Cabinet - Thursday 20 November 2025, 6:00pm - Cotswold District Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Thursday, 20th November 2025 at 6:00pm 

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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. 03. To approve the minutes of the meeting held 16 October 2025
    Status: In progress
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. 03. To approve the minutes of the meeting held 16 October 2025
    Status: Ended
  4. Approve minutes of 6 November 2025
    Status: In progress
  5. Approve minutes of 6 November 2025
    Status: Ended
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  1. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
  7. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  8. Councillor Mike Evemy
  9. Councillor Mike McKeown
  10. Councillor Mike Evemy
  11. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  12. Councillor Mike Evemy
  13. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  14. Councillor Mike Evemy
  15. 09. Car Parking Strategy 2025-2028 - Approve Recs 1-6
    Status: In progress
  16. Councillor Mike Evemy
  17. 09. Car Parking Strategy 2025-2028 - Approve Recs 1-6
    Status: Ended
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  1. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Mike Evemy
  6. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  7. Councillor Mike Evemy
  8. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  9. Officer
  10. Councillor Mike Evemy
  11. Officer
  12. Councillor Mike Evemy
  13. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  14. Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
  15. Councillor Mike Evemy
  16. Councillor Patrick Coleman
  17. Councillor Mike Evemy
  18. 10. Private Sector Housing & Mobile Homes Sites Policy - Approve Recs 1-3
    Status: In progress
  19. Councillor Mike Evemy
  20. 10. Private Sector Housing & Mobile Homes Sites Policy - Approve Recs 1-3
    Status: Ended
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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Councillor Andrea Pellegram
  4. Councillor Mike Evemy
  5. Councillor Mike Evemy
  6. Councillor Mike Evemy
  7. Councillor Mike McKeown
  8. Councillor Mike Evemy
  9. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  10. Councillor Mike Evemy
  11. Councillor Mike Evemy
  12. 11. Infrastructure Funding Statement - Approve Recs 1-2
    Status: In progress
  13. Councillor Mike Evemy
  14. 11. Infrastructure Funding Statement - Approve Recs 1-2
    Status: Ended
  15. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
  2. Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
  3. Councillor Mike Evemy
  4. Councillor Claire Bloomer
  5. Councillor Mike Evemy
  6. Councillor Paul Hodgkinson
  7. Councillor Mike Evemy
  8. 12. Adoption of the Tacking Domestic Abuse Strategy - Approve Rec 1
    Status: In progress
  9. Councillor Mike Evemy
  10. 12. Adoption of the Tacking Domestic Abuse Strategy - Approve Rec 1
    Status: Ended
  11. Webcast Finished

Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:00:06
Good evening, everybody. My name is Mike Evermy. I'm leader of Cotswold District Council. Welcome
to this meeting of the cabinet for councillors and officers in the room and for anyone who's
viewing this online. So we'll start off with apologies. We have apologies from Councillor
Layton, who may be able to join us online, but she's not able to be here in person this
evening. Second item is declarations of interest. Have any members that wish to
make a declaration of interest? Andrea. Thank you, Councillor Evony. I just wanted
to clear that I am the owner of a house in multiple occupation. It is not a
licence full property and I will be speaking to the item later on. Thank you
of our item is item 10, private sector housing,
mobile site, home sites, policy update.
Thank you.
Agenda item three then is the minutes starting on page seven
and running through to page 26, quite extensive.

3 Minutes

There were a couple of small things that we picked up
under a minute 138, just a sort of typo there.
And then I think more substantively,
and I will on the top of what part minute 143 just to clarify in the top of
the page which are not true I think it's 14 it should say up from fewer than 500
a year so the words a year needed to be added in but does anyone else have any
corrections for the minutes no okay so I'm happy to move those from the chair
We have a seconder for the minutes.
Patrick, okay, can we move to the vote on the minutes?
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:02:13
I think we've got six members in favour and one abstention.
Claire wasn't at the last meeting.
Lovely, thank you.
Oh, actually, I've done that wrong.
So we've got two sets of minutes haven't we? So the vote I think was was that the vote for the first set of minutes?
Have we got a separate vote in the second set? We've done them together
Okay, so actually members
We've just voted on the 16th. Oh yes, it says it on the screen in front of me
So that was all good, so we're now moving to the minutes of the 6th of November
So I didn't have anything on that does any member have any
any amendments or corrections to the minutes of the 6th of November? No? Okay.
So if we can now move to the vote on the minutes of the 6th of November please.
.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:04:08
Did that go off while I was talking?
Do we think?
Not sure.
Okay.
So yeah, maybe that I forgot to press the button so I will just reprise that
To say that our local plan consultation is now live
It ends one minute to midnight on the 2nd of January and really just encouraging everyone to
Take part in that consultation. Give us your views on the future of development the district's a really important
consultation. And just as one little flavour of that, we will, this magazine should be appearing through on doormats next week.
So that will be going through every household in the district. And there's a double -page thread on the media inside featuring, obviously, Juliet, who's not with us this evening,
but talking about how important the consultation is and highlighting that we
have four in -person events where people can go along and chat to officers and
they are taking place in Mickleton on the 28th of November, Morton on the 5th
of December, Fairford on the 11th of December and Syrinsester on the 18th of
December. They're all taking place between 2 and 7 p .m. Also on there is a

4 Leader's Announcements

website and all the information is on our website and please do go through
there and you can answer the consultation questions on there and give
us your views. So that was obviously a very important piece of work that's
going on and we will look forward to seeing the results of that consultation
in the new year. We'll then move on. So public questions. I'm looking to see if

5 Public Questions

there's any members of the public here and there are not so there are no public
questions. And item six, we don't have any member questions submitted. Agenda item seven
is the schedule of decisions taken by the leader of the council and or individual cabinet
members. We just had one decision which took place on the 8th of October made by Juliet,
who's joined us online. I don't think she necessarily wants to say anything on this
item but feel free to if you want Juliet but we have one decision that she or two
decisions that she took at the same meeting one about a local nature
recovery strategy and one about the regulation 18 consultation of Morton and
Marsh town councils plan so regulation 14 thank you for the clarification so
we'll then note those any on item 8 is issues arising from over the scrutiny and

6 Member Questions

audit. Obey and Scrutiny met on Monday but they didn't make any recommendations
with regards to the items that we're considering tonight so there isn't
anything for us to consider off the back of that meeting. Which then moves us on

9 Car Parking Strategy 2025-2028

to agenda item 9 car parking strategy page 29 through to 116 and I'm going to
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:07:26
much. Yes, so this evening I'm bringing you the car parking strategy 2025 to
2028 which sets out how this council is going to manage its off -street parking
estate over the next two and a half years roughly. I'll talk about why that
timing is important a little bit later and just again an emphasis that this is
about off -street parking which we're responsible for and not on -street
parking. So the purpose of the strategy is to deliver a positive parking
experience for residents, for visitors, for businesses, to support our local
economy, to contribute to sustainability and prepare for the future change in
governance at local government level in Gloucestershire. So currently we manage
20 off -street car parks with 2 ,279 spaces to be exact and 24 electric
vehicle charging points. Recognising that whilst we obviously support and promote
active travel because of the rural nature of this district many people
still rely on cars. So the strategy is built on lots of data and in fact I and
the team have spent a lot of time, many hours analysing many bits of data which
has looked at the usage of each of our car parks, it's looked at the stay times
in each of our car parks, it's been fascinating and eye -opening, it really
has, it really has. Perhaps that's the nerd in me, the loving data, but I have
found it fascinating because it has shown just how much our car parks are
either oversubscribed, undersubscribed or doing fine in terms of that. So that's
been really interesting. The other thing that's happened is there's been a
community consultation and a survey and many hundreds of people have actually
taken part in that consultation and those surveys. Plus what we've had again
is a series of on -site meetings with parishes and towns, with businesses, with
lobby groups with residents and some of the ones I've been to is Tetbury twice,
Broughton on the water, Fairford North Leach plus others previously by the team
and also my predecessor Councillor Tony Dale. And so it lists our work under four
themes basically. Understanding parking needs, understanding customer needs,
preparing for future demand and get on those options and actions. So the other
thing I wanted to say is there's an awful lot of feedback on on street
parking and those have all been listed again in the report because obviously a
lot of that on street parking feedback has to go through to Gloucestershire
County Council because it's not our responsibility. So tactically what we've
done because we're focusing on local government reorganisation and we know
that if the government sticks to its timetable we in this council will sadly
not be existing after May 2028 what we're doing is we're looking at the next
two and a half years and focusing tactically on a priority set of actions
so the first one priority is reviewing stay times and the turnover in car parks
to make sure that short space short stay spaces are available in the right
locations and long stay provision fits worker and tourist needs. And so we have
in this report a specific proposal for Borton which I'm excited about
because as the County Councillor for Borton I know full well the kind of
issues that are on the ground there all the time but particularly in the tourist
season and so I'm delighted to announce today that within this report we are
going to create a free before 10 facility for Borton residents. So
currently the car park at the Risington Road charges between 8 a .m. and 6 p .m.
The proposal here is to shift that to 10 a .m. to 8 p .m. which means you get free
time before 10 a .m. before tourists tend to arise and then in the evenings we're
extending because it's been very noticeable particularly this year that
people are staying longer into the evenings and therefore we're missing on
income there. Second big thing is the installation of modern payment and
parking machine technology. So a brand new set of parking machines, a budget of
£40 ,000 has been identified for that and that will definitely improve customer
experience and it will future -proof the service. Thirdly, and my colleague
Councillor McKeown will love this, we want to still expand our electric
vehicle charging infrastructure where it's feasible to do so.
Obviously subject to funding and site suitability,
but that supports our Towards Net Zero goal.
Another great thing in here is to introduce
what's called a tourist levy in the Morgashby Road
car park in Star on the Wall.
Now you'll know that we've successfully introduced
this in Bourn on the Water over the last few years.
What that's done is generate many thousands of pounds
worth of money to go back into the community to offset some of the issues
to do with tourism. Stowe has been at the forefront of getting more tourists
coming through so we felt it was important to try and mitigate that and
help that town. And then finally, key thing is to engage with town and parish
councils to support their local parking initiatives. Things like their own car
parks in St. Northleach, Letchlade for instance, are examining those and
obviously we want to support them. So in summary what I'd like to say is you know
I think our emphasis here is on quick win improvements because of the shelf
life of the council, refining some of those stay times, getting those new
machines in, emphasis on civic pride so our car parks look and feel good and
making sure there's a smooth handover to our successors whoever they may be.
Finally, I'd like to thank all the officers, so Susan Hughes, Maria Wheatley, Claire Locke
and David Stanley, all of whom have worked very hard over the last 18 months to put this
strategy into action and I commend it to you.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:13:49
Thank you very much Paul.
Open it up for other discussions.
I've seen Claire next.
Thank you.
What a great report.
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:13:59
What a great piece of work this is.
and it's great to hear that we've been consulting with residents and town parishes, and I think that's great.
It's just real collaboration, and I just want to share my thanks really that there's been this bit of work done,
and it's great to see. So yeah, I thoroughly support it. So well done to all.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:14:21
Thank you Claire. I've got Patrick and then Andrea.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:14:27
Thank you very much Chair. Thank you.
and congratulations to the team and indeed to Paul.
And I was pleased to see that the 125 ,000
needed for the new car park ticket machines
that we agreed back in February left a gap
which we anticipate the 40 ,000 that you did mention.
And we expect to be able to fill that
from the additional above budget receipts
from car parking machines,
I think it says here in paragraph 6 .4.
So that's good news.
But I also wanted to say what a pleasure it is to be able to offer something that people
haven't had before, which is two hours of free parking and bought on the water.
And the tourism levy initiative there with full public consultation and people voting
on what they think the most important schemes are has led to some very substantial schemes
and of course additional enforcement.
I'm not saying that this has resulted in a perfect situation because can we imagine if
That can never be done.
But I think that is definitely to the credit of the team.
Thank you very much.
Sure.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:15:33
I think you, thanks Patrick and Claire
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:15:36
for your good wishes on this.
I think with Borton, it is, it's a very difficult
and challenging situation for the population there.
There's definitely over tourism at times.
And this summer, because of the record heat and sunshine,
which seems a distant memory now,
they really were in the front line of that.
So trying to give something back to the village through this
strategy I think is really important.
Thank you, Paul.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:16:04
Andrea and then Mike.
Oh, Mike was first.
Apologies, Mike.
Thank you, Paul.
Councillor Mike McKeown - 0:16:12
I can certainly attest that they're lovely car parks because
I've stood in many of them with our Fabulous Comms team,
had my photograph enthrallingly taken,
plugging my EV into a variety of our chargers which I'm sure resident be excited to see
the double play spread in the news coming out soon of me plugging my car in in that
you can try and guess where it is. Where was Mike today? Anybody get going to guess where
I was in that one? That's the lovely Tetbury Garbark. Very nice it is too. On a serious
note, you know, why is that important? I want to thank you and in a second I'll thank the
the team really on two fronts, so one
30 to 40 percent homes don't have off -street parking in the UK and therefore we and the counter council do in
On car parks and streets enables them to adopt TVs
Which is you know good nicer cars to drive much cheaper to run
Much less air pollution about 70 % less carbon. So it's a it's a good thing
So it meets our climate goals and it's good for our residents pockets as well.
So that's good to see for our residents.
It's also good for our visitors.
I remember when I joined the council in 23, there would be a BBC programme about
a visitor with an EV coming to the Cotswolds and they couldn't find anywhere
to plug in and charge, so a bit frustrated.
So the great work we've done to roll out a lot of charges now, so
most of our major towns have charges really does help that.
So that's really kind of leads me to my thanks both to the parking team and our excellent climate officer
I think between you worked hard. I know it was quite difficult at times trying to deal with the grid
And get connexions was was you know challenging so I really appreciate a lot of hard work has gone into that
So it does make a difference and and you know for anybody listening to if you're a parish counsellor
You can chip in and do your bit. We literally just launched EV charges in my it's some for canes my
My village hall to get us out into villages, it was a fairly small, modest amount of money.
It actually helped partly, so I can grant from GCC and CDC to do that.
So there's lots we can do.
So, again, thank you very much.
And next team.
Thanks, Mike.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:18:33
Yeah, I'm just looking at the publication that is going to go through doors next week.
And yeah, it's, there's three different locations in Syrinsester where we've got the EV charges.
So here, Beaches Road and the Brewery Car Park.
And then in our car parks in Mortyn in Marsh, Boughton on the Water, Tethbury and Stowe on the World.
So yeah, actually a great piece of work making 24 charges.
And I was interested to know that put us sort of well above the average in terms of that.
And we definitely weren't there, you know, two years ago.
So great piece of work.
Andrea
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:19:11
Thank you Mike and everything I was going to say has already been said
But I do want to also say that I was very pleased about this report
I recently went to a meeting at Borton on the water where to talk about litter and over tourism
but of course everybody talked about parking as well and
People were saying that they had difficulty accessing local services during high tourist
Peaks because the car parking spaces were all full so I'm really happy
to see that there is this free parking in the morning
and I hope that residents actually find that useful.
The other thing that we talked about in Borton
was the tourism levy and I think that's a really good thing
and I'm so happy to see this being rolled out
for Stowe as well because Stowe is very, very
heavily touristed most of the time.
And I just think hopefully this will help them
actually manage that pressure
which is really quite difficult.
And finally I just want to say thank you also
for taking account of the Sire and Sester
neighbourhood plan, the draught policies in there and trying to progress them. So I'm
very happy to second this report and this recommendation. Thank you Andrea. So
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:20:17
yeah just my comments before I go back to Paul or the officers if they want to
say anything. As sort of it's really nice to hear you say good things about the
tourism levy because I could sort of lay claim to being the architect of that.
When I had the parking portfolio a few years ago,
and actually it's been a huge success and has helped.
I think it's now generating about 65 ,000 pounds a year
to spend in Borton.
It's been spent on things like
refurbishing the village green,
the sort of block paving,
it's cost of village warden,
it's sort of sharing costs with the parish council
over extra parking enforcement.
So it's really enabling us as a district council to use what leverage we have, and
we have a car park there to help the community to deal with the tourism and the impacts of
volume tourism.
So they very much welcome the fact that we're going to be doing the same for Stowe, and
they obviously have a large number of visitors as well, and that we got that car park there
and we can ask people to pay a bit more
who use that car park in order to support the town
in dealing with the volume of tourism.
Also, you know, picking up on the points on the finances,
and getting new car park machines,
and it's been something that's been talked about
for a little while, and I know that the team
have been out looking at car park machines,
and yeah, we're looking forward to us having some more
modern and more robust machines in our car parts very soon. At some point next
year but yeah and thank Paul and the team for all the work that you've done.
You know I had an enjoyable evening sitting by the fire last night reading
the detail of every single town and whatever about their parking. So like
like Paul I'm a bit of a data nerd as people who know me well know and found
it very interesting to read about the issues because every settlement is different and
it's about how do we maintain vital settlements that have vitality across the whole of our
district so that people can get in and use the services that they provide. It's really
obviously important and obviously for the larger ones sometimes people have to drive
within the settlement like Syrins Cessna. So it's really important that we have the
ability for them to be able to park safely to do so. So yeah thank you very
much from me. I'll hand back to Paul for the sort of final word on this or if the
officers want to come in then and not indicating so they're happy. All right
back to you Paul. Okay yeah no thanks for your very positive comments. I think
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:23:07
this has been a work in progress for many many months as I've said. So that
now it's about hitting the ground running and getting these things in
place in Borton, in Stowe, with the parking machines,
more EV charging, and all the other things
that we're doing within this.
And we can really do that.
So it's a case of just getting on and implementing it.
Thank you very much.
Brilliant.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:23:29
So if we can go to the vote, then please.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:23:53
Okay, that's unanimous.
Seven votes in favour.
So thank you very much.
And thank you to the officers.
Happy to let you, obviously you might want to go and enjoy your evening now, the what's
left of it.
So thank you very much.

10 Private Sector Housing and Mobile Homes Sites policy update.

We'll move on to the next item, which is item 10, page 117, private sector housing strategy
mobile homes policy so I'm going to Councillor Pellegram to lead on this one.
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:24:23
Thank you chair. This report covers two new areas of policy or updated
areas of policy I should say. Before I start I'd just like to thank officers
particularly Paul Lancaster sitting behind me for discussing this important
agenda item with me beforehand and when I speak here. This agenda item updates
work from the private sector housing team and two policy areas in particular
that must be amended to reflect recent changes to legislation. I've previously
declared my interest as a as a an owner of an HMO but I don't consider that in
this instance it's a... This policy was last updated in 2013 and there have been administrative
and legislative changes that should be accurately reflected in our policy and that's why this
report is coming before us today. This new policy furthers our commitment to ensuring
that all of our residents live in homes that are safe and meet required standards. This
strategies mainly aimed at homes in the private rented sector and seeks to work with landlords
to provide good homes for their tenants. The 2023 English housing survey indicated that
the sector with the highest rates of non -decent homes was a private rented sector. It was
10 .2 % of all homes. In the cots holds this figure is lower at 9 .5 % which is good but
we want it to be even lower.
We want to work with landlords to improve any houses
that are in need of improvement.
We also want to maximise the stock of private rented
housing by bringing more empty homes back into housing use.
I asked officers how many empty homes were currently
in existence in the Cotswolds and was surprised
to learn that there are 921 empty properties.
Many of these have been empty for a long time.
We're currently reviewing our local plan
and are planning significant new housing developments
and this causes a lot of pressure for communities.
However, these empty homes already exist
and we need to bring them back into use.
We're also looking at houses in multiple occupation,
the larger ones of which must be registered.
We estimate that there are currently,
we're currently looking at around 54,
which is different from what was quoted in the report.
54 houses in multiple occupation in the district.
Previous cabinet decisions have already addressed how we will work with landlords
of licensable HMOs and issue civil penalties if necessary.
So this report is all about trying to make the most of the private rented housing stock
that we've got and make it as good as it can be and as plentiful as it can be for our residents.
Moving on to the mobile home strategy, this policy updates how we regulate
residential mobile homes parks and introduce new fees for registering fit
and proper persons and site licences. The Council now maintains a register of fit
and proper persons who manage these sites. So I recommend to Cabinet to
support these two important new policy documents for the protection of our
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:27:51
Thank you very much. Thank You Andrea. Paul is there anything you'd like to add
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:27:59
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:28:02
to what Andrea has said? Yes. Paul is right behind one behind the other.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:28:13
Okay I'll just put that on for that I think it came through on the script so
Paul Lancaster said he didn't have anything to add at this
time, but happy to answer questions.
I think, Paul, if you come to a microphone that you can see to
be working and that will appear on the broadcast,
that would be good.
So, Paul Hodgkinson this time.
Do we need Paul's?
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:28:34
Yes, I've, yeah, this is great, really great,
Andrea, to see this policy.
Really interested in particular in the mobile homes policy
within it.
I have in my ward a mobile home park, Mayfield Park, and there are many, you know, across
the Cotswolds.
And often those mobile home parks have a lot of residents who are elderly, more vulnerable,
and so actually making sure that they're properly regulated, those mobile home parks, there's
process for that just to ensure that everything is right in terms of how
those those parks are run because of often the vulnerable nature of some of
the residents I think is crucial so thank you for bringing that and any
comments you've got around that in terms of protecting vulnerable residents would
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:29:27
be great. Just before you answer that I will say there's also one in my ward
Wildwood Park in Sydney. So yeah absolutely echo Paul's points about
mobile home parks and making sure that you know they're being run in a proper
way. So over to you Andrea. I actually first learned about this from the waste
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:29:47
side because I learned from Councillor Layton who's not here today so I'll
speak on her behalf also about Mayfield Park and that some of the elderly
residents were having difficulty actually putting their bins out and so
These are the sorts of issues that we can start using this policy to actually address.
And I've already started speaking to officers about how we can apply this policy.
So you might want to say something, Paul.
Chair, I'm happy to pick that point up.
Officer - 0:30:16
At this stage, what we will be doing is through the winter months,
because residential parks operate all through the year,
we'll focus our inspections of caravan sites on those residential parks
and issues like that have been described that don't comply with the conditions,
will firstly give an opportunity for the operator of the site to put the matter right,
and if they don't, they will then receive a compliance notice,
which is in line with the enforcement policy we have as a council.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:30:48
Thank you. Paul, can I sort of follow up on the caravan side of things in terms of mobile homes,
and sort of note that I think that is the case that whilst we have a
requirement for to licence permanent residential parks is the same true of
holiday home parks I have some of those in my ward as well and if it is true do
we do they generate a revenue income for us in the same way that there's a
a fee that we're going to be charging for permanent holiday, permanent accommodation parks.
Officer - 0:31:29
Simple answer is yes then no. So yes we do have a requirement to licence holiday and touring sites,
but no we have no opportunity legislation does not allow us to attract any licence fee for that work.
There's one class of caravan sites that we do not licence and actually are exempt from planning as well.
And those are so -called certificated locations from exempt organisations like the Caravanning Club and those.
But they're exempted nationally.
Thank you Paul.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:32:04
essentially people can be running quite large commercial businesses that we have
to register with us and obviously you have to, and you and your team have to go and
make sure that they're safe and all of that other work for which the
commercial provider pays us nothing because they don't have to. So I mean I
I think what I might like to do, and I'll put this in a minute here,
but I think it's worth a letter from us,
certainly to the relevant minister.
We could copy in our MPs just explaining actually we think
that's not right, that actually
where there are commercial operators running this
and we're providing a service to them, they should,
we should be getting a fee from them which covers the cost
of your team and your work in the same way
that that's done for the for the people who are running residential parks
because ultimately someone has to pay the bill and that therefore at the
moment we as a council are covering the cost for holiday park providers and you
know whilst you know they are proceeding and service and bringing tourists here
which is absolutely fine you know I don't think it's really should we should
be essentially paying for the cost of registering those and making sure that
they're safe. So we will pick that up. Don't need to admit that separately, but
thank you for Paul for that. Any other comments? Tristan?
It's me.
I know.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:33:40
Now I'm working.
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 0:33:50
So I'm really happy to second this and I echo the comments made about mobile residential
homes in particular. I have quite a large facility in Lechlade, St John's and I spend
a lot of time knocking on doors there and these people often feel underrepresented.
They don't feel like their voice is heard. They feel on the margins of society because
of where they live. They don't get many kind of services necessarily turning up unless
something goes catastrophically wrong such as flooding in St John's case. So I think
to have some clarity and focus on this and to kind of bring them more in line with kind
of modern thinking and regulation I think is a really welcome thing. So to the officers
and everybody involved in this, I think this is really welcome, so really happy to support.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:34:42
Thank you, Tristan. Councillor Coleman.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:34:47
Thank you very much, Chair. I just wanted to add, since we've been talking about what
are sometimes called as park homes,
particularly by the providers,
that they are a form of low -cost housing in the countryside.
And therefore, I hope that if there is any market
for a possible future home somewhere,
and obviously I have no knowledge,
a possible future park or extension,
that it will be recognised,
because I believe residential parks
do count towards our housing targets,
and as I say, usually not that expensive.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:35:21
I think that's duly noted, probably by the officers on the call, particularly Helen Martin.
Okay, thank you, Patrick.
So back to you, Andrea, if there's anything to add, or we can go straight to the vote
then on the recommendations on page 117.
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:36:00
That's unanimous.
Thank you everybody.
Thank you Paul.
and we'll now move on to agenda item 11,
which I think we have on the screen for us.
We've got remotely, we've got Councillor Layton,
who can't get into the Trinity Road this evening.
And we've also got from the planning team,
we've got Helen Martin and Kim Langford -Terar,
if I've got that correctly, Kim,
the pronunciation of your say, and apologies if I haven't.
So I'm going to hand over Juliet.
Are you going to introduce this for us or are you there to answer questions?
Happy for whoever to unmute would like to and talk us through this paper.
I'd really prefer not to because I'm, yeah, it's the end of the day and I'm suffering now.
No worries.
Okay, don't worry Juliet.
So Helen, are you going to, or Kim, one of you going to talk us through this?
I will happily introduce it and defer to Kim for all the technical answers because she
is our expert and our infrastructure lead. But the report in front of you tonight kind
of looks back at last year, but also looks forward to infrastructure, potential infrastructure
needs and demands on our SIL and Section 106 funding. So it looks at all those obligations
and funds have been secured, received, spent and held, but also looks to identify up and coming

11 Infrastructure Funding Statement

infrastructure needs that are intended to be met through that funding. A couple of points in the
report that I would draw to members attention. Firstly, that we received the funding, but we're
not necessarily the delivery agent. So a lot of that funding then goes forward to other partners,
such as the County Council or the Integrated Care Board. And obviously we have either 15 or 25 %
element of neighbourhood. Civil funding that goes forward to our neighbourhoods twice a year.
We do not direct their spend but they are required to report to us and the report sets out
in summary the still and planning obligations but the actual statement
breaks that down into further detail. Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:38:12
Thank you Helen. Kim do you want to say anything at this point or are you just happy to
answer any questions that members may have. I stand by for questions. Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:38:24
I'm going to open it up for questions and observations. Andrea first. Thank
Councillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:38:32
you chair. I'm always happy to see the SIL report because it shows how much
money that development is bringing in for our communities. I think we need to
advertise this as we're going out for a local plan consultation to show that
development isn't always bad, that sometimes it brings money back to communities. This
is a very clear statement and proof that that is actually happening.
Sill is a significant funding opportunity for growing settlements. And last year we
saw over 304 ,000 pounds, let's say 305 ,000 pounds going towards neighbourhoods. That is
when a parish has development occurring in its boundaries, they receive a portion of
that funding. It's 15 % if they don't have a neighbourhood plan and 25 % if they do. And
this can be quite a nice, tidy sum of money for communities to do things to improve their
local infrastructure or put money towards a park or a special project. So it's a really
good thing and it is a national policy. If we look at Table 7 of the report, we can see
how much of the CIL funding and also the section 106 funding,
the CIL funding is, section 106 funding is in table seven,
how much is actually going towards community facilities
in our communities, whether that's towards sports clubs
or youth clubs or buildings.
So it is a really good thing.
But not all of the section 106 funds have been allocated yet,
So in Sire and Cesser, we've got quite a bit outstanding.
And I know that, you know, that is actually a good thing
that the town council is looking forward to actually working
with that some of funding.
Just to summarise then, last year, there was 90 ,000 pounds
of sale expenditure in the district which is 90 ,000 pounds
that we didn't pay for from tax to direct taxation.
300 ,000 from CIL, which is Community Infrastructure Levy,
and that 300 ,000 went to communities directly,
and we spent almost a million pounds,
962 ,000 pounds on Section 106 projects.
So it's good to see.
I'm glad to see that so many communities
are actually directly benefiting from this,
and I've asked officers, in fact,
I spoke to Helen Martin this morning asking that officers make sure that communities can
make the most of these opportunities that they receive from the SIL funding.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Andrea.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:41:21
I've just got a question and I think it's sort of following on from what Andrea was
talking about.
And clearly the value of SIL is that, you know, as well as money coming to us, it also
goes out to our parish and town councils. And I'm sort of seeking a clarification
really in terms of on page 21 of the 23 of the report page 191 of the papers
there's a list there of parishes and its amounts of money and it talks about
clawback end month. So I was aware that 106 monies typically there's sort of five
years to spend them from the point that they get in. Can I ask the officers is
that the same for Sill? I wasn't aware that it was or is that referring to 106
and not Sill? Have I misunderstood it? There may be some minor misunderstanding.
So, there are clawback provisions usually in Section 106 agreements which relate to
specific financial contributions and that can be set at any rate. So, it can be five
years, ten years, depending on the kind of infrastructure that finance is intended to
bring forward. For Sill, there's no clawback on money that we receive and hold. However,
if we transfer money to neighbourhoods, town and parish councils, there is a five -year clawback
period on that. Now, we are only just at the point where there would be any clawback because we've
had still a sufficient amount of time to have transferred money and have had parish councils
to have held it for five years. However, there is minimal, if none, that's unspent by parish
councils and where there is unspent funds, one of them is in the region of about £11
because trying to actually spend that on something functional is minimal. It's also at our discretion
in terms of whether or not we decide to claw that back. So in the next year, we'll be looking
at is there money that's close to its spending deadline and how are we working with those
town and parish councils to make sure that they're making the most of their spend, that
they're actually spending it, that they're working together across their
boundaries maybe to pull funds together and that they're aware of different
infrastructure projects that they could maybe contribute to that would benefit
their residents. Thank you Kim. I'm looking at that table again and noting
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:44:02
that most of them are next year and there's one that's I think seven quid
that they, Seven Hampton didn't spend from 2024. So is that just a follow -up
then do we have a given we know this and you can get clerks change particularly
at parish and town councils do we send them like a something like a statement
every year saying you know essentially this money is going to run out if you
don't spend it or how are we doing that how have we done that or how are we
going to do that yes we do that so in April and October every year we do a
transfer and at that time we ask them for a report which is a statutory
requirement anyway on their spending and we encourage them to spend it. Since I've been
in role, which is just about a year now, my team has been working on an action plan as well,
which involves reaching out to town and parish councils to a greater degree and to make them
aware of potential infrastructure projects they might want to get involved in and also hear their
views on infrastructure projects that they'd like to bring forward, that they might bring forward
either through Knape Hood Sill or the strategic Sill pop that we hold or a combination of
the two. So we're gradually increasing the level of communication we have and that will
just be increasing exponentially as we go forward as part of the action plan.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:45:29
Great, thank you Kim, that's great to hear. I've got Mike and then Claire.
Councillor Mike McKeown - 0:45:37
So I was just going to comment one on the value of SIL and how useful it is experience
my own ward actually which overlaps plus with siren assistance so right now we're in the
midst of SIL funded cycle path the feasibility study which which is a big piece of work to
get you know quite a long cycle path but between you know our principal settlement and the
line railway station which should be great for you know more sustainable
travel but also for you know for residents commuting commuting into
Swindon London and so forth so it's you know real valuable stuff and certainly
commend Kemble Parish Council being really helpful on that helping with the
planning work on it I suspect what are the silver linings may be of the huge
number of houses that the government of the post imposed on us is some of our
our towns and parishes will be in receipt of very large amounts of
sill funding over a period of time. Again in my ward, Kemble, I've, you know, rough maths, I would
guess maybe a million pounds over a few years, which is just huge. And maybe that's something
in going forward that, you know, us and our officers can help them to plan what they can
usefully do with that because they're very extraordinary different monies. In my own
village, some of the canes. I think that when I was in the parish council we were
a few thousand pounds in the bank and now it's over a hundred thousand and
even that is quite a lot to deal with for you know small rural parish so
probably thinking how we can help them to manage that in an effective way would
be a good thing. A nice problem to have right? Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:47:16
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:47:22
right Claire. Yes. Thank you Chair. Just a comment and a bit of a question and pretty
a silly question but never mind and so yeah I think it's great to see that you
know a lot of funding's been put on affordable units which is great I think
53 over the district that's fantastic. I just got a bit of a question and I don't
necessarily need an answer now and obviously I you know I hear a lot about
transportation specifically in Syrinsister with butts cuts and
difficulties that we're facing for our residents.
And I just can see there's about,
there's quite a significant amount that's been put
towards Trunksport and travel.
And, you know, I appreciate sort of the psychopaths,
but I just wanted to know if there is anything else
that's been put aside to be done with,
sorry, if that makes sense.
Yes, thank you, Claire.
Yeah, before I go to Kim,
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:48:09
I think there's probably the challenge
that Kim might accept to explain it better is that the sale monies have to be spent
on a capital project and not on revenue. So in terms of subsidising bus services
that's something that County Council currently does and obviously we'd like
them to be able to do more in that. But I don't know if Kim just wants to clarify in
terms of transport what can be done and you know what any projects that
you're aware of, obviously Mike's mentioned the cycle path.
Of course, and thank you, Councillor,
I mean, you're spot on in terms of the capital project
element.
Yes, there are several transport schemes
that we're looking at funding.
So we have previous schemes that have gone through
bid funding that haven't been,
the money's not been transferred yet
because the county hasn't actually asked for the money
to be transferred yet.
but several schemes that are included in the IFS.
And then in the current financial year,
which I can't talk about too much
because I'll be bringing it to cabinet in January,
we've received several bids for funding
from SIL towards transport schemes.
We've also started working quite closely with the county
on potential schemes that might come forward.
We've done this by establishing an infrastructure list
And that list takes into account evidence -based documents
such as the local cycling and walking implementation plan
from the county, looks at what that's trying to deliver
in our area specifically, and then looks at, you know,
how we might reinvent some still funding money towards that.
So we're in current discussions with the county
about how we bring forward particular transport schemes.
And I would say to any councillors, if they're in,
and this will probably regret this,
but if there are any infrastructure schemes
that you're aware of, that you feel passionate about,
that you'd like me and my team to know about
and be working on, do get in touch with us
at coxsworld .gov .uk.
We have our own email address
because we are compiling this infrastructure tracker
and that will inform our infrastructure delivery plan
and it's a working and living, breathing document.
So it will adapt as our infrastructure needs adapt.
So do feel free to get in contact if there are specific transport schemes that you'd like us to have those discussions with the county about.
Try to be proactive on it.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:50:41
Thank you, Kim. I look forward to discussing that at our meeting in January.
So I can't see any more hands. So I'm going to move in Juliet's absence.
I'm going to move the recommendations. I'm looking for a second.
I think Patrick you were going to second. Is that right? Yes, he's put his hand up
So Patrick is seconding if we can move to the vote, please
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:51:17
Brilliant that's
Seven in favour. Thank you very much. I thank you for the officers on that and
Juliette if you're dropping off now, thank you for that and the final item on the agenda
Tonight is the gender item 12
Adoption of the Gloucestershire tackling domestic abuse strategy and this is another one for Paul. So back to you Paul
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 0:51:43
Thank you
So this final agenda item what I'm asking this evening from the cabinet is to approve the adoption of

12 Adoption of the Tackling Domestic Abuse Strategy

the Gloucestershire Tackling Domestic Abuse Strategy
for 2025 to 2028.
And this was something that I, in my other role,
a Gloucestershire County Council,
presented to the Gloucestershire County Council
coming up back in the summer.
So it's great to see it now coming here.
So it's a strategy that sets out a really clear
and an ambitious collective plan to address
what I think is one of the most serious
and devastating issues facing communities today.
Because domestic abuse is not kind of some kind of just distant issue affecting someone else it actually
It's here in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire. It affects people in every single town
Every village and every walk of life and in the past year alone
Gloucestershire Constabulary has recorded a 32 percent increase in domestic abuse related crimes
Compared to the previous year and it now accounts for nearly one in five
of all crimes across Gloucestershire.
Just let that sink in.
One in five of all reported crimes are related
to domestic abuse.
So this isn't just about statistics,
because this is about people,
because every number is a person.
It's often a woman, sometimes a man,
always someone whose life has been turned upside down
by abuse, control, and fear.
And this strategy is the response to that.
It is shaped by the voices of survivors.
It reflects what they have told us that they need.
They want to be heard.
They want earlier support.
They want systems that work together, not in silos.
And they want perpetrators to be held to account.
So the strategy rests basically on five key priorities.
The first one is prevention and early intervention,
because stopping abuse before it starts is clearly
extremely important.
That means education, youth engagement, building
awareness in schools.
Second is multi -agency working, because we know
that no single one agency can do this alone, not just
Cotswold District Council, not just Gloucestershire
County Council, lots of others.
Thirdly is what we call workforce development.
That's really about equipping frontline
professionals to spot the signs, to ask the right
questions, and refer people quickly and safely to support.
Support services, safe accommodation, and finally,
tackling the perpetrators.
Because if you truly break the cycle, you have to
confront the abusive behaviour at its source.
So there's lots of contributions coming into
this from public health, education, social care
budgets, as well as funding from the ICB, Integrated
Care Board, and the police.
But this isn't just about women and girls, although
they are most often affected, it's about all the victims, including men and boys and children
who experience abuse in their homes.
And this strategy recognises all those things because children are named as victims in line
with the new Domestic Abuse Act.
And it underlies the government commitment to halving violence against women and girls
in the next decade, which is commendable.
I also want to pay tribute to the excellent work of campaigners nationally, like the Liberal
Democrat MP Josh Baberinde, whose efforts actually have
led to a new category in law for domestic abuse
related offences, a crucial step in closing loopholes
that previously allowed abusers to avoid proper
scrutiny under the early release scheme.
So it's thanks to voices like his that survivors
are being heard at the national level and local level.
There's also a strong focus in this report on those
who are most often overlooked, older victims, LGBTQ plus victims and victims from minority
communities because this strategy is for everyone. So let's approve this strategy and let's make
sure that the Cotswolds is a place where no one must live in fear in their own home. Thank
you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:56:06
Thank you Paul, very eloquently and passionately. I'll see, yeah. I've seen Tristan next.
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 0:56:16
Thank you, I think this is really important having come from a home that suffered from
this and when my mother ended up in hospital she was so badly injured they thought she'd
in a car accident.
And so having sort of seen and 45 years later,
the physical injuries are still present
and causing her problems in her old age.
So this really matters.
It's a crime that goes unseen often behind closed doors.
A lot of people often don't believe it
because the perpetrators give on
a very different public face.
and often the people who are suffering have problems convincing people that it's actually taking place.
So I think this is incredibly important. I welcome it so much in terms of coming forward.
So thank you to all the hard work because this is really important.
Thank you, Tristan. Claire?
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:57:19
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:57:22
Yeah, thank you, Chair. Yeah, I think again this is a really important subject,
something that's very much close to myself after having some experiences and
not all experiences are physical neither. Some can be mental and it can be just as
bad in some ways and stick with you for a very, very long time. And I know that
CDC have done lots of work on this, you know, especially in our housing
department, ensuring that our staff are fully aware of signs of that happening. I
I think it's a great initiative because I think it's very hard for people of any gender
because I'm really also advocating for the LGBTQ plus people here, knowing friends, men
that have been victims of domestic violence.
It is really hard for them to come forward and they need to feel the action will be taken
and that they're not just going to say something.
They really need that trust.
So I'm so pleased to see this.
I think collaboration, especially with Devolution
on the Horizon, is absolute key for our communities,
and I absolutely support this 100 percent.
So thank you for all the work that's been done,
and I look forward to the launch on the 8th, isn't it?
8th of December, yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you, Claire.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:58:38
And if I can just say a few words,
I think that sense of trying to break the cycle as well.
So understanding and helping a perpetrator stop perpetrating,
because if you don't do that, then if they have another
relationship, it's likely that it's going to happen again.
And then it can move through generations,
because people who've been normalised to domestic violence
are more likely to commit domestic violence themselves.
So it's very, very important that obviously the work that
your Gloucestershire are doing and, you know,
if it's the County Council, but obviously with our officers,
particularly in housing in this regard. Obviously we have a duty to you know
house people that are victims of domestic abuse and need to leave their
their homes to be safe. So I'm sure it's very clear reading through the reports
that they're obviously very much part of this as well and as you've outlined you
know hearing from the people who've actually experienced this. So and I was
of staggered when you sort of said it's one in five crimes in Gloucestershire is
somebody being abused by somebody that they live with essentially. You know it
is it is quite frightening and we have to do what we can as leaders in the
community to help to reduce that number and to help those people who
unfortunately do suffer with it. So yeah thank you Paul for the work that
you've done both here and in the other place,
up at Shire Hall on this and, you know,
and I'm sure you'll continue and look forward to,
obviously there's gonna be publicly launched next month
to, you know, and to get the message out that actually,
I think as Claire and Tristan, I suppose,
eloquently spoken about the impact that it has
and the fact that, you know, actually we need to support
people who suffer domestic violence and abuse,
but we also need to do what we can to reduce it.
And we need to be doing those things in our roles
as community leaders.
So, I don't see anyone else.
I'll hand back to you to Paul just to sort of sum up.
Yeah, no, thank you everybody for those, you know,
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson - 1:00:53
very touching comments.
And it's, you know, Tristan, thank you for sharing that.
It's not always easy to do so.
But it just underlines that in any group of people,
is very likely to be at least one person who has suffered domestic abuse. So that's the
kind of sobering thought, isn't it? So a great strategy, I think. It's great that this council
is now looking to adopt it itself. Let's do some work to eradicate this. Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:01:26
I've just spotted, I've just been alerted to the fact that Juliet has her hand up. So
Juliet, if you want to come in and say something, please do.
Oh, thank you. I don't know whether you could see me there or not. I did put my camera on.
We can't see you, but we can hear you.
No. All I wanted to say, though, was that the District Council, all our licenced taxi
drivers, private hire drivers, have all been through safeguarding courses, and they can
identify and you know they can see how people's behaviours are in there in their
cars and they can identify and talk to people and know where to go to
help people so I'm not saying that this is the route around but this is another
another place we've got within the council that is helping with these sort
issues. Thank you Julia absolutely I think those of us yeah I guess we all
have a responsibility and some have more training and particularly people like
taxi drivers who you know are engaging with the public and therefore maybe more
like witness abusive situations going on and maybe in the back of their cars and
what they need to do about it if they do.
So Paul has proposed this, I think Claire is seconding.
Claire is seconding, so if we can go to the vote then please.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:03:01
Thank you, that's seven votes in favour, none against.
That's the end of the agenda and also we haven't got date
next meeting but actually it's the 8th of January so we don't have a meeting
in December on our new schedule but I won't but we have a meeting next week so
yeah I won't wish you anything that's because I could do that next week
regarding the season but thanks everybody for your attendance this
evening safe journey home

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