve been elected to allocate public money on your behalf to provide the services and investment the district needs, money is always important and where to spend it.

We agreed the budget for 2018/19 in January, but now we’ve had the precise outturn reports for 17/18 it can inform the next steps, looking to set a budget for 2019/20.

As you’ll know, financial uncertainties face all local government, although as a provider of ‘neighbourhood’ services like planning and waste collection, we aren’t hit as hard as councils which must find funds to care for people and pay for hospitals and schools.

How to become a ‘self-financing’ council is a challenge so I was pleased to read the reports about how The Pulse - the council-owned leisure centre in Dursley - has generated an additional income of £270,000.

It’s a fantastic example of how successful in-house services can be and I hope to see plans for more services to follow this model in the future.

What are our priorities this autumn? Our waste and recycling service is one.

Ironically we’re a victim of our own success because the numbers of residents who use the food waste and recycling service have exceeded all expectations, meaning that the costs are higher than first budgeted.

It is now one of the biggest pressures on the budget so we’re looking at ways to offset that cost while keeping our commitment to sending as little rubbish to landfill.

It might mean that we have to adjust some services, such as cutting grass less often. As for how the incinerator will impact on our recycling when it goes ‘live’ in about 18 months, watch this space.