Latest news with #LisaSpivey


BBC News
a day ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Gloucestershire Highways warn of 'tsunami' of 20mph requests.
Bids to reduce speed limits in towns and villages across Gloucestershire could overwhelm council officers, a meeting has Spivey, the leader of Gloucestershire County Council, pledged to bring in the speed zones to improve "road safety" and make residents feel more "comfortable". But at a recent meeting, the council's economy and environment chief Colin Chick said he feared the idea would lead to a "tsunami of requests"."We are completely overwhelmed at the moment," Mr Chick told the meeting, adding detail on the complication of getting a speed limit changed. "The difficulty is going to be dealing with it. And having the resources available while continuing to do our everyday work," Mr Chick added."We are absolutely struggling to keep our heads above water."To then have this, I think it will be a tsunami of requests coming in."Each one will require a site visit and we'll have to look at the accident data. No small job, those two alone."Every single one will require a traffic order to be made."One of the areas under proposal for a 20mph zone is the A4135 in Dursley between Cedar Drive and Henlow resident Mike Softley, 72, said it wasn't needed as "people don't have time to get to 30mph" driving through Dursley. Green Party Councillor Dr Richard Dean, representing Dursley, said he is a "big supporter of the 20mph speed reductions".He said there had been 12 road incidents in Dursley since 2020 - five of them serious - but urged the council to include the area around Rednock School. "There are these hidden effects of traffic on mental health including sleeplessness, anxiety and depression which leads into physical illnesses, this should be taken into account when thinking about traffic regulations," he Dursley Town Council said it has "raised a number of concerns" over the proposals and could not support it in its current form. Ms Spivey said after the local elections in May 2025 that she wanted to consult with town and parish councils to find areas where 20mph limits were welcomed.


BBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Ex-leader's attack on 'dishonest' Gloucestershire council survey
The former leader of Gloucestershire County Council says a survey on the future of local government is "cowardly" and "dishonest".Conservative councillor for Hardwicke and Severn Stephen Davies has written an open letter to Liberal Democrat leader Lisa Spivey asking for the consultation to be week the council launched a public campaign asking for feedback on Gloucestershire's move to abolish its seven current an email seen by the BBC, Ms Spivey said she was "disappointed" but "not surprised" by the contents of the letter and accompanying email and its "tone". The government has told Gloucestershire it needs to get rid of the county council and six district councils and replace them with one or two "super councils" to deliver all local are three options on the table – to create one large authority which would cover the whole county, split Gloucestershire down the middle to form two east and west councils and finally to make one council around Gloucester and another which takes in the rest of the Davies said the consultation treats the electorate as "stupid" because it fails to ask people which of the three options they prefer – instead it requires contributors to reflect on what elements of council services and the local area they feel are former council leader, who lost the role after May's elections, also described the survey as a "waste of public money" and not tackling the "exam question"."They don't want to hear the answer," he said."They know the answer will be overwhelmingly one [council for] Gloucestershire, but it suits the Liberal Democrats to split the county in two." 'Positive future' In response to the letter, Ms Spivey said the results of the government-funded survey will be used to shape business cases for the three options and a further consultation directly addressing the choices will take place after her email response to Mr Davies the leader said the consultation was agreed upon by all seven authority heads and claimed the accusations of cowardice and dishonesty affect each of them "equally"."It is a shame that you have chosen to approach this matter in this way," she wrote."I will be continuing to work with my fellow council leaders to shape a positive future for Gloucestershire."I hope that you and the members of your group will be part of that positive journey and striving for the residents you represent."The survey closes on 9 August.


BBC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Major M5 project 'unlocks' thousands of homes at J10 Gloucester
Thousands of new homes could be built thanks to major improvements to a motorway junction. It was announced on Wednesday that development consent had been granted to a £229m project at Junction 10 of the M5 near Gloucester. Currently drivers can only access the M5 northbound from the junction, but the redevelopment will see access granted on and off the major route in all directions. The plans also include a new road linking Junction 10 to west Cheltenham, and the widening of the A4019 Tewkesbury Road. Leader of Gloucestershire County Council Lisa Spivey told BBC Radio Gloucestershire she was "absolutely thrilled" the work was going ahead. "There's been a lot of work on this and on this and we see this as a real key milestone in unlocking the fabulous potential here in Gloucestershire," she added, explaining that it could also bring new job opportunities, including in cyber and AI. As well as upgrades to the road network the money is also planned to fund flood mitigation measures and "active travel" facilities. The scheme has been funded by the government's housing infrastructure fund, alongside developers whose planned sites are set to benefit from improved links, with Gloucestershire County Council in charge. Rebecca Marshall, a senior project manager at National Highways - which is partnering with the council on the development - said: "This scheme will create smoother and safer journeys for all and improve travel times in the area. "It will also unlock housing and business development opportunities, as well as improving access to and from the motorway for emergency services. Public information events are set to be held during the summer, with construction getting underway from spring 2026. Completion, the council said, is expected in 2028.


BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
Police crackdown on dangerous parking as Bibury trial begins
There will be increased police presence in a village to crack down on dangerous parking as a new traffic trial gets under way.A temporary traffic management scheme has started in Bibury, which sees coach parking bays temporarily replaced with bus stops, giving coaches ten minutes to pick up and drop off Spivey, the leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said the trial was implemented following "complete chaos" over recent bank holiday Jason Edwards of the Coach Tourism Association said it was "short-sighted" and may deter coach drivers from visiting. Up to 20,000 visitors can descend on Bibury, considered one of the prettiest villages in the UK, in one weekend, with many of them arriving by Spivey said the trial was "not a ban" but "a different way of getting people in and out of Bibury".She added there will be an increased police presence over the weekend to manage the traffic and ensure roads are not of the recent bank holiday weekends, she said: "[The parking] was really dangerous and it made it really unpleasant both for residents and also those visitors coming."I've seen illegal moves being made by coach drivers reversing into those spaces without a banksman guiding them, which is highly dangerous," she said. "Let's face it, this village was designed when haycarts and horses were the mode of transport, not massive coaches holding 50-60 people with loads of them coming at the same time."Coaches arrive, there's no way of controlling when they arrive. If ten arrive at the same time and there's two parking bays, it's chaos."But Jason Edwards, deputy chairman of the Coach Tourism Association, was worried the "short-sighted" trial will deter some coach drivers."We do expect to be able to drop off at a central point which is safe, convenient and not obstructing any traffic," he said."Our customers do spend a lot of money in these places and our drivers... abide by strict regulations and laws. It's a difficult one to grasp, really."
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New council leader to consider more 20mph zones
The first female leader of Gloucestershire County Council says she will look at rolling out 20mph zones in towns and villages. Lisa Spivey is also the first Liberal Democrat to be voted in as the council's leader following the local elections earlier this month. At her first full council meeting on Wednesday, Ms Spivey made three pledges, which included the quick clear up of signs following road works and bringing children in care back into Gloucestershire. The third pledge made by Ms Spivey, also a councillor for South Cerney, was to reduce speed limits in some areas to 20mph, to improve "road safety" and make residents feel more "comfortable". More news stories for Gloucestershire Listen to the latest news for Gloucestershire Ms Spivey claimed some residents would respond "very positively" to 20mph speed limits, but said she would not introduce a "blanket" speed reduction, similar to Wales and Oxfordshire. "This isn't just about road safety, it's also about creating environments where people feel more comfortable and they want to walk and cycle," she said. She claimed "every single parish council" in her South Cerney division would support the speed limit reduction. "I'm sure that within some communities there will be [pushback] but it's about how we deal with that and balance it all out," she said. "But I think the data we've seen from the likes of Wales is that, after a year, not one town or parish asked for that 20mph limit to be reversed." In addition to her pledges, Ms Spivey said she wanted to improve communication between the public and council during her time in the top job, which is something she is "really excited" to have been voted in for. "It's a huge honour, a great privilege and a fantastic opportunity to shape the future of Gloucestershire," she said. Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. New traffic rules as village faces 'overtourism' New council aims to fix 'crumbling roads' Gloucestershire County Council