Changes and achievements over the past 25 years were brought home to me at the recent retirement party for Malcolm Strang and Elizabeth Greening.  

It was good to see so many familiar faces and friends celebrating the remarkable achievements of the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress, who over a quarter of a century, transformed the crumbling archaic buildings and invested such vitality into our children that Eastington School became one of the most outstanding schools in the country.  


I would like to extend a warm welcome to Ms. Zoe Avastu who will become the new Head teacher of Eastington Primary School and to wish the entire teaching team well.


Time now to look to the future and our aspirations for the next generation.  

With the barrage of development proposals for Eastington, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of the many good and valued things around us.

Without properly listing such things it’s unlikely these will be around for future generations to enjoy as Eastington surely grows.  In ‘Neighbourhood Plan speak’, such things are known as evidence, and you will learn more about how to contribute to these in due course.


 Planning what to do if a big development happens in `Eastington is also vital for the Village School, because it’s pretty clear that the current school site could not accommodate such a massive increase.   I’m sure young parents will be eager to take part in shaping the future for our Village School, every bit as much as we did in the past.


 

Andrew Niblett - editor



Advances in technology have changed the way we live and our expectations of what we want to do.


The M5 motorway and its Junction 13 have transformed the way that we expect to live.  We might enjoy the benefits of being able to reach far-off places as a common occurrence, but maybe dislike the motorway noise from everyone else doing that too.  Whatever the modern technology, there is usually a balance between the benefits brought, against some things we would prefer not to encounter.  Many of us have benefited from Junction 13, but it is also a ‘honeypot’ attracting speculative development around it.  


So, here we are again with another proposed development close to Junction 13. I’m not so sure supporters of Forest Green Rovers (FGR) are any keener on the idea to move their stadium here, than are residents living close to the site.  Most of the campaign activity against the 100-acre development has so far been on Social Media like Facebook and Twitter, but maybe there will be something more in ECN next time.  Our new District Councillor, Stephen Davies, refers to this development in his letter, and rolls the implications of it together with the ‘gathering storm’ of the huge development west of Stonehouse.  

For certain the ‘Don’t Strangle Stroud’ Group made amazing efforts to stop the ‘West of Stonehouse’ development, and you can read more on that and the FGR plan in Daniel James’ article.


Occasionally the sun comes out, and the recent ‘ray of sunshine’ was the refusal of the Planning Appeal for 30 houses on the bend opposite Bath Road Garage.

Tom Low explains the background to this and how the ruling will help safeguard the valued open spaces in all parts of our Parish.  I would personally like to thank the dozens of you who supported our campaign; firstly to get a proper ‘Hearing’ to determine the Bath Road Appeal; then to convince the Inspector of our valid case and to dismiss the Appeal.  It would not have happened without you.

 

Editor’s letter produced by the community, for the community