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Parish Council Handyperson needed

Applications far invited for the post of Randwick & Westrip Parish Council Handyperson

For a copy of the contract and work schedule please contact the Clerk.

Written applications for the contract, together with the names, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers of two referees, should be sent to the clerk to arrive no later than noon on Friday March 10th.

clerk@randwickandwestrip-pc.gov.uk

Phone 07803 373 678

Kissing gates

Public footpaths

Access improvement

Randwick and Westrip Parish Council can apply for a 50% grant towards improving access to the countryside by replacing old and difficult stiles with low-level, easy-access kissing gates on public footpaths within the parish boundaries. The metal kissing gates are approved and supplied by GCC Public Rights of Way and are then professionally installed free of charge on behalf of the parish council by the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens.

The Parish Council invites landowners to identify and apply to replace any sties on the public footpaths crossing their land which they feel could benefit from an upgrade. The stiles would then not only conform with official approval but be provided and professionally installed at, currently, no cost whatsoever to the landowner.

Would landowners interested in this temporary parish initiative please contact the clerk to the council by the end of March with the exact location of any stile on their land that they would like to be considered for inclusion in this modest, temporary annual programme

clerk@randwickandwestrip-pc.gov.uk

Randwick Conservation Area Appraisal

In Spring 2022 the parish council engaged consultants to carry out an appraisal of the Randwick Conservation Area.

Following the survey the consultants presented a draft at the Annual Parish Meeting In May.

The council has considered drafts of the review and the final document has now been sent to the planning authority, Stroud District Council, for formal public consultation . The next step towards getting the Conservation Area Statement adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance is putting it before SDC’s Environment Committee in February. Then there will be further public consultation.

Updates will be published here.

Randwick Conservation Area Appraisal

There is more information on this page –

Planning and Development in Randwick and Westrip

Emergency Cost of Living Support

For information about coping with the cost of living please visit the SDC website.

If someone is in immediate need of food or fuel and they have no money they can be referred to the Foodbank. The Foodbank can provide them with emergency food parcels and a small amount of credit for their household fuel. If you are not able to make your own referrals, contact Stroud District Council on 01453 766321 or customer.services@stroud.gov.uk and ask them to make a referral.

For further financial support, Gloucestershire County Council have funding for households experiencing financial hardship. Apply to their Household Support Fund online or by calling 01452 425000.

Parish broadband speed – average of 66Mbs…?

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their speeds so far! The council will be pleased to hear from other parishioners.

The parish council is aware that some residents have very – very – poor broadband connection; as such we are exploring options to see if this can be resolved.

The Council has been advised by Fastershire (partnership between Hereford Council & Gloucestershire County Council to help bring superfast broadband across the two counties) that: –

  • There are some 661 premises within the parish area that are receiving broadband;
  • 643 premises are recorded as getting greater than 30Mbps (Superfast);
  • 18 premises have less than 30Mbps the lowest speeds appear circa 16Mbps the majority are over 20Mbps;
  • Average download speed is 66.32 Mbps across the parish.

To help us gauge the download speeds actually experienced within the parish – as far as we are able to – we would be grateful if you could take time to email your broadband speed to: clerk@randwickandwestrip-pc.gov.uk

  • with a postal address / postcode*;
  • and broadband speed;
  • if possible please use OOKLA (https://www.speedtest.net/) – so we have a ‘standard’ speed test to work from!

Thank you for your help!

Approaches to suppliers indicates that build plans for most of the parish are some way off; for Openreach – a date of December 2026 has been indicated – ‘subject to funding’.

The council’s broadband working party continues to engage with suppliers to achieve better service for the parish.

We will only keep your data for the purpose it was collected for and only for as long as is necessary. After which it will be deleted.

Warning – Malicious email – a spoofing / phishing attempt.

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.

Unrecorded rights of way

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: May 2022.

The 2026 deadline for registering historic paths is to be abolished in England, the Government has confirmed.

The news has been 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.’

Unrecorded rights of way

Annual Audit

The Audit for 2021/22 has been completed. (June 16th 2022)

Under the 2014 Local audit and Accountability Act each year the parish council prepares the Annual Governance and Accountability Return.

Since neither the council’s annual income nor the annual expenditure exceed £25,000 the council has declared itself exempt from external audit. Accounts and audit papers are available on the page “Accounts and Audits”.

Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Unaudited Annual Governance and Accountability Return 21-22

Environmental Plan for the Parish

In order to help preserve Randwick & Westrip for the future the Parish Council has created an environmental plan of the parish. This includes sites of special interest of varying types, both natural and man-made. Examples include buildings of note, areas where there are valued wild plants or insects, or areas created by community projects etc.

The plan is on the page Council Documents.

If you are aware of anything which you believe should be included please contact us either by emailing cllr.debbi.smith@randwickandwestrip-pc.gov.uk or by coming along to a council meeting.