Agenda item

The Cabinet Member Cyber and Strategic Transport reported that the county council had opened up its online consultation on potential improvements to Junction 10 and the A4109 on Tewkesbury Road, which would run until 15^th February. The public were asked to comment on potential plans for four-way junction and the widening of Tewkesbury Road to become a dual carriageway, along with further possible improvements.

The Cabinet Member Safety and Communities reported that the No Child Left Behind awards ceremony for those who went above and beyond was due to take place on 13^th January, but had unfortunately been postponed due to the Covid situation. She hoped that it would take place in March, and added that she was very proud of how the town had come together to support children in the area during such a difficult time.

The Cabinet Member Climate Emergency reported that a consortium of seven authorities including CBC, led by Stroud, had been successful in its bid for funding as part of the government’s Sustainable Warmth competition. This aimed to help local authorities install energy saving upgrades and low carbon heating in low-income households. He was excited to see how many homes this would benefit and hoped it could help alleviate fuel poverty. The Cabinet Member Housing echoed this.

The Cabinet Member Waste, Recycling and Street Services reported that St George’s Road car park was open again after refurbishments, and was already being well used.

The Cabinet Member Finance and Assets added that he had an urgent matter to report, following on from the Discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant Scheme distributed to businesses during the pandemic. To date, £4m had been allocated across five rounds between November 2020 and July 2021, with £346,000 purposely held back in case of difficulties this winter. A new round of the scheme was due to be made available to businesses after Christmas, but due to the escalating situation with the Omicron variant, it would go live on 22^nd December. This would enable businesses that were seeing cancellations and reduced footfall in the hospitality sector as a result of the rise in cases to apply ahead of Christmas. Grants would be available to local pubs, bars and restaurants and travel businesses that had lost trade, in advance of and in addition to the government announcements of one-off grants of up to £6,000. The government had also announced that further Additional Restrictions Grant funding would be made available for discretionary schemes. As soon as we had more details of this, the Business Grants Team would work at speed to make the grants available and update the discretionary scheme so that more businesses received support. A full media release would be published on the 22^nd December with a link to this new round of discretionary grant funding.

The Leader praised council staff for their work and emphasised her pride at being part of this administration. She thanked officers and members, and wished everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

There were no decisions to report from Cabinet Members.