SDC District Councillors’ Report March 2017


District Council topics.


Subscription Rooms

Because of a misunderstanding and untimely and inappropriate action by SDC, it was

variously reported in the press and social media that the café at the Subscription Rooms in

Stroud was to close on the 31st March. This is untrue and the café will remain open until a

final decision has been made for its future. The Sub Rooms is the only council-owned and

run arts and entertainment facility in the district and has seen funding costs rising

annually to £415,000 in 2016. As previously reported, a consultation exercise is being held

to gather the views of users, stakeholders and interested parties.

The options for this Asset of Community Value building are to keep the building under

council control; allowing another organisation to run the Sub Rooms as a public arts and

cultural facility or selling the building on the open market. Further discussions with

potentially interested parties is ongoing. (KT)


Council Tax billing.

Following agreement of the 2017-18 Council Tax precepts at Full Council on 23 rd February,

the SDC Rating Office has work very hard since then to prepare and issue 51000+ Tax

demands and it is pleasing to report that all residents in the District received their Council

Tax bills before the prescribed legal deadline. (KT)


Devolution – Nothing new to report.


Planning Development Control - Nothing new to report.

SDC Environment Committee – Cllr Ken Tucker. (No Committee meeting held in March)


Refuse Collections

The rising costs of the service contract between SDC and Ubico, the refuse company,

which is partly owned by SDC, are under close scrutiny and are being discussed in

Committee. Meetings between the two parties have been arranged for early April, to get

costs down to the agreed levels. Cllr Tucker attends the Task & Finish Group meetings to

ensure that satisfactory progress is being made.


Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

Most new planning applications received after 1 April 2017 will be subject to CIL. Parishes

which have an agreed Neighbourhood Plan in place will progressively receive sums totaling

25% of the levy or 15% if no Plan exists, to put towards capital projects within the

community.


SDC Infrastructure & Development Panel (Asset management) - (No meeting in March)


SDC Strategy & Resources Panel: (Strategy, overview and governance) - (No meeting in

March)


Housing


Development at Fountain Crescent, Wotton – 22 new homes will be built on land behind

Fountain Crescent. The sale of the Council’s land has been agreed to a Registered Provider

(Housing Association) but legal work is still being finalised.

This is set out in an

information sheet, published on 28 March Small sites, garages and disposals which provides

the programme for disposal of surplus SDC properties. The programme aims to raise

capital receipts for the council’s Housing Revenue Account so new homes can be built.

1Gloucester Road / Bradley Street opportunity, Wotton - this issue will be considered by

Housing Committee on 20 June 2017. Further details are not yet available (see Committee

Work Programme).


New Community Housing Enabler – The Department for Communities and Local Govt has

provided funding to Stroud DC to support community-led housing as we are one of the

areas which are affected by the impact of second homes. The aim is to enable local

community groups to deliver affordable housing units of mixed tenure on sites which are

likely to be of little interest to mainstream housebuilders.


In our district, the funding of £149k will be used to pay for a part time “Community

Housing Enabler” for 3 years for Stroud District - who will work alongside the existing

Rural Housing Enabler who covers the whole of Gloucestershire. The aim is to build

community capacity and bring forward community housing schemes. Remaining funds will

be used to provide a small pot for grant funding for newly emerging community housing

schemes. If you are interested in more information please contact Cllr Catherine Braun.


Sheltered Housing – Dryleaze Court

Tenants of the bungalows and flats on Dryleaze Court have been advised that the five

remaining residents of the bedsits in the Court building have all been found new

accommodation in Dryleaze House and will be assisted to move there over the coming

months. The five tenants who will move will be fully supported to do so with packing and

removal. They will have new carpets and curtains in their new home which will better

adapted to their needs than the current bedsit accommodation in the Court building. In

addition each tenant who moves will receive a disturbance payment of £5,200. We

currently expect that all residents will be moved out by July.


Tenants from the bungalows and flats currently use laundry facilities in the Court building,

and so a new laundry facility, accessible for older people with limited mobility will be

developed within the garages at the end of Dryleaze Court. Once this work on the laundry

building has been completed (currently estimated July 2017) then the Court building will

close. The site will then be marketed and is likely to be sold for housing development.

The bungalows and flats will not be affected. Assurances have been made that any future

building work traffic will be managed on the site with the aim of minimum disruption to

the sheltered tenants on the road.


Energy Strategy – a new tenant services energy strategy has been adopted. Cllr Braun

worked with officers on the development of this strategy which looks at how we can

further improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock of 5,200 homes for rent. The

strategy includes commitments to adopt the Passiv Haus standard into all new build

properties and to introduce an energy benchmarking accreditation system. Further work

to address fuel poverty is also planned (link to Energy Strategy).


Housing Revenue Account – A quarter 3 report on the housing budget was received. More

efficiencies are being made in the programme delivery to ensure value for money and best

use of available resources. (Finance report)


Future local business event

A number of local traders attended a business information and networking event hosted by

Stroud DC in Ebley Mill on 23 March which was well received. Feedback or ideas for future

events to support local business would be welcome to Cllr Catherine Braun.


Community Services and Licencing

UPDATE ON HEALTH AND WELLBEING PLAN

The committee received a comprehensive update on the Health and wellbeing plan from

Emma Keating- Clarke. This covered the important initiatives including the Active For Life

events which took place on the 31 st of March. The plan covered other areas including

social isolation, homelessness and mental health issues. There are some significant

challenges in the area covered in this plan, however, the team are working hard to tackle

them.

BUDGET MONITORING REPORT 2016/17

2This is best summarised in the report https://www.stroud.gov.uk/media/241587/

item-7-budget-monitoring-report-2016-17-report-3.pdf. However, it is important to

note three main points.

• Major Variations The report sets out the forecast outturn position on the

committee’s budgets

• Salaries - The current forecast has identified a number of savings within the

following services, Community Safety, Arts & Culture (Subscription Rooms) Sports

Centres (The Pulse – Dursley) and Revenue and Benefits. An assessment of these

savings has identified some in year savings due to staff turnover. A number of these

workforce planning savings were reviewed and actioned as part of the Budget

setting process for 2017/18.

• Additional Expenditure Expenditure forecast due to predicted pressures within Arts

and Culture (Subscription Rooms), Sports Centres (The Pulse - Dursley) and Public

Spaces – (Ground Maintenance Scheme).


STROUD DISTRICT COMMUNITY SAFETY PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY 2017-2021

The Stroud District Community Safety Partnership is a statutory Community Safety

Partnership set up under Section 5-7 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Partners are

required to work together to protect their communities from crime and help people feel

safer. They formulate a plan on how to deal with the local issues such as anti-social

behaviour, reoffending, drug and alcohol misuse. The group assesses local crime priorities,

consulting with partners and the local community about how to deal with them.

The Strategy, will set operational objectives with the outcomes being reviewed and

measured. These objectives will be localised issues unique to Stroud District but will also

include national messages, again given a localised perspective. The objectives will come

from across the spectrum of the PCC’s priorities and will include issues around night time

economy (licensing), young drivers, anti-social behaviour, graffiti etc.


Councillor Braun meetings:

• Wotton Youth Partnership meeting (7 March)

• Housing Performance Monitoring meeting (14 March)

• Future Local Business event (23 March)

• Dryleaze Court meetings (24 and 27 March)

• Housing Committee meeting (28 March)

• Performance monitoring review meeting (30 March)


Ken Tucker Meeting

Finance Training. (2 nd March)

‘Outside Bodies’ Task & Finish Group. (6 th March)

SDC Group Leader’s meeting. (6 th March)

Wotton Youth Partnership meeting. (7 th March)

Meeting with Strategic Head- Assets. (8 th March)

Planning Review Panel. (8 th March)

SDC Group Leader’s meeting. (21 st March)

Chief Executive’s annual appraisal. (21 st March)

• Discussion meetings of future of Dryleaze Court. (24 th & 27 th March)

• Group Leader’s discussions on Stroud Sub Rooms. (29 th March)


George Butcher Meetings

• Arts and Culture task and Finish Group

• Active for Life Stratford Park Leisure centre

• Rachael Pratt, SDC Warden