Parish News

Slimbridge Cllrs were sad to learn of the passing of Beryl Howell, who was a Cllr and Chairman in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Beryl’s funeral will be on June 2^nd at 12.30pm at St Johns Church.
Slimbridge Parish Council have just held their annual meeting where Cllr Mike Stayte was re-elected as Chairman and Cllr John Cullimore as Vice Chairman. The Council also welcomed 2 new Cllrs – Cath Cox and Adrian Joslin, as co-option took place; it was great to have 4 candidates applying for the two positions! All details of the Cllrs will be updated on the website soon.
The air source heat pump in the pavilion is now fully up and running and we look forward to seeing the pavilion being used more in the future. This was part funded by a grant from The Rural Prosperity Fund.
With the listed tombs at St Johns Church now completed, it is hoped regular working parties can be had to keep them clear of vegetation and also other parts of the churchyard too. If you would like to be part of this, please let the Clerk know. There are currently two areas being left to grow in the churchyard to see what elements of Biodiversity will show up. Please do have a walk through and if you can download the Inaturalist app and record some of the flowers, and insects that you see, that would be great. The Merlin app is also a great tool for listening to the birds and identifying them.
The Parish Council have just objected to the recent amendments on the Battery Storage application on Kingston Road, and also are still waiting the outcome on the SEND school application at Wild Goose lodge.
Lastly, the Parish Council are looking for a new Community Advice Panel member for the Solar Farm funding applications. This group meets once a year in November and the person would be on the panel for up to 3years. This entails looking at the applications that come in and putting forward recommendations for distribution. Please send your name to the Parish Clerk by June 13^th and if there are more than one applicant, names will be put in a hat to be drawn at the next Parish Council meeting on the 16^th June.

Road closure 
Please be advised of the following closure:
Churchend, Slimbridge
This road will be closed (as per the attached plan) from 21/07/2025 to 23/07/2025 to allow for pipe renewal work by Severn Trent Water.
Emergency and pedestrian access will be maintained.
If you should require further information please email streetworks@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Kind regards
Helen Dunn, Parish Clerk
07943 894637

Parish News

Biodiversity blitz and Inaturalist app usage – tonight at St Johns Churchyard, 6.30pm with Cllr Steve Tilley
Don’t forget to meet up with Cllr Steve Tilley tonight to begin learning how to use the app and record what we have in our parish
“Inaturalist is a cool tool. I have recorded some plants in my wildflower meadow,
You can see below.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/white-house-farm-gl2-7ae-wildflower-meadow
It is incredibly easy, and the plants are located accurately.
I have set up a map of the churchyard.”

Slimbridge Gardening Club
The very popular plant sale is back on 10th May at Slimbridge Hall.
Gardening Club members will be bringing a huge range of garden plants for sale. An ideal time to stock up your garden.
We start at 10am and close by Noon. Come early to grab a bargain, it always sells out very quickly.
Refreshments will be on sale.

Churchyard working party
Thanks go to the group of volunteers who came and helped clear the Hadley tomb yesterday at the Churchyard. This was covered in very thick bramble, but within an hour and a half it was all revealed. Also some maintenance around the listed tombs to keep the vegetation away from the bases was done too. A lovely sunny afternoon for the job!

Road closures
Gloucestershire County Council, as traffic authority, intends to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (as amended) to temporarily close part of the Tyndale Road from its junction with A38 Northbound Gossington Road to outside the property known as ‘Springfield House’ for a distance of approximately 50 metres.
The reason for the said closure is for works by Severn Trent Water.
The said road is expected to be closed from 9th June 2025 until 11th June 2025 only or until the said works have been completed.
For further information, please contact Gloucestershire Highways on 08000 514 514 or visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk.
Proposed Alternative Route: as signed on site
Pedestrian access to premises on or next to the road, and emergency access will be maintained.

Parish News

Good morning,

Churchyard working party event – Tuesday 6th May 1pm
After a successful working party last year before the works started on the tombs, we had a working party where we cleared some of the tombs. We would like to carry these on, to maintain the newly restored tombs and to also clear some of the other graves that need some TLC. We will be at the churchyard on Tuesday 6th May from 1pm to do an hour or two of clearing. If you would like to come along, please wear suitable clothing and bring some gardening tools and gloves to be able to do some weed clearing and bramble clearing too. Please let me know if you are able to attend

Biodiversity event – Wednesday 7th May 6.30pm
We are following up from our Biodiversity event with the following activity – Using Inaturalist App to record species in the parish:
We will do our first bit of biodiversity work on Wednesday, May 7^th, at 6:30 in the Churchyard.
We will be looking at the different types of plants in the Churchyard and using the Inaturalist app to record and identify what we find.
Do not worry if you don’t have the app or don’t want to use it; please come along and help.
Please let me know if you can attend.
Please let Cllr Steve Tilley know if anyone wants help downloading or using Inaturalist.
cllr.steve.tilley@slimbridge-pc.gov.uk

Kind regards
Helen Dunn, Parish Clerk
07943 894637

Good afternoon

There are two Parish Council vacancies. Due to the resignations of Giles Storey and Caroline Tatham, there will be two vacancies on the Parish Council. This will be advertised to allow any parishioners to call a by-election if they wish before the 8^th and 9^th April; or if this doesn’t happen, then the Parish Council can co-opt in May. I will send out information on this over the coming weeks, but if anyone is interested in becoming a Parish Councillor and wanting to represent the community, then please do drop the Clerk an e-mail or have a chat to one of the Councillors
Parish Vacancy Notice 1
Parish Vacancy Notice 2

Belong Learning School planning application at Wild Goose Lodge. Slimbridge Parish Council have objected to this application with the main concerns being traffic and access to the site, and lack of emergency evacuation plans due the Battery Storage site. If you wish to comment on the application you can do so on the Stroud planning website https://publicaccess.stroud.gov.uk/online-applications/, however, your comments will not immediately appear as they have to be manually verified. They take about a week to appear but are available to the planners immediately. You can also email about the development at planning@stroud.gov.uk . Put the planning reference S25/0408/FUL in the subject and write your opinions in the email. However, you MUST include your name and address in the email.

Annual Parish Meeting. This is taking place on Monday 7^th April at 7.30pm, the agendas are out with the newsletter. Please join Councillors to hear about the work over the last 12 months and plans for the coming months. There will be refreshments and everyone is invited.

Pavilion air source heat pump. The works are well underway and due to be completed by the end of the month. This will be a great improvement on the heating and water system for the pavilion.

Kind regards
Helen Dunn, Parish Clerk
07943 894637

Parish News

Good morning,

Biodiversity Community event
Don’t forget our Biodiversity Event this Wednesday (24th) at 6.30pm in Slimbridge Village Hall, There will be a small presentation on Biodiversity about plants and wildlife, and also about the plans to rewild parts of the churchyard. There will be refreshments and a quiz, and we would love to hear your ideas on how we can expand the parish’s wildlife and plants with community and individual projects.

Hedgehogs
Please also check your grass before strimming after another hedgehog had to be taken to the Wildhogs Rescue centre last week after being strimmed. Unfortunately hedgehogs hide and do not move when they are frightened

Slimbridge Gardening Club
The Slimbridge Gardening Club is on 29 March at the Village Hall from 2 pm. We are looking for talented gardeners, flower arrangers, cooks and handcrafters to enter a wide range of classes. We’ve a great selection of classes for children too. Remember entry is free for Children. You can get the schedule including entry form from the Post Office or online. Entries in by 26 March and pay on the morning of the show.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/slimbridgegardeningclub

Kind regards
Helen Dunn, Parish Clerk
07943 894637

Good afternoon.
To start 2025 Slimbridge Parish Council have frozen the precept at the same amount as last year, so there will be no increase in tax from the Parish Council. This year the Council aim to continue works on the pavilion upgrading the heating and water system, and hopefully follow with the kitchen.
Biodiversity remains a key topic and an open event is due in February where various activities will follow where you can all be involved in some way – see the poster below.
Another project will be looking at having additional lighting in the Village Hall car park, for which solar farm funding was obtained.
And ongoing projects such as 20mph and flooding also continue.
The gates to the churchyard have now been put back on and they look amazing all fully restored for many more years to come.
With Spring coming, the footpaths will start being used more again. It would be great to have more volunteers to help with any basic maintenance on these, and Cllr Caroline Tatham has offered to combine this with some foraging walks, so if you are interested please let the Parish Clerk know and we can arrange something once the weather gets better and lighter days come.
The Parish Council plan to continue working with the school and it has been fantastic to have the school youth council visit the Parish Council at their meetings asking Cllrs about various topics. Cllrs hope to work with the children on parking concerns, biodiversity and litter picking in the parish.
The Parish Council are currently waiting for the Planning application to comment on with regards to the proposed school at Wild Goose Lodge at Shepherds Patch, this will either be on the Planning agenda or Full Council meeting agenda for discussion and responses.

Upcoming Roadworks
The Close, Slimbridge
Please find attached letter and map regarding the upcoming surfacing works on The Close, Slimbridge, starting 14^th February 2025.
We aim to complete the works as safely and timely as possible.
The Close Letter

Tudor Arms to Wild Goose Lodge, Slimbridge
This road will be closed (as per the attached plan) from 09:30 04/03/2025 to 15:30 05/03/2025 to allow blockage clearance works by Openreach.
Emergency and pedestrian access will be maintained.
Closure plan

Parish News

Good afternoon and Happy New Year,

Coffee morning
This Saturday, 4^th January, the Slimbridge Coffee Morning will be raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Slimbridge Village Hall, 10.30 until 12.00, coffee, cake and plenty of chatter.

Parish updates
The tombs in the Churchyard have now been fully restored. I will be putting the remaining photos in the folder in the church in the next week so you can see all the stages of each tomb during its restoration. The next stage is having an information lectern installed so the project can be shown for anyone visiting etc. Once again this project has only been possible due to the grant recieved through The National Heritage Lottery Fund.
Another large project about to start is installing an air source heat pump into the Pavilion to upgrade the heating the water system. Another grant has been awarded for part of this with other costs coming from hire costs and budget saved over the years. Hopefully once this has been completed the Parish Council can look at upgrading the kitchen facilities.
The next Parish Council meeting will be on Monday 20th January at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. All are welcome to attend, there is a public 10minutes at the beginning of the meeting if you wish to address the council, after which you are welcome to stay and observe the remaining of the meeting.

Parish News

Parish Council
The tomb works at St Johns Church continue and are on target to be completed in December. If you haven’t been along to look at some of the works, please do have a walk through to see the improvements. Thank you all for your patience whilst the traffic lights were up for the repainting of the railings, I’m hoping you can see it was worth it with them all looking fantastic. A continued thanks to The National Heritage Lottery Fund for the monies to achieve this.
The Parish Council will be looking at the budget later this month and what projects they will aim to focus on next year. The precept will be set in January. Work continues on projects such as the 20mph and Road Safety, and also the upgrade of the Pavilion water and heating system.
The Parish Council is building up a great relationship with the school recently. Cllrs have joined in with a litter pick, and they aim to do this once a term. Two classes from the school also attending a visit to the church to watch the Jenner tombs have their lids lifted off by the conservation team using their gantry system and were able to ask questions about the project. They followed this with their own ‘scavenger hunt’ in and around the church. We hope to continue this relationship and work on some biodiversity projects throughout the coming year. The School Youth Council attended a Parish Council meeting earlier in the year and we look forward to seeing them again in January.
The Parish Council recently met with school staff from the Wild Goose Lodge planning application (recently withdrawn for now) for a new school, and we will keep you informed of developments on this as we hear, with the main concerns of traffic and access for this location. The Parish Council also keep updated with regards to the permitted Battery Storage and again will keep everyone updated on progress as we hear about it.
The Parish Council are aware of all the flooding events recently occurring in the parish and remain committed to working with SDC and GCC on looking at the culvert issues on St Johns Road.

Slimbridge Christmas Fair
This coming Saturday 30^th November is the Slimbridge Christmas Fair.  All the usual attractions of the coffee morning plus craft, gift and bric-a-brac stalls and of course, mince pies.  We will also be collecting donations for Gloucester City Mission, a charity that supports the homeless. If you can spare items such as long life milk, biscuits, cuppa soups, jars of hot chocolate and coffee and clothing for men or women please do bring it.  In the Village Hall, from 10am- 1.00pm.

Living Advent Calendar for Slimbridge Parish
Each evening from 1st December to Christmas Eve, a different Advent window or garden display will be revealed in the Parish of Slimbridge. Once revealed, each display will be lit on subsequent evenings until Twelfth Night (with a few ending on New Year’s Eve). Maps that show the locations and timings of all the Advent displays can be obtained at Slimbridge post office, St John’s church, the two public houses and the Tudor caravan park, or on the Parish Council website: Community Organisations – Slimbridge Parish Council  Remember to take care on the lanes in the dark.

Sleeping Beauty
Slimbridge Variety Show group invite you to the fun and laughter of our wonderful pantomime again this year!
This year, we will also have a bar at the evening performances.
Performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the 5^th, 6^th& 7^th December @ 7.30pm, (Saturday matinee sold out).
Tickets available from the Post Office or online at 
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/slimbridge-variety-showgroup

Parish News

Good morning,

St Johns Tombs project
Thank you to those who attended the churchyard tombs open event at the end of October, it was well attended and your input into the biodiversity element of the churchyard is welcomed. I hope you picked up a seed packet to also plant bee friendly flowers in the Spring in your own gardens.
The School also enjoyed a visit last week to the churchyard to see the tops lifted off the Jenner tombs, and did their own scavenger hunt around the church too.
Please do continue passing by and watching the improvements being done. Also thank you for your patience with the traffic management in place whilst the railings and gates get painted and refurbished, it is hoped this will be completed this week.

Community engagement for the proposed Sharpness Vale development
JBP Associates are holding two community drop-in sessions to allow residents to view the proposals, ask questions, and share their feedback:

• Sharpness Village Hall: Friday, 15 November, from 2 pm to 7 pm & Saturday, 16 November, from 9:45 am to 1 pm

Alongside these drop-in sessions, JBP Associates will be launching a digital consultation on 6 November at www.sharpnessvale.co.uk , where community members can explore detailed plans and participate in a survey.
Their press release is here: https://sharpnessvale.co.uk/public-engagement-announced-for-new-community-at-sharpness-vale/

Upcoming Road works
Temporary closure of Longaston Lane
Gloucestershire County Council, as traffic authority, intends to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (as amended) to temporarily close part of the  Longaston Lane, from outside the property known as ‘Hillview’ to outside the property known as ‘The Bungalow’, for a distance of approximately 100 metres. The reason for the said closure is for pole testing works. The said road is expected to be closed between 09:30hrs and 15:30hrs on 29th November 2024 only or until the works have been completed. For further information, please contact Gloucestershire Highways on 08000 514 514 or visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk. Alternative Route – as signed on site. Pedestrian access to premises on or next to the road, and emergency access, will be maintained.

The below roads are expected to be closed on a rolling programme commencing 2nd December 2024, where the presence of approved signage will indicate whether the closures and restrictions are in force. Further advance warnings of dates/times will be displayed on site prior to the closures taking effect. This order can permit the closure of the roads in any order, or simultaneously as required and it is anticipated all works will be completed by 31st March 2025. For further information, please contact Gloucestershire Highways on 08000 514 514 or visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk
Tyning Crescent     Entire length of Road     213m
The Close               Entire length of Road     173m

Parish News

Road Traffic Order 23rd October – delivery of Portakabin
WWT are having their Portakabin delivered tomorrow and a road traffic order is in place from the top of St Johns Road off the roundabout to the WWT. Signs are out along the road with the timings of the parking restrictions in place between 7am and 5pm. It is looking likely that the Portakabin could be delivered around 11am avoiding school drop off and pick up times, but please ensure you are not parked on the roads for the whole time the restriction is in place in case timings change. Thank you.

St Johns Churchyard open event – tombs restoration
Come and join us between 12 – 4 at the Church on Friday 25th October to learn about the works being done to restore the churchyard tombs, with thanks to the generous grant from The National Heritage Lottery Fund. There will be information from the History Society and Biodiversity information with the Parish Council. Refreshments are being served by members of the church, and you can see the Conservation team in action restoring the tombs, and see the changes in the tombs already restored – ready to last another couple of hundred years!