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The Parish needs another councillor.

Local issues need local people to speak up and get action.

Councillors are ordinary residents from the community who give up their time to strive to keep our parish a great place to live. Can you help the community by serving as a councillor?

There is normally one meeting a month. The new councillor will hold office until the next local elections in May 2028.

You will work as part of a team and there is training, paid for by the council, for you to follow up various aspects of the position.

The council recommends that you attend some meetings of the council before applying.

If you’d like more information about what is involved please contact one of the parish councillors or the clerk clerk@randwickandwestrip-pc.gov.uk

See www.randwickandwestrip-pc.gov.uk for information about current parish issues.

To qualify you must:

have lived in or within three miles of the parish during the whole of the last twelve months – or your only place of work during the whole of the last twelve months was in the parish.

be at least 18 years old

be a British citizen, an eligible Commonwealth citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, a qualifying EU citizen or an EU citizen with retained rights

be registered on the current electoral register

The council was saddened to hear of the death of Mike Woods who had served as a parish councillor since 2009. As the local milkman he was around the parish every day and prompt in bringing parishioners’ concerns to meetings.

As milkman he provided an invaluable and friendly service to many of us over decades. He will be greatly missed.

The “Character Appraisal”, “Management Plan”, and boundary changes have been accepted by Stroud District Council, the Planning authority, and the two documents will now be used as supplementary planning guidance by the district council to inform the interpretation and application of planning policy in Randwick Conservation Area (or where development might affect its setting). There is a link to these documents below.

Following representations from some parishioners whose houses were to be subject to Article 4 directions the Planning authority, SDC, decided that  it would not implement Article 4 Directions, which would have removed some permitted development rights from 16 properties in the conservation area which were seen as contributing to the character of the village through their historical and architectural interest.

It has been a long process. Randwick was designated as a conservation area in 1990. The parish council asked heritage consultants to carry out a review of what gives Randwick its character.

A survey was delivered to houses in the conservation area and after responses had been returned the council held a consultation meeting in Randwick Village Hall in January 2024. At the meeting Stroud District Council’s Senior Planning Strategy Officer and the Specialist Conservation Officer explained the public consultation that would be carried out before producing a draft to be sent to the SDC Development Committee to consider adopting it as Supplementary Planning Guidance.

During the discussions and in response to questions, the SDC officers explained that the 1990 designation had had a bearing on development in the conservation area since 1990 and that the recent appraisal identified what was valued and would provide a sound reference for the planning authority in applying its planning policies to development in the area. The appraisal identified what was valued but was not about ‘preserving the area in aspic’. The aim of the conservation area was to maintain the character of the village.

The final draft of the review is available here www.stroud.gov.uk/randwickca

Painting of Randwick Wap

At the last Wap many visitors saw a distinctive and eye catching painting by local artist Yvonne Tester.

Yvonne has kindly donated it to the parish and it hangs in Randwick Village Hall. To see a larger photograph of the painting click here.

Wapenshaw Randwick Wap

Yvonne also painted these life-size figures.

Yvonne wrote, ” I went to a local exhibition a couple of years ago which comprised local artists’ portrayals of Stroud. Though the cottages and views were beautiful, she felt that Stroud was not only picturesque but vibrant, eclectic and exciting.

My endeavour to represent Stroud in the way I see it culminated in images from Randwick Wap. The costumes, ceremonies and traditions captured the essence I was looking for, land and custom, movement and magic, a deeper understanding of the world encircled by tales and memories.”

September 2024

Yvonne can be contacted at yvonne.tester@hotmail.co.uk

There has been a report about a false email using the randwickandwestrip-pc.gov address with a message asking people to click on an attachment.

Randwick and Westrip Parish Council will never ask you to click on an attachment.

The email has ‘spoofed’ the council’s address and contains a false sender address.

(‘Spoofing’ is sending an email that pretends to come from a known, trusted source but is from a disguised, malicious source.)

If you receive a phishing email please forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will investigate it.

Randwick and Westrip Parish Council will never ask you to click on an attachment in an email.

GCC Public Rights of Way team has notified parish councils of a change in legislation which means that certain unrecorded rights of way might shortly be lost.

“You might be aware of historic tracks and ways within your parish which are perhaps no longer used on a daily basis but are considered to be part of your parish’s history. You should know that if these ways are not currently shown on the official records of rights of way, they could be permanently closed off in 2026 by the owner of the land over which they cross. It is important therefore that these routes are protected now.

For more information and to check recorded rights of way follow the link.

Update: In 2022 the government announced that the 2026 deadline for registering historic paths is to be abolished in England, the Government has confirmed.

The news was welcomed by the Ramblers, who said the move would give more time to save the most important and useful paths. A statement from DEFRA said: ‘We will repeal the 2026 cut-off date for recording historic rights of way, as set out in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, to allow more time for paths to be identified and added to the public rights of way network.’

May 2023:

More recently DEFRA has announced that a deadline date has been reinstated with the 2026 date for adding routes to the map extended to January 2031. This is reported in this link.

https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/cut-off-date-for-historical-paths-reintroduced/

Unrecorded rights of way

The Village Design Statement, which covers the whole parish, has been adopted by Stroud District Council as Supplementary Planning Advice.

If you would like a copy follow this link.

Randwick Village Design Statement – Advice for planning applicants

Randwick Parish Council, working with Stroud District Council, has adopted this protocol to help developers to consult with the local community.

The aim of this Protocol is to enable open, agreed and well-­structured working between communities, applicants/developers, local authorities and elected members in advance of planning applications, helping to deliver better quality development for all.

PDF SDC pre-application community involvement protocol

PDF Addendum for Randwick Parish