AT the last Tetbury Town Council Heritage and Regeneration committee meeting Cllr Mike Evemy, Cotswold District Council deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, accepted the invitation to come and discuss Cotswold District Council’s decision to go forward with the decision to remove cash payments from their car parks.

Cllr Evemy gave the rationale and well presented logic behind this decision which included ‘environmental impact of cash collections’ ‘cost’ and ‘vandalism/theft’.

However Tetbury Cllrs have requested more information as vandalism and theft issue seems to be more relevant to North Cotswolds.

The main concerns raised by the committee was the timing.

Businesses will be facing the most dire time and circumstances coming out of this crisis and they will need all the help and support to regenerate the local businesses and this decision could not have come at a worse time.

Concerns are this will put off many people from using the towns and the car parks, as a good number of out of town centres offer free car parking.

The committee await the response with more information, then they will reply with an informed response.

In fact it was stated by a local councillor that even if a decision has been made, this does not mean we cannot voice our concerns as Cllrs and indeed as a town should the support be there.

If you have any views on this matter, please email Vicki on victoriabolwell@tetbury.gov.uk.

THIS half term, Saturday, February 13 - Sunday, February 21, St. Mary’s Primary School PTFA is organising a Tetbury Love Trail window display for everyone to enjoy on their daily walk.

They are inviting you all to decorate a front facing window with the theme of love.

This could be: Love for your family, friends and animals, love for our amazing NHS and school staff who are working so hard to support us, love for our beautiful Tetbury and our environment.

To get involved just follow these steps.Email your address to ptfa@st-marys-tetbury.gloucs.sch.uk to add your home to our Love Trail map.

Decorate your window by February 13. Download the free map (available soon!) and enjoy the town trail!

Share the love and consider making a donation to St. Mary’s PTFA to support our wonderful primary school!

It would be wonderful if as many homes as possible could join in.

TETBURY Town Council have convened an extraordinary meeting of the council this evening (Thursday) commencing at 7pm for the transaction of the following business.

To approve the forwarding of the Steepleton S106 monies to the DRC.

To consider and approve the advice from Wellers Law Group relation to the allocation of S106 funding.

To consider the DRC request to allocate all of the S106 funding to project 1.

To approve the disclosure of the legal advice from the Wellers Law Group regarding the distribution of S106 monies based on the agreement provided to the DRC.

And finally to consider Tetbury Town Councils response to the open letter received from the DLC dated December 21, 2020.

As with all council meetings at the start of the meeting there is the public consultation section which allows 15 minutes for public questions or statements.

Its person speaking will be required to state their name and will be allowed a maximum of three minutes.

Questions may be answered briefly but not debated.

Issues may be referred to a later meeting of the council or committee for a response.

If you would like to take part or even just listen and watch this meeting then please email the chief executive Tara Niblett ceo@tetbury.gov.uk or even ring her on 01666 504670.

THE Heritage and Regeneration committee of Tetbury Town Council unanimously and enthusiastically voted to set up a new Christmas committee.

This will be to coordinate and organise the Christmas light switch on and Christmas events.

It was decided that the town needs something positive to look forward to and they are hoping that this will be a major event.

As always, being a major community event the new committee/group will be engaging with other groups organisation and individuals so if you would like to be involved or even have ideas please contact the council CEO Tara Niblett by emailing ceo@tetbury.gov.uk or call 01666 504670.

Tara will be coordinating the first meeting of interested parties.

I AM sure that the many people were thrilled at watching Countryfile on Sunday.

Afterwards a hard-working and modest Mary Hinton said to me: "On behalf of everyone at the Help a Hedgehog Hospital we thank Countryfile for giving us the opportunity to showcase what we are doing to help hedgehogs here in Gloucestershire.

“Our Kings Stanley hospital was featured in the programme.

“Thanks to our wonderful supporters we hope to rebuild our Brimscombe hospital in the Spring and our Tetbury Hospital is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment.

‘’We always need clean, staple free newspaper, cat biscuits, wet cat and dog food, kitchen roll and antibacterial spray. The hospital is run by volunteers so we rely on the generosity of the public.

“Donations can be made through our website where our Amazon wish list is also available www.helpahedgehog.org.”

I’m sure all of Tetbury and indeed readers would like to say thank you Mary, you are a true inspiration.