More Scrutiny

I left home at 3.30 for Ebley Mill (HQ of Stroud District Council) and got home 10.30pm after rather too much meeting time - first a 'Leaders' meeting (that's leaders of the various political groups) which looked at a range of issues then a pre-Scrutiny meeting then a Scrutiny meeting...

Photo: Ebley Mill from air

....here's some of the 'highlights' what were discussed in those meetings - would love to write more but too late - and am not sure folk will be that interested in the Housing Revenue Account and other reverting reports that were discussed at some length - however do contact me if you want further info:

- Housing Revenue - having mentioned this I should perhaps note that while I support redistribution of wealth between Councils - ie richer areas supporting poorer the Housing Revenue means that some £4.5 million collected from Council Housing goes into the pocket of central government - and is not invested in Council housing - this is outrageous but not a lot we can do about it - the figure looks set to increase year on year - and talking of Council housing - with each sale of a Council house Stroud only keeps 25% - again the rest goes back to Government. It really is time we had proper investment in Social housing - it is impossible for many to get on housing ladder and rented options are very limited - out society is growing more and more divided.
- Feedback re floods and A46 - the latter looks set to be 6 months rather than 12 as my letter pointed in The Citizen today feared could be the case.
- Stroud District Parking enforcement officers look set to take over from police on 5th November.
- Update on canal
- Trees - one councillor raised the issue that in the light of this years unusual weather there have been more damage to trees - need an assessment re what liabilities/needs to be done - I agree and did note National Trusts notes in Randwick woods re not walkng there in bad weather or v hot weather.
- Implications on Planning Department following Huntsgrove being called in - more staff needed to tackle the legal issues resulting from what basically looks like a political call in by David Drew and Parmjit Dhanda - while Hunts Grove is not in my a great place to put 1,750 houses it has at least been through all the various hurdles of consulation and meets most of the criteria - indeed better than many other plans like north of Tewkesbury where they want to build on flood plains.
- Weavers Croft - good on John Marjoram for getting front page in Citizen on this outrageous closure of beds - see more re Green party view here - situation does indeed look bleak.
- The Stanleys recycling pilot scheme - over 100 people expressed interest in leading on this - but only 12 places - shows peoples interest in wanting to get stuff done - shame it is all taking so long - need it across whole district - but at least Stroud is tackling it the right way when compared to other Councils who are trying to meet ridiculously damaging Government recycling targets rather than trying to reduce waste collected.
- Performance target reports of departments were discussed - I raised several issues re Planning.
- Customer Services responded to my question re the lack of child-friendly activities in the enterance to Ebley Mill with an agreement to look at it - I had sent email below earlier - to be fair they do have crayons and a computer terminal but still think we need a better child area. Email I sent: "I understand that staff have requested a child play area or at the very least provision of some activities for children waiting in the foyer at Ebley Mill. I would wholly support this move. I recently had cause to wait in the foyer with a 6 year old and while the wait was not long (15 minutes) it could have been made much easier for myself, the child, other customers and indeed staff if some provision of toys had been made. Banks, GP surgeries, cafes and indeed many other places now have child-friendly areas. I find it surprising that in the refit of the foyer this was not prioritised. I would welcome news on when provision can be made."

That's enough - time for bed long ago!