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The Annual Assembly meeting for Shurdington Parish Council will be held on Tuesday 23rd April 2019 in the Social Centre. The meeting will commence at 7:30pm and will be chaired by the Chair of Shurdington Parish Council, Cllr George Porter.
The guest speaker at this year's Assembly is Mr Chris Riley, Area Manager from Gloucestershire County Council's Highway Commissioning Team. Chris will be providing an update on the new Highway's commissioning structure and new contracts with Ringway, Atkins and Tarmac. This meeting is your opportunity to ask questions or raise any matter of concern with your Parish Councillors and other organisations present. At the February 2019 meeting of the Parish Council, Councillor Judy Greening's resignation was formally accepted. Councillor Greening has ably worked on the Council for some time and has contributed a great amount to the Parish.
The Chair and the Council thanked Councillor Greening and wished her the best for the future. The Parish Council now has a casual vacancy. Anyone interested in standing for the office in the upcoming Parish Council elections should contact the Clerk. At 4pm on Thursday 31st January, members of the Parish Council together with local residents will meet with representatives from Tewkesbury Borough Council Planning Department and the Local Highways Manager to discuss the ongoing developments on School Lane, and the negative impact on the local infrastructure and inconvenience to people living nearby.
The Parish Council has objected to any development on School Lane, citing the problems of access (to both residents and local and emergency services) and the lack of available parking. The Trustees of the Shurdington Community Centre are pleased to invite all residents of Shurdington to attend its Annual General Meeting, to be held on 14th November in the Millenium Hall of the Social Centre.
Come along and hear about the work that has been done over the last twelve months, and the plans for the next year! Shurdington Parish Council have recently responded to the proposed Tewkesbury Borough Plan during the recent consultation. In addition to submitting individual comments on the plan, Shurdington Parish and neighbouring Badgeworth Parish Council worked together to submit joint comments on the proposals.
In our response, we reminded the Borough Council of the ongoing problems with traffic on the A46, the lack of infrastructure to cope with the additional housing they propose, our concerns about protecting both the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Green Belt, and our disappointment that they failed to keep us informed about the plan prior to the consultation. Now is the time to share your views on the future of planning and development in Tewkesbury Borough.
At a recent meeting of Tewkesbury Borough Council, the ‘Preferred Options’ Tewkesbury Borough Plan was given the green light to go out for consultation to give residents the opportunity to comment on plans for future development in the borough up to 2031. The consultation will run for just over six weeks, from Wednesday 10 October to 5pm on Monday 26 November 2018. The Tewkesbury Borough Plan sits underneath the Joint Core Strategy - the over-arching strategic planning document for Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury which sets out how much growth needs to be accommodated in the three areas and the broad strategy for how that growth will be delivered. The Tewkesbury Borough Plan, on the other hand, provides detailed and locally-specific planning policies on issues in Tewkesbury Borough that the Joint Core Strategy doesn’t cover, such as housing, employment, retail, the urban and natural environment and transport. It will also include smaller-scale sites allocated for housing and employment development. The ‘Preferred Options’ Tewkesbury Borough Plan is the next step in the process of creating a final version of the plan. It builds on previous stages of the process (including the ‘Draft Policies’ and ‘Site Options’ consultation in February 2015) to refine the plan into a document that the council believes will promote sustainable development in the borough, identifying options that would provide around 700 new homes and 45 hectares of employment land. Councillor Rob Bird, Leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council, said: "Our Borough Plan is so important, because it will enable us to meet the varied housing and employment needs that our different communities have told us about, in particular providing specific help for rural areas to thrive, whilst continuing to support more urban communities. “We aim to assist the reasonable housing and development aspirations of both residents and businesses, whilst protecting communities and the environment against clear harm. “Our draft Borough Plan provides detailed policies to drive quality housing, thriving communities, a prosperous economy, and sustain vital services and facilities - now we need to hear what you think." Tewkesbury Borough Council is now seeking views on the ‘Preferred Options’ plan and would welcome comments and opinions on the policies and sites in the document. The consultation will run for just over six weeks, from Wednesday 10 October to 5pm on Monday 26 November 2018. All comments received by this deadline will be considered and will help to inform the preparation of the next version of the plan, which will ultimately need to be independently examined by a Government-appointed Inspector. To read the plan and make comments, visit www.tewkesbury.gov.uk/boroughplan The plan is also available to view at the Public Services Centre on Gloucester Road in Tewkesbury, or at libraries and advice centres throughout Tewkesbury Borough. The 2018 Annual Assembly will once again be held in the Social Centre, Bishops Road , Shurdington. It will commence at 7pm and all residents of Shurdington Parish are invited. Our guest speaker is Mr Michael Goddard, from the Highways Agency who will give a presentation on the A417 Missing Link project.
 At the January meeting of Shurdington Parish Council, Ms Alison Robinson of the National Association of Local Councils attended to award the Parish Council with a certificate for the Foundation level of the Local Council Award Scheme.
The Local Council Award Scheme exists to celebrate the successes of the very best local councils, and to provide a framework to support all local councils to meet their full potential. All local councils want to serve their local communities and make a real difference to the lives of the people that live there. This scheme offers councils the opportunity to show that they meet the standards set by the sector, assessed by their peers, and to put in place the conditions for continued improvement. The Foundation Award demonstrates that a council meets requirements for operating lawfully and according to standard practice. At the September meeting of the Parish Council, Councillor Porter presented his design for a new logo to represent the council online and on paper. The logo features the iconic Shurdington landmarks of St Paul's Church spire and the Social Centre, as well as the Shurdington Penguin, a little known symbol of the Parish adopted when a penguin captured by Dr Edward Wilson, Antarctic explorer, was sent back to England from the Doctor's ill-fated expedition with Captain Scott. In 1948, Dr Wilson's sister donated the penguin to Shurdington School, where it remained until it became too damaged to keep. It now resides in The Wilson, Cheltenham's art gallery and museum, where it can be seen today!  |