Stroud FM goes digital and last nights Cabinet

Last night, after work, I was running the Elfin Woodcraft group - we sort of rotate the leaders role and for various reasons I ended up with it this evening unexpectedly - 14 children and a collection of adults went rambling through Stroud town centre with the litter picker-upper thingummies.

We managed 3 or 4 bags full of litter - yes I know it is the Council's job to collect litter but this was more about learning responsibilities and stuff about civic pride etc etc - anyhow we were fortunate that when I nipped in to see Stroud FM they kindly arranged to show us around their studios - plus we got to share a little about the Woodcraft group....details like what we had been up to and items found during the evening like plastic false teeth, an onion and as one child said: "Over a hundred cigarette butts - that is not nice." Indeed.

Anyhow I learn that we can now listen to Stroud FM online - tune in now to our radio station - see: www.stroudfm.co.uk/

Cabinet

After that it was off to Cabinet meeting at Ebley Mill - you can catch that online but various items discussed - some notes below to give a flavour - like the Cabinet's rejection of the Government's free swimming for under 16s - the grant wasn't large enough - but the acceptance of free swimming for over 60s...

Photo: Ebley Mill sketch on a wall in Ebley Mill

....there was a discussion on flooding - I asked about Puckshole as still no plans to tackle flooding there (but do join us 10.00 am tomorrow to help clear the brook there) - another Green councillor suggested that virtually all the schemes planned were business-as-usual - not looking at attenuation but rather trying to manage the water flows.

Another item was the transfer of land at Summer Street for the development of a youth housing assessment - the Town Council had rejected this but I support this move - we urgently need to find more homes for this group and while I recognise concerns this is an important opportunity for a service that will be manned 24 hours a day.

There are also plans for a joint cross county legal service contract - it is to be decided by delegated powers - I asked about why such an important decision was not being made by Full Council - the answer was satisfactory - just. Other items included the Homelessness Strategy, the General Fund Revenue, Affordable Housing and more....