STROUD School of Art at SGS College has a big birthday coming up. It is 160 years old and the art team understandably intend to celebrate. It was therefore fitting that the talented young SGS art student, Francesca Smith, was chosen to design a feature for the Five Valleys shopping centre.

Francesca designed a huge living green wall that can be seen from the A46 Merrywalks road. It is stunning and has already brightened up the area. I visited the living wall with Francesca, Dionne Moore from Five Valleys, SGS College, the GFirstLEP and Stroud in Bloom amongst others.

It was a pleasure to say thank you on behalf of the town to this young artist. On my Instagram she said that she cannot wait to see the wall plants grow.

As the dilapidated buildings of the old Merrywalks shopping centre are being transformed, it is natural to think about other areas in Stroud, the Valleys and Vale that could do with attention.

Many people understandably want Tricorn House to be developed after decades of disappointments with various plans.

In Berkeley at the weekend, local people explained their years of frustration with the Newport Towers Hotel site on the A38.

These are a few examples where delayed progress for a range of reasons has brought areas and people down. I will work with Stroud District council to look at such issues and would like to hear your views. In the meantime, I want to see Tricorn House working with the Art School for a positive local project.

Nationally, we have seen good progress recently as the election has broken the parliamentary deadlock on key issues. The third reading of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill passed so it now heads to the Lords and an agreement has been reached in Northern Ireland to get Stormont back up and running. Let’s see what this week brings.