Cllr Gareth Kitchen - Green Party

1st July 2025

Along with residents' casework and in addition to council and training meetings at Ebley Mill, Cllrs Kitchen, Braun & Cohen attended the regular council meetings at North Nibley, Stinchcombe & Wotton-under-Edge.

Council meetings

Link to meeting agenda and documents in the committee title.

Housing Committee – 10th June

• Tenant Satisfaction Survey 24/25
  • These results help the Council to understand where we are doing well and identify areas that require further improvement.
  • 67% satisfied overall up from 65% last year; 65% satisfied with repairs about the same as last year; 55% satisfied that SDC listen to their views; 80% satisfied they were treated fairly and with respect.
  • Improvement projects have been prioritised with a new Resident Engagement Team and action plan
• Strategy for New Council Homes
  • A five year strategy and action plan setting out the council’s approach to providing affordable, good quality, energy efficient council homes. Since 2014 the Council has built 276 new council homes.
  • £35 million has been approved by SDC to build 96 new council homes over the next four years to meet housing need as well as support the local economy and jobs.
  • The council’s budget to acquire new homes was agreed to be increased to £15 million this year.
  • Stroud district has a significant shortage of affordable homes and high average house prices compared to the Gloucestershire average. The local housing market is becoming increasingly polarised between those who were able to buy properties at a time of better wage to house price ratios, and those households who are struggling to access suitable properties, with the situation further exacerbated by the significant increase in private rents and smaller landlords selling properties.
  • There is a high need for affordable homes. In May 2025 there were over 2,700 households waiting for social housing on the district’s housing register and a further 1300 pending validation.
• Temporary Accommodation Placement Policy
  • Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation to qualifying homeless households. The new policy sets out how this temporary accommodation will be allocated fairly, based on need and vulnerability. Nationally and locally there is increasing demand on homelessness services and temporary accommodation.
• Swedish Timber Houses – Mount Pleasant
  • Soon to embark on consultation with nearby residents & Town Council
  • Bat and reptile surveys in train with full planning application to follow.
  • See: Proposed Site Layout Plan
• Video recording

Environment Committee – 12th June

• James Brain has been appointed to replace Brendan Cleere, who recently retired, as the new Strategic Director of Place at SDC. James was previously Head of Strategic Planning and Economic Development at the Council.👏
• Randwick Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan – adopted
  
• Consultation Plan for the Climate and Nature Strategy – adopted
  • The council will consult for 8 weeks, from late July to late Sept on proposed changes to the headline targets, themes and strategic objectives of an updated climate and nature strategy for the district. The final strategy is due to be approved in Dec 2025.
  • A wider scope is proposed for the new strategy with four overarching objectives:
    • Emissions reduction at the council
    • Actions to reduce emissions in the district
    • A new adaptation target
    • A new nature recovery target
  • The new strategy will also shift the ambition from ‘carbon neutrality’ to ‘net zero’, which is a more ambitious standard with higher levels of transparency and accountability.
• Cotswolds National Landscape Management Plan 2025-2030 – adopted
  • This Plan puts increased emphasis on the climate and nature emergencies as well as access to nature and the countryside. The evidence in this plan will assist in council decision making and the preparation of policies and projects.
• Walking and cycling update report
  • Funding for local and strategic projects continues to be allocated. The Community E Bike Loan Scheme launched by Transition Stroud has proved very popular. People can book a bike online from £70 per month (£30 for job seekers) at www.pedal-power.bike
  • The free bike stand scheme, launched in partnership with LifeCycleUK, is also proving popular and a further 50 stands be made available.
  • Work on the detailed design of the Wotton Charfield and Kingswood Greenway continues.
• Litter and Clean Environment report
  • Update from Member Champion Cllr Gill Thomas on work to partner with local businesses, increase awareness of littering through education, working with local volunteers and stakeholders, and reporting mechanisms.
• Video recording

Development Control Committee – 17th June

• S.25/0713/VAR Land North East Of, Kingston Road, Slimbridge – Refused
  • Proposed variation of a previously approved application for 36MW battery storage facility. The applicant proposed to rotate the transformers by 180° with fewer batteries but the scale of the control room building was a concern.
  • Agreed that the application should be refused rather than deferred since the applicant’s new plans arrived too late to be considered by the officer to enable timely decision making by the committee. The applicant will need to submit a new application.
• Video recording

Community Services & Licensing Committee- 19th June

Statement of Licensing Policy – First Draft of the five year policy review for formal consultation later in the summer. – No major changes to the policy are proposed but there is now additional information on about the council’s expectations from applicants and licence holders about topical issues which include:- – Spiking of drink or food. – The national safety initiative Ask for Angela; help for people feeling vulnerable. – Martyn's Law about preparedness of venues for terrorist attacks. – Stratford Park Vision and Ambition Development Plan – adopted – The new plan, developed in consultation with partners and stakeholders, will provide a framework to develop the park and ensure its continued community value into the future. – Household Support Fund 7 – approved – The Household Support Fund (HSF) aims to provide support to households, who would otherwise struggle to buy food, pay essential utility bills or meet other essential living costs or housing costs (in exceptional cases of genuine emergency) to help them with living costs. – Most of the funding for 2025/26 is to Gloucestershire County Council (£6.5m) but Stroud DC also receives a share (£267k) which will go to community-based support and money advice. – Integrated Care Board Grant for Data mapping – approved – This £70k grant will be used to enhance the data analysis and mapping capability at the council. This will support joint work with other local councils to map rural health inequalities. The data will support targeted approaches to address health inequalities. – Video recording

Strategy & Resources Committee- 26th June

• Local Development Scheme Update 2025
  • Agreed to approve this update of the Local Development Scheme so that SDC continues to have an up to date timetable for preparing Development Plan Documents which reflects current planning regulations and guidance.
  • Neighbourhood Plans. Committee noted that Government seems to have withdrawn funding for parishes to develop their own neighbourhood plans.
• Social value policy and measures
  • The revised policy was recommended to Council for approval. Social Value is the additional benefit to the community from a procurement process over and above the direct purchasing of goods, services, works and outcomes by the council. It can can be measured in terms of economic, social and environmental activities and outcomes.
  • The new policy requires not only large service contracts but also goods and works contracts to include social value.
  • The policy will have simplified measures, easier for suppliers.
• Financial outturn report for 2025/25
  • positive end of year statement for the General Fund and housing account with detail of spend across all service areas. This reports allocates underspend to reserves to cover future costs and to fund priority works. This includes a small sum (£64k) allocated to the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s project for the development phase of a project to reintroduce beavers to the River Frome.
• Canal Project update and funding request
  • Agreed to allocate an additional £1.5m of funding from reserves towards completion of the project to connect the Stroudwater Canal to the national canal network at Saul Junction (Phase 1b of the project). Further funding from project partners is also being secured.
  • This allocation, and completion of the project, is dependent on a decision by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in late September as to whether they can provide further funding of £6.4m .
  • The project progress is also dependent on agreement for land access with Ecotricity with further discussions underway..
  • The canal restoration so far in Stroud and Stonehouse has resulted in major inward investment and housing, at more than £100m so far. Nature, community and heritage are key elements of the project, with an additional £10m in social value to be realised by the final stretch of the project.
  • https://www.stroud.gov.uk/news/extra-15million-canal-investment-recommended-for-missing-mile
• Canalside site on A419 (Former Ship Inn) in Stonehouse.
  • Noted the report and the work done so far for future community use of the site and work towards development of a business case.
  • https://www.spicestonehouse.co.uk/
• Video recording

Councillor Casework

Following the Wotton Town Council meeting on the 19th May Cllr. Kitchen has been looking at ways that SDC can help in dealing with the inappropriate disposal of dog poo bags close to Westridge Road. The landowner has already installed a new stile on the permissive path into Westridge Woods, as promised.

There was an appalling racial assault in Stroud last month. It has raised a number of important questions about race/hate crime. Sadly it applies to Wotton ward just as much as Stroud (many residents are simply unaware) but please be alert to it. If you witness or experience any form of race/hate it is very important that it is reported either to the constabulary or a third party.

Cllr Braun chaired a meeting of the Greenway Steering Group with project partners including council colleagues from South Gloucestershire Council and Sustrans.

Other SDC news

• Stroud Funding returns: new wave of community projects launches across the district
• New Cotswold Way trails launched on free app to boost local tourism
• Stroud business fined for illegal burning of trade waste
• Brimscombe Port – SDC confirms its commitment to the community-led vision following developer’s withdrawal from the project
• New guidance for recycling food and drinks cartons
• Stroud District Council marks Armed Forces Day

Prepared by Cllr Gareth Kitchen (Green) based on councillor activity in June with updates from Cllr Linda Cohen (Lib Dem) & Cllr Catherine Braun (Green). #sdc