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Join the drive and register to Vote Release date: 28th January 2016 Cotswold District Council is encouraging anyone not yet registered to vote to take advantage of the National Voter Registration Drive next week by going online to register. Between 1st and 7th February, there will be a big push nationally, encouraging people to register to vote ahead of the PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner) elections across the country – including in Gloucestershire - on Thursday 5th May. Anyone who isn't registered to vote won't be able to take part and have their say. The deadline for registering to vote in these elections is Monday 18th April 2016. Whilst there is still time, it's running out quickly. The good news is that it only takes a few minutes to register online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and it can be done today. It's a chance to join the thousands of people across the UK who are being encouraged to register. Nigel Adams, electoral registration officer for Cotswold District Council, says: “Anyone not yet registered to vote should do so as soon as possible so they can have their say on issues that affect their day-to-day lives. I'd urge people living in the District to use the National Voter Registration Drive and also spread the message amongst family and friends.” Ben Brook, head of performance and English regional teams at the electoral commission adds: “The National Voter Registration Drive exists because it's important that anyone who's eligible, but has not yet registered to vote, does so. It's easy and quick to do it online. Young people, students and people who move frequently are much less likely to be registered to vote so #NVRD is as important as ever.” Local residents who don't wish to go online can obtain a paper copy of the registration form by contacting the Elections Team on 01285 623002. Go to top Its the time to sign up for the council garden waste service Release date: 28th January 2016 Cotswold District Council is hoping for a record number of residents will go green this year and contribute to the authority's excellent waste recycling record. The ninth year of the Council's chargeable garden waste service starts on Wednesday 1 April and CDC is urging existing subscribers to sign up again while hoping that even more householders will follow suit. Everyone participating will help contribute to the Council's impressive recycling/composting rate of almost 60% - the best in Gloucestershire. Those signing up for the service for 2016-17 will have their garden waste collected weekly provided they have paid a £30 licence fee to use the green garden waste wheeled bins. They can also empty unwanted food waste into the green bin. Additional licences can be purchased for a further £30. Alternatively, for those who cannot accommodate a green wheeled bin at their property, 50 compostable brown paper garden waste sacks can also be purchased for £30 (available from the Council's Trinity Road offices or at the Moreton Area Centre). Residents who receive Council Tax or Housing Benefit are entitled to a 50% discount on the price of a green waste licence. Cllr Sue Coakley, Cotswold District Council£s Cabinet Member for the Environment, comments: “We are very grateful to our residents who recycle. The green waste service is very well supported and it would be great to see even more people signing up for it this year. We have frozen the price at £30 yet again and this represents really good value for money. “Our garden and food waste, collected through the green bin scheme, is recycled into compost rather than going to landfill.” Every year Cotswold District residents pay £1.25 million to bury waste. However, recycling and composting by Cotswold District residents saves almost £1.7 million on landfill tax costs every year. All the food and green waste we collect in the Cotswolds is converted to over 242,000 bags of soil enhancer every year. The Council's licensed garden waste service was launched in April 2008. Garden waste placed in green bins is collected weekly for composting. Food waste is also collected weekly in Council-issued green kitchen caddies or green garden waste wheeled bins (if subscribed to the garden waste service.) Non-recyclable waste is collected fortnightly in Council-issued grey wheeled bins or beige bin bags. Paper, glass, mixed rigid plastics, cans/tins, card and cardboard are collected fortnightly for recycling provided they are placed in the appropriate Council-issued boxes and sacks. For more information, visit council website or contact the Council's waste hotline on 01285 623123. Go to top Developers eye up potential site in Moreton that could hold up to 800 homes Release date: 27th January 2016 A district councillor has asked for transparency from developers over proposals to build on land in Moreton that could potentially accommodate 800 new homes. Cllr Alison Coggins said she was keeping an open mind about the plans, but hoped if they did go ahead that positives could be drawn from them, including an opportunity to secure a secondary school to serve the area. Representatives from Spitfire Homes gave a presentation at Moreton Town Council's planning committee on January 19th to express their intent to submit an application in early summer to develop the land at Dunstall Farm. The site lies to the south of the Fosseway Avenue estate and opposite the new hospital. A short questions and answers session followed with Spitfire suggesting engaging the community in the pre-planning stage through workshops and public presentations. The plan is to develop the 43 hectare site with anything from 150 homes to the site's full potential of 800 houses, although a representative from Spitfire suggested 600 homes would be the most they might be looking at building. Cotswold District Councillor Alison Coggins, representing Moreton West Ward, gave her views on the proposed submission. She said: “At this stage it would be inappropriate to express an opinion until an application is received by the planning authority, however, the site lies outside the town's development boundary and is classified as Grade 2 arable. It hasn't been identified in the emerging Local Plan and the A429 suffers severe traffic stress around this point with several busy roads and entrances converging at the Southern end of town.” Cllr Coggins added: “If an application is submitted I look forward to hearing the potential positives of any proposed development. It would be beneficial all round if there was transparency as to any ‘master plan’ for the site as it is imperative for the the town to benefit from any development as a whole as opposed to several smaller piecemeal applications that could take place which could underestimate both impact and mitigation. “Through a section 106 agreement we could do with a secondary school and all the associated benefits this brings to a community. Primary schools and GPs are already stressed. In addition some sort of Moreton Parkway Train Station might also be a consideration.” Spitfire said the town may see a planning application being submitted as early as June this year. Cllr Coggins added that it was important for local people to be involved in potential future plans and reminded residents that there was a vacancy on the town council. “It would be great to see a representative from the Fosseway Avenue estate come forward for consideration to ensure the people's needs in this part of town are being best served. It has been under represented for the last year or so.” Go to top Cotswolds Tourism to transform its Website Release date: 25th January 2016 Cotswolds Tourism have launched a brand new website to promote and market the Cotswolds to the domestic and international travel market. The six month project to transform www.cotswolds.com follows consultation with Cotswolds Tourism partners to create a new website that reinforces the Cotswolds as one of the country's leading tourist destinations. The emphasis on bold and beautiful imagery makes the website a great showcase of what the Cotswolds can offer visitors. It's also easy to navigate and has a clean and contemporary look, all in a responsive format for optimum mobile browsing. Digital Marketing Manager for Cotswolds Tourism, Victoria Carman, who's led the development of the new web-site said “The brand new website will be a fantastic promotional tool for the Cotswolds. It uses inspirational images and content, as well as a great navigation to help our visitors find the information that they require quickly. It also provides them with further information on all of the activities and accommodation providers in the Cotswolds to encourage them to visit this wonderful destination.” Cotswolds Tourism Chief Executive Robin Tjolle said “We are so pleased that the new site has gone live. It will enable the partnership and our businesses to attract more national and international visitors to the region. The Cotswolds has so much to offer our visitors and now they can easily find all the information they need to encourage them to choose the Cotswolds as their next holiday destination. Tourism to the Cotswolds is worth over £1billion per year and the new site will help us to encourage visitors to stay longer and support this important part our local economy.” The new website will complement the Cotswolds Official Visitor Guide App – one of the top performing destination apps. Both have been developed by New Mind/Tell Us who are specialists in destination website development. The Cotswolds are already one of the most recognised brands both nationally and across the world thanks to the unique landscape, picturesque villages, vibrant towns and cities as well as great food and drink, accommodation and attractions. For more information please contact Susie Hunt at , tel 07525 897798. Go to top Cotswold District Council provides funding boost for Visitor Information Centres Release date: 24th January 2016 Visitor Information Centres (VICs) in the Cotswolds have been buoyed by the news that Cotswold District Council will provide grants totalling £54,000 per year, over a three year period, to help fund them. Meeting on 21st January, Members of the Cabinet agreed to continue funding for VICs in Bourton-on-the-Water (£24,000 per year), Chipping Campden (£10,000 per year), Stow-on-the-Wold (£10,000 per year) and Tetbury (£10,000 per year), as well as retaining the Cirencester-based VIC which is located in the Corinium Museum. CDC Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Partnerships, Cllr Chris Hancock, believes that the VICs provide extremely good value: “This is a massive vote of confidence in the local VICs. Even in an age when people rely more heavily on the internet to research destinations, we are still seeing heavy use of the VICs to the extent that – based on 2014/15 figures – it only costs 35p to service the needs of every customer. Given the much needed income that tourism generates in this area, I believe that this is a small price to pay. Looking ahead, there are considerable opportunities on the horizon to build on the success of the local tourism sector, and maintaining a network of excellent VICs will enhance the visitor experience and help to ensure many repeat visits. Local residents also benefit as they often use VICs to find out what is going on. “It made sense to fix the grants for a three-year period; we are giving the VIC operators more certainty about their funding in the longer term, and they can now plan ahead with confidence on issues such as negotiating rents for premises.” Our friendly Visitor Information staff are on hand to help you get the best out of your visit to the Cotswolds. With a wealth of local knowledge, these are just some of the services they provide:
The Visitor Information Centres (VICs) in Bourton-on-the-Water, Moreton-in-Marsh and Cirencester provide an accommodation booking service throughout the year for serviced and self-catering accommodation. This service is available between 10am and 4pm. Credit or debit card details will be required.
Other Visitor Information Centres can help you in finding accommodation and other services. Go to top Comment now on the application for development in Chesterton Release date: 21st January 2016 Cotswold District Council recently received an outline application from Bathurst Development Ltd (BDL) proposing the building of up to 2350 homes, and the development of 9.1 hectares of employment land and associated infrastructure at Chesterton. The application was made in parallel with the Council's new Local Plan process and its emerging housing strategy. This is the initial stage in the planning process for consideration of the BDL application, and CDC officers have now registered the application and published the details online - also making them available for public inspection - enabling the public to submit representations. Given the complexity of the application, the statutory time period for the submission of comments will be six weeks rather than the usual 21 day period i.e. a deadline of Thursday 3rd March. This deadline is not a ‘cut-off date’ and the Council will accept comments up to the point of issuing the decision. However, it will help us to receive comments within a defined timescale in case there are any queries or points raised which require further information or clarification. Cllr Nick Parsons, the Deputy Leader of CDC and Cabinet Member for Forward Planning, has reassured residents that the submission of the BDL outline application will not undermine the independent inspector's decision on the emerging Local Plan, which includes a proposal for a strategic development site at Chesterton, and which will be important in the Council's consideration of the new planning application: “It is not unusual for developers to submit outline planning applications which relate to proposals in emerging Local Plans. The developer will understand that the final determination of the strategy for Chesterton in the Local Plan will be made by an independent inspector who will take into account the evidence gathered to support the Local Plan, including relevant representations submitted by the public and the relevant technical information accompanying the BDL application. “Should the Local Plan proposals be approved by an inspector, the development would have to be completed by 2031, and similar scale projects elsewhere would indicate that the consultation process following the submission of an outline application could take several months and perhaps even a year. Similarly, the fine details would be subject to further lengthy planning applications and consultations before the Planning Committee could decide whether to permit or refuse them.” Cllr Sue Jepson, the CDC Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing, added: “Due to the scale and complex nature of the outline application, it is acknowledged by the Council and the developer that the consideration of the application will take a good deal longer than the statutory 13 week period. Therefore both parties have entered into a Planning Performance Agreement which sets out the expected timescale for dealing with the application. Initially, the Planning Performance Agreement sets out a 9 month period to bring the outline application to the Council's Planning Committee for a resolution, with a further period set aside to discuss contributions required towards infrastructure both off and on site. However, the timescales set out in the Planning Performance Agreement will be subject to regular review by both parties as the application progresses.” The Council recommends that submission of any comments regarding BDL's outline application should be made online via the Council planning register which will also enable people to follow the progress of the application, including additional information and amendments, provided they register for the Public Access service and track the application. Frequently asked questions are available now at for those wishing to obtain more details about this application. Go to top Moreton's Redesdale Hall, is experiencing financial difficulties and faces litigation for non-payment of bills. Release date: 20th January 2016  Moreton's Redesdale Hall, an iconic building which has been the centre point of the town since 1887, is experiencing financial difficulties and faces litigation for non-payment of bills. The hall is run by a charitable trust, the Redesdale Hall Management Committee, made up of local organisations and members of town council and other local organisations from within the community. It was built by 1st Baron Redesdale, Sir Algernon Bertram Freeman Mitford, grandfather of the famous Mitford sisters. It was bought by Sir Gilbert Alan Hamilton Wills, 1st Bron Dulverton, who gave it to North Cotswold Rural Council. It's successor, Cotswold District Council gave it to Moreton Town Council in 1974. It is central to the town and is hired for public and private meetings, parties, sports clubs, exhibitions, concerts and sports clubs. Details of its financial problems surfaced at a meeting of the town council recently when Cllr Michael Lucas, a member of the Redesdale Hall Committee, said the trust had asked for financial help. He said the trust wanted help to pay for fire risk assessments and electrical and gas certification that had been carried out. The work had to be done for insurance purposes but the hall's income was not adequate to cover the cost. It is not known how much money is owed. “They have asked us to assist them in paying these bills. The Redesdale Hall charity is in litigation for a substantial amount of money and they are being taken to court. “It puts us, as a council, in a very difficult position. It is not a council matter, but I do feel we have an obligation to assist the charity as best we can. The work has been done and I propose we offer the sum they have asked for which is £1,000 as a loan at nought per cent interest and payable on 30 days' notice if necessary. It will allow the council to be a creditor if the worst happens and it does allow us to support them and allow then to run Redesdale. Insurance has been looked at but their insurers are not covering them,” he added. Cllr Lucas added it was important that the council was not seen as an open cheque book for charities in difficulty and this way was the most appropriate way of helping. “The worst that could happen is they can't pay us back. We, as a council, are responsible for the fabric of the building, not its commercial activities and it is not our responsibility to run it, but we have a moral duty that the hall remains open. “A loan keeps us at arm's length,” he said. He added that the trust was expected to organise fundraising. Chairman Cllr Tom Lewis said: “A loan seems the most sensible way of helping. It is a very sad situation.” Members of the town council voted to authorise the zero per cent loan with the stipulation that the money be repayable at 30 days' notice in required. Go to top An exhibition of natural history painter Edward Lear to open at Broadway Ashmolean Museum Release date: 15th January 2016 A new exhibition being held at the Ashmolean Museum, in Broadway, is focussing on the extensive travels of natural history artist Edward Lear. Lear, (1812-1888), was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the nineteenth century. As an illustrator of natural history, he was supreme; as a traveller and recorder in pictures and prose of landscapes in the eastern Mediterranean and India. He began his career as a supremely gifted illustrator of natural history. From 1837, he travelled more extensively than any other artist, recording the landscape in a vast series of sketches which he worked up into finished watercolours and oil paintings in his studio. He also enjoyed enormous popularity as the author of nonsense verses and stories. Lear first began to make landscape drawings while he was staying at Knowsley. He left England for the sake of his health in 1837, and thereafter concentrated on securing a ‘correct representation of many places little cared for or studied by most painters’. His early landscapes were drawn with a thick pencil in imitation of lithographs, and generally highly finished for ready sale. In 1848, after ten years based in Rome, he set off on a tour of the eastern Mediterranean. During these tours, he recorded the landscape in sketches which he initially drew in pencil, then ‘penned out’ and occasionally coloured. Each sketch was carefully inscribed with the date, time, and its number in the tour. The Ashmolean Museum is the home of the largest and most comprehensive collection of Lear's work in the UK, and many of these works have rarely been on public display. The exhibition called Travels and Nonsense, runs from February 13th to May 8th. Go to top Snow and ice warning - advice on waste collections Release date: 14th January 2016 The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning, indicating that there may be a chance of snowfall in the county. This means that waste collections in the Cotswolds may be disrupted. It is expected that light snowfall will begin on Thursday night into Friday morning but the extent to which it will affect the Cotswolds is unclear. It is anticipated that any snowfall will not be widespread but sleet may also develop as temperatures drop, leaving widespread icy patches by the morning. The advice for residents from Cotswold District Council is to continue to put waste out for collection at the kerbside as normal. Officers from the Council and staff from our environmental services provider, Ubico Ltd. will continue to monitor weather reports, but we currently envisage that normal collections should take place as planned tomorrow. Obviously, the situation may worsen, and you can keep up to date with the latest advice on bin collections by checking: · The Council's website · Twitter: @CotswoldDC · Calling 01285 623123 Cllr Sue Coakley, CDC Cabinet Member for Health, Environment and Communities, says: “In the event of snow and ice, Ubico and the Council will assess whether it is safe for crews to continue with collections as normal. In the unlikely event that services are completely suspended, we have a policy in place to catch up on collections as soon as it is safe to do so, and we will publicise the revised collection arrangements.” Go to top Fly tipper pays price for dumping 800 Plastic Bags Release date: 12th January 2016 Cotswold District Council's drive to outlaw fly tipping was boosted on 11th January when a court convicted an offender and ordered him to pay a fine and costs totalling £1,035. Ben Wyman, 27, of Apsley Road, Cirencester parked a white transit van in a layby on the A429 near Calmsden in December 2014 and dumped about 300 ‘see through’ plastic carpet bags and a cardboard box. He then stopped his van shortly afterwards and dumped another 500 plastic bags by the roadside. This coincided with high winds which blew the bags across the A429, causing motorists to brake and swerve. Fortunately, an Environmental Warden from Cotswold District Council was tipped off swiftly by a member of the public and managed to gather up the bags and dispose of them safely, preventing the risk of a potentially dangerous accident. The same member of the public had also seen the white van's registration number and notified officers at Cotswold District Council, who traced the ownership to Mr Wyman. He was then given opportunities to explain his actions to CDC before being taken to court but he declined to attend two appointments. When CDC subsequently referred the matter to Cheltenham Magistrates Court he failed to appear for a hearing, resulting in the police issuing an arrest warrant which saw him being detained and then bailed to attend on 11th January. During the hearing, he pleaded guilty to the offence and made no comment about the incident. The judge ordered him to pay a fine of £500 plus £500 in costs and a £35 court surcharge. Speaking after the prosecution, Cllr Sue Coakley, the Cabinet Member for the Environment at Cotswold District Council, said: “I am very grateful to the community-spirited person who alerted us to this fly tipping incident. Our Environmental Wardens have established good relationships with local people and organisations that are just as keen as we are to combat this anti-social behaviour.” She continued: “There are excellent arrangements in place for everyone to dispose of their waste legally so there is absolutely no excuse for fly tipping. Working with residents across the District we will use every means at our disposal to keep on reducing the number of incidents. In this particular case, Mr Wyman obviously thought that he could evade prosecution by dodging requests to attend meetings at the Council and ignoring a summons to appear in Court. It is clear that his uncooperative behaviour just made things worse for him in the long run.” Go to top Social prescribing promotes and improves health and wellbeing in the Cotswolds Release date: 11th January 2016 A successful ground-breaking pilot project to help people in the Cotswolds access services and activities to improve their health and wellbeing has recently been expanded to benefit even more residents. Cotswold District Council and South Cotswolds Clinical Commissioning Group have been working together for almost two years, offering patients at several GP practices a ‘social prescription’ which allows primary care services to refer patients with social, emotional or practical needs to a range of local, non-clinical services and activities, such as a befriending service or physical activity class. This approach has been available for some time at surgeries in St Peters Road, Cirencester; The Park, Cirencester; Rendcomb; and Lechlade Medical Centre. A similar scheme is being run in the north of the District by Cotswold Friends and is commissioned separately through the North Cotswolds Clinical Commissioning Group, which offers social prescriptions to patients at: Cotswold Medical Practice (both Bourton-on-the Water and Northleach bases); Chipping Campden Surgery; Mann Cottage Surgery, Moreton-in-Marsh; White House Surgery, Moreton-in-Marsh; and Stow Surgery, Stow-on-the-Wold. Thanks to further funding, three additional officers have made it possible to extend social prescribing to the Phoenix and Avenue surgeries in Cirencester, Romney House surgery in Tetbury and Fairford surgery. Social Prescription Hub Coordinator, Sarah Clifton-Gould, from Cotswold District Council, explains why the scheme is so effective: “When a GP or Practice Nurse in one of the selected surgeries sees a patient who they think might benefit from the scheme, they fill out a social prescription, which allows the patient to make an appointment to see me. I then spend time with that patient, find out about their current situation, what help they need and what might improve their quality of life. With this information, I can connect them into services, support, clubs and groups and other opportunities.” Cllr Sue Coakley, CDC's Cabinet Member for Health, Environment and Communities, adds: “The aim of the project is to improve people's health and wellbeing, whilst reducing pressure on health services, and the results have been very positive. The project has enabled CDC to help over 200 people so far with issues including bereavement, caring responsibilities, loneliness and isolation, obesity and debt and housing worries. We've been able to match them with everything from volunteer befrienders to community choirs and other social groups; from home adaptations and community transport to counselling and peer support groups; from specialist exercise classes and walking groups to debt advice. This approach really works and, in acknowledgment of our achievements, we recently received some funding from Public Health England – this has resulted in us being able to distribute just over £11,500 to small organisations and charities who are delivery partners in the project.” Dr. Helen Bromwich of St Peters Road surgery, says: “GPs can prescribe medicines or refer patients to specialists but there are often times when problems go beyond medical issues and there is just not enough time available to delve deeper during routine appointments. However, social prescribing has given us the option of referring patients to meet those other needs and, hopefully, improve their health and wellbeing, It's been so helpful to provide this service for Carers particularly” Carers Gloucestershire is equally impressed. A representative comments: “This project has helped us strengthen links with the Council and – most importantly – has made it possible for us to reach out and help people who previously would not have taken of advantage of the services that we offer. This has to be a very positive step forward.” The South Cotswolds Social Prescription pilot project is coordinated by Cotswold District Council with the support of a project group made up of representatives of Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, St Peters Road Surgery, Rendcomb Surgery, Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and Gloucestershire County Council, a carer and a service user. For South Cotswolds, contact Sarah Clifton-Gould, Healthy Communities Officer, on 01285 623000. For North Cotswolds, contact Sally Perkins, Social Prescribing Coordinator or Kirsty Holder, Befriending Services Manager on 01608 651415. Go to top Cotswold District Council receives application for development in Chesterton for up to 2350 homes Release date: 8th January 2016 Cotswold District Council has confirmed that it has received an outline application from Bathurst Development Ltd (BDL) proposing the building of up to 2350 homes, and the development of 9.1 hectares of employment land and associated infrastructure at Chesterton. The application has been made in parallel with the Council's new Local Plan process and its emerging housing strategy. This is the initial stage in the planning process for consideration of the BDL application, and CDC officers will be taking steps to register the application before publishing the details online - and also making them available for public inspection - so that people can submit representations. The registration work for such a complex application will take some time and the Council will alert the public, through extensive advertising, when the documentation is ready for public inspection. Given the complexity of the application, the Council will ensure that people have sufficient time to submit their comments. Cllr Nick Parsons, the Deputy Leader of CDC and Cabinet Member for Forward Planning, is keen to reassure residents that the submission of the BDL outline application will not undermine the independent inspector's decision on the emerging Local Plan, which includes a proposal for a strategic development site at Chesterton, and which will be important in the Council's consideration of the new planning application: “It is not unusual for developers to submit outline planning applications which relate to proposals in emerging Local Plans. The developer will understand that the final determination of the strategy for Chesterton in the Local Plan will be made by an independent inspector who will take into account the evidence gathered to support the Local Plan, including relevant representations submitted by the public and the relevant technical information accompanying the BDL application. “Should the Local Plan proposals be approved by an inspector, the development would have to be completed by 2031, and similar scale projects elsewhere would indicate that the consultation process following the submission of an outline application could take several months and perhaps even a year. Similarly, the fine details would be subject to further lengthy planning applications and consultations before the Planning Committee could decide whether to permit or refuse them.” Cllr Sue Jepson, the CDC Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing, added: “Due to the scale and complex nature of the outline application, it is acknowledged by the Council and the developer that the consideration of the application will take a good deal longer than the statutory 13 week period. Therefore both parties have entered into a Planning Performance Agreement which sets out the expected timescale for dealing with the application. Initially, the Planning Performance Agreement sets out a 9 month period to bring the outline application to the Council’s Planning Committee for a resolution, with a further period set aside to discuss contributions required towards infrastructure both off and on site. However, the timescales set out in the Planning Performance Agreement will be subject to regular review by both parties as the application progresses.” The Council requests that submission of any comments regarding BDL's outline application should not be made to the Council until it has been advertised, and it is recommended that comments should be made on-line via the Council's website, which will also enable people to follow the progress of the application, including additional information and amendments, provided they register for the Public Access service and track the application. Go to top Light a beacon for the Queen's 90th birthday. Release date: 6th January 2016  An official guide is now available providing information about plans to light beacons across the country on 21st April when Her Majesty The Queen celebrates her 90th birthday. Cotswold District Council is encouraging local community groups to get involved in this initiative. Leader of the Council, Cllr Lynden Stowe, believes that a wide range of groups may be interested: “This is a ‘once in a lifetime’ event and I am sure that many people in the Cotswolds would be keen to take part. Town and parish councils are the obvious contenders but the organisers are also expecting interest from groups such as Rotarians, Lions Clubs, Round Tables, Young Farmers clubs, Scouts, Girl Guides, Air Training Corps and others.” Instructions about joining the official event are available in the guidance. Registration is open now and closes on Friday 18th April. Here is the official guide again on its website (may take a while to download). Go to top Official Launch of Improved Leisure Centres Facilities at Cirencester Centre 9:30am Thursday 7th January 2016 Release date: 4th January 2016 Customers using health and fitness facilities at the three leisure centres owned by Cotswold District Council are benefiting from the recent installation of brand new state-of-the-art equipment supplied by Technogym. Users will also soon be able to watch TV, and listen to the radio – and even browse the Internet in some instances - while they work out. Other improvements include the upgrading of the air conditioning system in the gym and dance studio. The Council set aside £380,000 to finance fitness equipment upgrades at the leisure centres in Cirencester, Bourton-on-the-Water and Chipping Campden. Additionally, CDC authorised the expenditure of just under £90,000 on a new environmentally friendly air conditioning system which has been installed at Cirencester leisure centre. Meanwhile, Everyone Active – the company that manages the facilities on behalf of CDC - has invested £50,000 in new spinning bikes at both Cirencester and Bourton for group exercise classes. Additionally, Everyone Active has just fitted £60,000 worth of LED lighting at all two leisure centres and the Corinium Museum. The improvements were completed at Cirencester leisure centre on Friday 18th December and at the Bourton and Chipping Campden facilities on Wednesday 23rd December. Cllr Lynden Stowe, the leader of CDC who is also responsible for leisure issues, explains why it was a priority to make the improvements: “We are proud of the fact that so many residents keep fit and active and it is important that we provide them with the best facilities possible. Our leisure centres – managed by Everyone Active - are very popular, and the fitness equipment is often in great demand. We want to maintain this high level of interest – and encourage even more users - by ensuring customers have access to the most advanced technology which guarantees the best possible work-outs. “The refresh of the equipment also made sense financially. The old fitness machines had reached the end of their five-year shelf life but we could still get a decent trade-in price for them now rather than opting to retain the old equipment and risking serious malfunctions and subsequent non-availability for users. Those visiting Cirencester will also notice that there is a much better and increased free weights area as well as more functional training equipment. “The new air conditioning system at Cirencester will also be welcomed by users once the summer weather returns. The old system proved to be rather inefficient and was also a lot less environmentally friendly – in fact, the new system provides increased capacity and also saves over 5 tonnes of carbon and almost 19 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.” Commenting on the advantages of installing LED lighting at the leisure centres and the Corinium Museum, Jamie Nesbit of Everyone Active said: “As part of Everyone Active's commitment to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions across our business we have installed LED lighting at three of the sites we operate for CDC (Cirencester, Museum and Bourton). This upgrade should reduce the electrical consumption of lighting to approximately 65% of the current load, saving approximately 166 tonnes of carbon from being released each year to generate that power. The additional benefit is to bring the facilities up to date with current technology and improve the quality of lighting so enhancing the customer experience.” Go to top Cotswold District residents magazine is issued when the council needs to consult on big issues or wishes to communicate important news. Over the last few years, with more and more people using the council website, they have refrained from issuing a newsletter on a routine basis. The Cotswold News is now produced about once per year at the most. As well as the Council Website, the latest editions of the magazine are available to download on this page. The Council values your views about Cotswold News - what you like and dislike and what you find useful and would welcome any feedback. This can of course include any suggestions you may have for future articles. The Newsletter is printed on environmentally sustainable or recycled paper and delivered to households by Royal Mail. It is also available from the Council's offices at Trinity Road, Cirencester and at the Moreton Area Centre. The total cost to the Council of publishing and delivering to each house in the district is under 20p per copy. Cotswold News Winter 2015. Local plan reaches next public consultation stage. Cotswold News Winter 2014. How to influence the Cotswold local district plan including housing allocations. Cotswold News November 2013. Waste collections and Local planning issues. Cotswold News August 2012. Kerbside collection of mixed rigid plastics. Cotswold News Winter 2010. Cotswold News Spring 2010. Here are some other Cotswolds sites:- The Cotswold Journal has recent Cotswold news stories. Comprehensive Cotswold AONB background and information. Useful information for Cotswold visitors. | |||||||||||||||
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