COLUMN BY Chloe Turner, Environment committee chair of Stroud District Council

THIS month, as every year, the council is proud to show its support for LGBT+ colleagues and residents in celebrating LGBT+ History Month.

This year’s theme is #UnderTheScope, celebrating and remembering the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people in the fields of medicine and healthcare, and shining the spotlight on figures such as the academic Margaret Stacey, mental health nurse George Ward (Cherry Valentine), and pioneering female physician Sophia Jex Blake.

You may have seen that government planning inspectors have agreed to grant a short pause in the local plan process, as was requested by the council in August last year.

The council is required to ensure that there is sufficient supply of land for housing and employment over the next 20 years, and this is mapped out through the local plan, along with protections for our communities and the environment.

The agreement of this 10 month pause will allow time for the council to address inspectors’ concerns around capacity of junctions 12 and 14 of the M5, public transport solutions at the proposed Sharpness new settlement, and the cost of a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the M5 for the planned new settlement at Wisloe, between Cam and Slimbridge.

The council and its partners will now work through an inspector-approved joint action plan to find solutions, which will be followed by a public consultation later this year.