SDC Leader's blog - 19 August 2024

“Stroud is looking clean and tidy thanks to a team effort between Gloucestershire County Council, Stroud District Council, and Stroud Town Council.

Each Council is responsible for different things, but a bit of joined up thinking worked a treat. For example, the Town Council is in charge of cleaning graffiti, the County Council clearing weeds from the road and pavement, and the District Council does waste collection. It was great to see staff from all three councils working together to clear up Stroud’s high street and surrounding area. I took a walk around afterwards and it’s looking much better.

The three councils all chipped in a bit of money and redeployed staff from their usual jobs to complete the two day blitz. It’s worth every penny in my opinion! We will look at doing this in other areas too. I think it will work well alongside our Market Towns Vitality Fund, which is supporting town and parish councils to breathe new life into their commercial areas.

Cleaning up our streets will soon be even easier, after the District Council was awarded a grant for a new machine that will scour chewing gum off pavements. Spitting a piece of gum on the floor might not feel like littering, but cleaning chewies costs councils around £7m across the UK each year. It’s a reminder that dropping even the tiniest bits of trash adds up to a big problem that we all end up paying for. 

Prevention is always better than the cure. So whether it’s gum, cigarette butts, dog poo or anything else: please do your bit to keep our area looking its best by binning your waste.  

And remember, you can quickly report local issues online and get them fixed by visiting fixmystreet.gloucestershire.gov.uk”

This week’s blog was written by Cllr Pete Kennedy, Deputy Leader of Stroud District Council