Category: Local Business Issues

Cotswold District Council (CDC) has launched a consultation to gather views from residents and businesses to help inform a decision on its budget for 2023/24. The consultation will run for six weeks from Tuesday 8 November until midnight on Friday 9 December.Residents and businesses will have the opportunity to speak to Cabinet members directly about the proposed budget at a number of engagement events over the course of the consultation. 

Residents and businesses in the Cotswolds are being urged to give their views on the District Council’s spending plans as it prepares its budget for the next financial year. The focus of the budget will be on continuing to deliver services as running costs increase as a result of Putin’s war in Ukraine and the national economic situation.

Cllr Mike Evemy, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “As your local District Council, we are committed to caring for the Cotswolds in all we do. A key part of that is managing our budgets wisely, so we can continue to deliver the services you rely on.

“This year has seen large rises in costs for both residents and businesses as a result of Putin’s war in Ukraine and the national economic turmoil we are facing. We appreciate the impact this is having on you. It has also had a big impact on the Council’s finances. We have seen large increases in costs for fuel to collect bins, energy to run buildings and other inflation-related pressures. 

“The impact of increased costs to the Council means we have to work even harder to deliver our services efficiently. We will also ask the Government to provide the funding councils need to support their local communities – especially important for Cotswold District Council following a decade of cuts in the Council’s core government funding. 

“We are an ambitious council that wants to invest in our District, but expect that these difficult times will mean we have to slow down the delivery of our ambitions to make sure we manage the Council’s finances very carefully. This may mean borrowing money wisely to invest in improvements and using some of our limited reserves to help us through the next two years.

“We are confident that if we pull together as a community, as we did during the pandemic, we will be able to weather this financial storm. We want to make sure we come through the next two years in a strong position so we can continue the work on our priorities of responding to the climate emergency, strengthening our local economy and providing homes for rent that local people can afford. 

“I would urge everyone to complete our short survey once it is live on 8 November or join us at one of our forthcoming engagement events to have your say on how we manage your local council.”

The Council is keen to gather residents’ views on key areas in the proposed council budget including council tax levels and charges in Cotswold District car parks to help fund local services and to hear your suggestions about how it could raise additional revenue or lower its costs. 

As part of the consultation, the Council will hold a series of engagement events at supermarkets across the district so residents can speak with Council members and officers and ask any questions they may have about the Council or its finances. 

The budget consultation survey started on Tuesday 8 November and will be live on the Cotswold District Council website at www.cotswold.gov.uk/budget until Friday 9 December.

More information about the Council’s priorities and Council Tax are available on the Cotswold District Council website.

Cotswold District Council receives only 7 pence in every £1 of Council Tax paid by its residents to provide the services it is responsible for, including waste collection and recycling, street cleaning, parks and open spaces, planning and building control, promoting economic growth and regeneration, leisure services, environmental health and licensing services, housing and council tax support, election administration and support for the homeless.

Engagement Events:

Residents and businesses will have the opportunity to speak to Cabinet members directly about the proposed budget at a range of engagement events over the course of the consultation. 

Members of the Council’s Cabinet will also be visiting areas in the District from Tuesday 15 November to allow residents to speak to them face to face and discuss the Council’s financial position and the forward plans. 

• Tuesday 15 November |  Budget Consultation Engagement visit, Tesco Superstore Stow | 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.
• Wednesday 23 Nov | Budget Consultation Engagement visit, Tesco Extra Cirencester | 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.
• Thursday 24 November –  Budget Consultation Engagement visit, Aldi Moreton-in-Marsh | 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.
• Tuesday 29 November | Budget Consultation Engagement visit, Tesco Superstore, Tetbury | 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.
• Monday 28 November | Town and Parish Council Forum | Cotswold District Council Moreton area centre | 18:00 – 19:30pm. 
• Wednesday 30 November | Town and Parish Council Forum | Cotswold District Council in the Council Chamber | 18:00 – 19:30pm. 

Following the decision of Bourton Vale Parking Ltd to cease offering parking facilities to coaches in their facility from 1^st January 2023, Cotswold District Council hosted a meeting on 20^th September, at which were present officers from CDC, representatives of Cotswold Tourism, Gloucestershire Highways, Gloucestershire Police, Bourton Parish Council, and representatives from the business community here in the village.

CDC were clear from the outset that they viewed their role as facilitators in this issue and should not be relied upon to provide a solution, although they recognised that the various agencies would have to deal with and potentially provide temporary solutions for any negative impact which may arise should coaches be unable to utilise their current facilities.

It was disappointing to note that Bourton Vale had not been invited to the meeting. 

There was robust discussion around the fact that banning coaches would have a devastating effect on many businesses in the village whose income depended on tourism. CDC accepted this and understand that should coaches not be able to access parking facilities as current, coaches will still come to Bourton, and there would be significant challenges from a traffic management point of view. There is also the distinct probability that coach companies would choose other destinations within the Cotswolds which may not be able to cope with a significant increase in this form of traffic.

CDC informed the meeting that they had been looking at alternative sites within the village, whether that be land they owned (much of which has been sold off over recent years) or looking to other landowners who may be able to offer an alternative site.

What are the options?

There appear to be just two possible long-term solutions to a cessation of coaches accessing their current location, one is to convert some of the CDC car park on Rissington Road, which would have a negative impact on revenues for both CDC and Bourton itself, through the current tourism levy. This would be a short-term solution while a longer-term option was progressed. That longer-term option would involve Cotswold School land and has several constraints, not least of which would involve project funding.

There was a subsequent meeting a few days after this where Bob Hadley, John McCabe and Andrew Lund-Yates met with Bourton Vale to try to understand their reasoning behind their decision and to express the views of the business community who feel that their decision would have a hugely detrimental impact on many of the businesses in the village.

We expressed our respect for their decision, and they fully accepted that although there would be a knock-on effect to business, that was not their intention and they would be open to extending their deadline of 31/12/2022, if there was a clear pathway identified for providing an alternative site for coach parking.

Termination of Coach Parking at Bourton Vale Car Park postponed to 31/12/2023

There has since been a meeting with CDC, Bourton Parish Council and Bourton Vale where Bourton Vale have now agreed to postpone their 31/12/2022 deadline until 31/12/2023. 

BBN are committed to working with Bourton Vale and the relevant agencies to progress both the short- and long-term solutions to this issue. 

Bourton Vale are still intending to cease allowing access to coaches to their facilities as from 01/01/2024.

Bourton Business Network is conducting its first ever Annual Business Survey to help better understand the economic life of Bourton-on-the-Water. 

We aim to gauge the issues that matter to local businesses and provide a means of generating representative views that can be used to positively influence the interests of business.

Your input as a local business is really important so we do hope that you will consider taking a few moments to complete the survey.

To take part in the survey please click on this link

All individual data is treated as strictly confidential and will not be passed on to a third party. 

Survey completion date is September 1^st, 2022.

A summary report will be produced and shared with all respondents.

As you are hopefully aware, Nigel Hackling has given notice to Bourton Parish Council that from 1st January 2023 he will no longer be allowing coaches to park in the Station Road car park which he owns and operates.

This obviously has serious ramifications to the businesses in the centre on the village, most of whom rely on the constant stream of tourist footfall throughout the year who support our various concerns.

In order that we can present a consensus view to Cotswold District Council, and Bourton Parish Council, I’d like to invite you along to an informal meeting on Tuesday next week at The Old New Inn at 9.00am where we can discuss the issue and formulate a response.

A letter invitation will also be hand delivered to all businesses in the village centre, whether you are directly affected by tourist trade or not, and everyone is welcome to come along. If you can’t make it for whatever reason and would like your view noted, please email me directly

I’d like to think we’d be concluded within the hour, 10.00am latest.

Hope to see you then

Kind regards

Andrew Lund-Yates

 

Cotswold District Council has been advised by Bourton Vale Parking Limited that the privately owned coach car park in Bourton-on-the-Water is due to close to coaches from December 2022 .

Robert Weaver, Chief Executive of Cotswold District Council, said; “The Council and local Ward Councillors have been informed that the private owner of the coach and car park on Station Road intends to close the site to coaches in December 2022. 

While it is wholly the decision of a private business to change their operations, as the district Council we are keen to understand the potential impacts this decision might have on the local area, both in the short and longer term. 

In order to understand the implications of this decision more clearly, the Council will be looking to convene a meeting with Bourton Vale Parking Limited, local businesses, the Parish Council, County Council highways colleagues and other key partners over the coming months.

At this point in time, and in advance of the proposed meeting, we would advise any local businesses seeking further information to contact Bourton Vale Parking Limited as the car park operators.”

The Coach and Car Park on Station Road in Bourton-on-the-Water has been operated privately since 1979 and is currently operated by Bourton Vale Parking Limited.