Agenda item

The Leader invited Members to brief colleagues on any matters of interest.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control said he and all the senior members of the planning team have been working on the new planning enforcement policy, to ensure it is fair for all and fit for purpose.  Work is also underway on the heritage strategy for the town, which is home to 2,600 listed buildings – the council is custodian and needs to get this right.  Further details on both of these pieces of work will be brought to a future meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Waste Services, Recycling and Public Realm paid tribute to a member of the Ubico team who is celebrating 50 years’ employment.  He said such commitment to the town is a great achievement and something to be celebrated.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Culture and Wellbeing share several items:

-       the Cheltenham Literature Festival is currently underway, a fantastic event celebrating its 75^th birthday.  He is pleased to report that over 90,000 tickets have been sold for over 500 events – this is almost back to pre-Covid levels – and that a record 12,000 schoolchildren are attending this year.  In addition, the event is fossil-free for the second year, and also more accessible than it has been before, including better wheelchair access, AI-driven captioning of live events and more;

-       turning to visual arts, he was recently a guest of the Cheltenham Trust for the opening of two exciting exhibitions at the Wilson:  Natural Progression, with the University of Gloucestershire, featuring high-quality work from its recent 2024 Creative Arts Degree Show, and Into Abstraction,

in partnership with The Hepworth Wakefield and Gallery Pangolin, exploring the evolution of abstract art, of particular interest in view of the Hepworth bronzes near the Wilson;

-       the Wilson has also announced that it has successfully bid for funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and will receive £200,000 to re-imagine and redisplay its collection in the best possible way, and engage more fully with the public;

-       last Friday, Gloucestershire College welcomed the first students to its sustainable Construction Centre, and thanked CBC and Tracey Birkinshaw and her team for their help in securing the funding required to build the centre on budget and faster than scheduled.  The centre will tackle a number of issues, offering opportunities to 250 local learners, benefitting local people, plugging the skills gap with sustainable construction skills such as solar panel and heat pump installation, whilst also being carbon neutral itself – all helping Cheltenham with its move towards its Net Zero target;

-       the public health team at the county council has recently produced a profile of public health in Gloucestershire, informed by health data and ahead of grants allocation later this year.  It is an interesting document which will be in the public domain, and perhaps shocking to learn that despite Cheltenham being an affluent town in many respects, it hides enormous areas of inequality and deprivation, with residents at risk from poverty and illness.  It is also shocking to read about the high percentage of children with low self-esteem and mental health issues.  He hoped that the grant programme will seek to address this, saying that although there is much to celebrate in the town, there are still some real challenges.

The Leader spoke about the sale of the Municipal Offices, which has recently gone live and sparked a lot of interest.  This is very encouraging at the start of an exciting journey, and although some people are sad to see the building go, it is better for the environment and economy that it will be used more fully.