SPOTLIGHTKingsholm & Wotton ward No. 206 - Liberal Democrats working for you

●Swan Road, Guinea Street & Worcester Parade

●Westfield Terrace, The Limes & Orchard Close

●Clapham Court & Alvin Street

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City & County Councillor Jeremy HiltonTel: 501206 or 07415 291479Email: jeremy.hilton@gloucestershire.gov.ukTwitter: jeremy4gloswww.jeremyhilton.co.uk

City Councillor Isabel BrazilTel: 07703 839544Email: isabel.brazil@gloucester.gov.uk

Liberal DemocratSpotlight Team

Working all year round for Kingsholm & WottonMail: 47 St Mary’s Street, Gloucester, GL1 2QS

Time to sack Amey and bringthe streetcare service back in-house

Published by Glos Lib Dems, 47 St Mary’s Street Gloucester GL1 2QS - Printed by Perpetua Press, 20 Culver Street, Newent, GL18 1DA

Liberal Democrats have called for an earlyend of the council’s streetcare contract withAmey PLC.

The 15-year contract is due to end on 31stMarch 2022 and is valued at £5.7m per year.

Amey are contracted to provide street cleaning,grounds maintenance, recycling and refuse collectionservices.

The call by Jeremy Hilton to end the contract early,came as councillors’ email inboxes were flooded withcomplaints from residents about missed bin collectionsover the Christmas period.

This follows on from a similar problem with bins notbeing collected last year due to insufficient driversbeing employed by Amey. The quality of the streetcleaning and grounds maintenance services is alsoproblematic.

The streetcare service was discussed at the Overviewand Scrutiny Committee on 8th January and JeremyHilton asked Richard Cook the cabinet member to endthe contract early, but he said no.

This is worst contract I have ever seen

Previously, Richard Cook has described the contractas the worst he has ever seen.

Jeremy Hilton said: “It is time that the Toryadministration took action and cancelled the contractbecause of poor performance.

“The sooner we reorganise the streetcare services thebetter. I favour serious consideration to bringing theservice back in-house with the council employing and

managing staff directly rather than through a thirdparty.”

Isabel Brazil agreed: “We have had a number offailures on the streetcare services in last 12 months,Gloucester deserves better.”

This edition of

Should boozing at therose garden be banned?

A public consultation has beenlaunched by the city council onintroducing a Public SpaceProtection order for the citycentre, which would include therose garden on London Road.The consultation ends on the 2nd ofApril.Public Space Protection Orders(PSPOs) were introduced in theAnti-Social Behaviour, Police andCrime Act 2014 as one of the toolsto improve public safety andwellbeing in a particular area.The proposed terms of this PSPO,and the geographical area to becovered by it, are all subject tochange depending on the feedback

the council receives during thisconsultation.Isabel Brazil said: “A PSPO canbe used to prohibit the drinking ofalcohol in a defined space.“This could be introduced for therose garden. I would encourageresidents that live nearby tocomplete the survey.”

Jeremy Hilton said: “The area inKingsholm runs up London Road toHorton Road and back down RoyalLane.“It includes the rose garden, wherethere has been a problem of anti-social behaviour fuelled by theconsumption of alcohol. Theboundary of the PSPO could bealtered.”Both Isabel and Jeremy wouldwelcome receiving your views onPSPOs.You can read more about a PSPOby following this link, which alsoincludes the online survey:

https://goo.gl/5675ev

The overgrown hedge in the alleybetween North Road and EstcourtRoad has been cutback thanks to theaction of Isabel Brazil.

Originally, the work was to be done inOctober, but this was delayed.

Isabel chased Amey and now the workhas been completed.

Neat & Tidy - North Road alleyTwo thousand bulbs were planted alongthe Kingsholm side of Estcourt Road atthe end of October.

The funding came from the HighwaysLocal scheme, which requires the sign-off of the local county councillor.

Jeremy Hilton said: “I hope this willbrighten up the area as Spring arrives.”

Daffodils for Estcourt Road

Isabel Brazil with localresident Enrico Fatica

Inside :● Universal Credit goes live in Gloucester● City Mission night shelter

Back page:● Should boozing be banned at the rose garden? - have your

say● Daffodils for Estcourt Road

Universal Credit is a new benefit thatwill be administered by theDepartment of Work and Pensions.

The full service will go live on the21st of February. It will be paidmonthly in arrears and will includehousing costs (rent).

Universal Credit supports peoplewho are on low incomes or out ofwork. It brings together six benefitsinto a single monthly payment.

It will replace these benefits

● Jobseeker’s Allowance

● Employment & SupportAllowance

● Income Support

● Working Tax Credit

● Child Tax Credit

● Housing Benefit

Claimants will still have to claimcouncil tax support direct from thecity council.

Who can make a claim?

You may be eligible to claimUniversal Credit if you

● Are a single person, couple orfamily

● Are over 18 years of age

● Are under state pension age

● Are not in full time education ortraining

● Do not have savings over£16,000

● Have 2 children or fewer

● Received UC in last 6 monthsbut had payments stopped – itdoesn’t matter how manychildren you have.

Universal Credit Helpline0800 328 93 44 or

www.gov.uk/universal-credit

UniversalCredit

● There are no local elections planned to be held in 2018 as both the city and county councils are now on all outelections every four years. Next scheduled elections are; 2020 city council and 2021 county council.

● Jeremy is chairing the air pollution task group at the county council. It is expected that the group will publish itsreport before the summer recess.

● Isabel is working closely with the chair of Orchard Close Residents Association to help solve some local problems,which includes match day parking congestion.

● A request has been put in to speed up the planned pollarding of the London Plane tree outside 75 DenmarkRoad.

● Six thousand pounds has now been put aside to carry out improvements to the rose garden by WellingtonParade.

● Disappointingly, the Homes and Communities Agency are not currently interested in acquiring 67/69 LondonRoad as a public funded housing project.

The City Mission off GreatWestern Road was grantedplanning permission to provideovernight accommodation for upto 15 rough sleepers, from 1stDecember until the 31st of Marcheach year.Isabel Brazil said: “The centre isopen for overnight stays frombetween 8pm and 8am.“I'm pleased to report that thecentre been providingaccommodation for around 11 or12 people a night and that the

shelter has been operatingreasonably trouble free.“Liberal Democrats very muchsupport the provision of enoughnight shelter beds in Gloucester toensure that homeless people don’tneed to sleep outside.“There is a food bank onsiteproviding additional support forpeople who are struggling to makeends meet.”

The future of the three concrete artpanels on the front of the formerBHS shop in Eastgate Street hasbeen secured.

A planning application by ReefEstates to remodel the shop front hasbeen approved, which will include thesafe removal, storage and relocationof the three concrete art panelscurrently on the front wall of the store.

Jeremy Hilton campaignedvigorously to save the murals.

He said: “The three concrete artpanels are about 45 years old anddepict the goods on sale in the shopsat the time.

“This is good public art and verymuch of its time. It is planned that

they will be relocated to ClarenceStreet.

“I would also like to see aninterpretation board nearbyexplaining how they were madeincluding the details of the originalartists.

“Similar art panels have appeared onother BHS stores around the countryin towns such as Stockport andNewcastle-Upon-Tyne.”

The art panels are the work ofrenowned artists Joyce Pallot (1912-2004) and Henry Collins (1910-1994).

Art panels from the former BHSstore saved!

City Mission Night Shelter

The resurfacing of a stretch of footway alongSerlo Road has now been completed.

Similarly, the footways and part of the road inNewland Street has received new tarmac.

Both projects were done at the request of JeremyHilton.

Footways resurfaced

Your Liberal Democrat councillorshave been assured that a number oftree stumps will be removed andreplaced with young trees.

The tree stumps reported by Isabel& Jeremy are along Estcourt Road,Denmark Road & Oxford Road.

Tree stumps to be removed for new trees

Nearly 800 homes in Gloucesterare empty, research by theLiberal Democrats has revealed.

The figures, uncovered throughFreedom of Information requests,show that there are 791 homesacross the city that have beenempty for six months or more.

Of these, 299 had been empty fortwo years or more, 95 for fiveyears or more, and 37 have stood

empty for at least 10 years inGloucester.

Jeremy Hilton said: “GloucesterCity Council needs to do more tobring back into occupationresidential properties that havebeen empty for a long time.

“The council does have the powerto act. An empty home could besomeone’s new home.”

800 homes emptyin Gloucester