I was chatting to someone in Newent's historic Market Square when someone walked past with a traffic cone he had "borrowed" from nearby. "You're the council chap" he said: "OK if I borrow this? there's a hole in the pavement in Church Street".
When a resident reported a children's slide that was in a dirty state I needed to find out who was responsible for maintenance so that I could get it cleaned. The District Council offices didn't know who was responsible so I went to check for a phone number on the play area itself (small play areas are often maintained privately on behalf of developers).
Potholes can cause life changing injuries to cyclists, while for car drivers whose vehicles are damaged, the repair costs can run into thousands of pounds. Pothole damage is costing motorists more than £1million a month, according to Which, but other estimates are much higher.
A resident of Clifford's Mesne raised an interesting question with her town councillor. She pointed out that when the District Council issues information about planning applications, the accompanying maps don't show neighbouring properties where consent has been granted but the development has not yet started. This is a good question because an application needs to be considered in the light of what else is going to happen nearby, not just what's there at the moment.
The Town Council can bid for what is known as "Section 106" money whenever it sees an application for a major development, residential or otherwise. 'Major' usually means ten or more dwellings; requests can be made in relation to smaller developments but are unlikely to succeed. Bids should be for capital projects that offset some defined planning harm arising from the proposed development. By default such projects relate to youth or adult recreation facilities (on- or off-site) but that does not preclude projects in other categories if some planning harm can arguably be offset by them.
I am 100% behind the idea that supermarkets and butchers should not stock meat from areas where deforestation has been used to create grazing land. I see that Tesco in particular has come under attack from Greenpeace on this score but I think the story is more complex and nuanced than the press headlines suggest. Tesco may be the wrong target as they have already stopped buying Brazilian beef (the most problematic source) and their two meat suppliers, Moy Park and Tulip, already meet the supermarket's zero deforestation standards.
