WEEKLY COLUMN by mayor of Stroud Tony Davey 

During the summer school holidays there are less meetings as so many people are away on holiday themselves - so I don’t have any update from you in that area. However, the school holidays are also a prime time for roadworks, some planned and some less planned.

The Town Council is updated on planned roadworks and has a good relationship with our colleagues at Gloucestershire County Council Highways who keep us updated on emergency works too.

Our Consultations and Highways Committee, which meets monthly, reviews planned roadworks across our Wards; though we have no say in what is planned, it helps us to know what’s due.

Sometimes we do feedback if we can foresee something may cause an issue that may not have been anticipated.

Sometimes, like this week, there are unplanned emergency works. Those pictured, next to the Waitrose Roundabout, have certainly caused some issues - not least as it came at the same time as the closure of Field Road and temporary lights at Rowcroft.

When it comes to the planned work, some is planned for the school holidays as it will likely have a lesser impact than were they to be carried out over a heavier working time - but no-one believes there is a time where there could be no disruption at all.

These unplanned problems, though, can magnify issues.

It’s worth noting that you can look at https://One.Network and see the latest information on both planned and unplanned works in progress.

Further, you can use the drop-down to look at planned work up to 12 months in advance. Of course, plans can change, but I find this really helps to keep up to date on the current picture and how long works are anticipated to take. It also helps show you all the potential impacts around.

In terms of reporting problems with our road and pavement network, this is something we can (and should) all play a part in. Use https://fixmystreet.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ to see what has been reported, the progress on what has been reported (very useful!) and you can report issues using this webpage too.

The County Council is responsible for around 6,000km of roads across the County.

Whether you are a Councillor for the Town, District or County Council, I think it’s impossible to be at a public engagement without someone bringing up the topic of potholes within the first 30 minutes (often more like 3 minutes).

As this topic is so prominent in the minds of so many in our community, I hope you have found this insight helpful.