Agenda item

The Leader invited Members to update colleagues on work and news in their portfolios over the last month.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Customer Services said she was looking to make every CBH tenant aware of how they can be involved in the council’s decision-making process, with a readable and accessible leaflet being delivered to every household. 

The Cabinet Member for Waste, Recycling and Public Realm had four items to share:

-       he had undertaken to be open and transparent with the public about the situation with the Household Recycling Centre, and confirmed that the county council has declined CBC’s request to take on the Swindon Road facility.  He is working on a survey with Cheltenham’s MP, and hopes the county will change its mind, though welcomed its opening Wingmoor Farm for an extra day – this is a well-run and efficient site, which takes a much wider range of items that Swindon Road, and CBC will work with the county going forward to see how this arrangement is working.  He added that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will consider the matter next week, including the impact of the HRC closure on fly-tipping and bring banks, and he thanked residents for their continued commitment to recycling;

-       CBC has recently launched the Litter Lotto app to incentivise people to engage with keeping the town clean with litter-picking and prizes, and assist at home, with information about recycling and bin day reminders.  He added that he hoped to launch tetra pack and soft plastics recycling later in the year;

-       he recently visited Leckhampton Hill for an informative look at the work being done there, including a project with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) and Friends of Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common (FOLK) to create an area for adder preservation. Work is only undertaken for a sound cause – such as nature recovery or protection –but he understood that residents were not necessarily aware of this and said wider engagement would be undertaken in future to explain what, why and how changes to the green space were being made. He said that work  cannot focus solely on keeping an area exactly the same for ever but aims at regeneration, restoration and recovery, preserving wildlife and ensuring safe enjoyment of this much-loved greenspace for everyone.  He said the FOLK volunteers do brilliant work, and he looked forward to finding ways to improve collaboration and engagement going forward with them and the wider publi;

-       he welcomed the biodiversity and nature conservation work being done by volunteers and the greenspace team, such as the herd of cows which grazes on the hill, kept to certain areas with digital fencing, and the preservation of a wide range of flora and fauna.  He was pleased with the important outreach work with Leckhampton High School, encouraging young people to engage with nature and the various projects and work underway.

The Cabinet Member for Safety and Communities said it had been a very busy six weeks, full of inspirational events, most notably the first No Child Left Behind showcase event.  This included performances from young people, testimony from young women about what it is like growing up in Cheltenham, exhibitions by partners, support agencies and youth agencies sharing information about what they are doing in the town, and an activity led by the Cheltenham Education Partnership, involving 11 schools presenting on topics aligned to the outcomes of the report In Our Own Words. The presentations were incredibly insightful and informative.

In addition, she has also had the pleasure of being invited to visit the Aspire Foundation charity, and The Rock on Tewkesbury Road.

The Leader also reported on busy times and many meetings, mostly concerned with the local government reform announced in December.  She had still found time to continue volunteering in her community, and was delighted to have been invited to the official opening of Men in Sheds in Cheltenham.  She was very glad that the council has been able to support this excellent organisation, which provides a supportive social space for men from all walks of life, sends restored tools and goods it cannot use to overseas, and produces excellent planters.