Column by the leader of Stroud District Council, Doina Cornell. 

“Proud to Be” is the theme for this year’s Black History Month, and SDC Black and Minority Ethnic officers are joining with their colleagues across Gloucestershire this month to celebrate and share their personal stories, in a festival of celebration. Look out for the #BlackHistoryMonth #ProudtoBE hashtags.

For an insight into Black History, stories from people living in Gloucestershire, educational resources, information on understanding terminology and equality issues, and links to resources and events visit gloucestershire.gov.uk/bhm-2021

Last week the Strategy and Resources Committee received an update on Brimscombe Port. All three tenants have now vacated the site with keys returned to the Council and the formal legal process has been dropped.

In consultation with the other Group Leaders, we also agreed that the council would not seek any rent, service charges, utilities, insurance and other costs for Rush or Grace Network from when their leases ended in January and June respectively, which amounts to about £54,000 for Rush and £13,400 for Grace Network.

Strategy and Resources Committee unanimously voted to support Rush and the Grace Network and this decision is part of the process of implementing that support.

The procurement process for the development partner is now proceeding and is expected to be issued later this month. A promotional video to assist this process can be viewed on the SDC website, as well as a briefing note on the latest updates, and information from Stroud Valleys Canal Company on the mooring of boats at the port.

We are also working with the Parish Council on a series of further community consultations in person as the demolition and development of the port continues over the coming months.

Development Control Committee meets on October 12, with items for consideration in Stonehouse, Berkeley and Stroud. More information is available online and you can watch the meeting live on Youtube: stroud.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=141&MId=1122&Ver=4