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The South Worcestershire Councils (SWC) i.e. Malvern Hills, Worcester City and Wychavon are undertaking a further consultation as part of the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review (SWDPR). 

Since the completion of the SWDPR Preferred Options consultation in December 2019, work has been progressing on the Publication version of the SWDPR, however, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the ability of the SWC to collect evidence. An additional round of consultation is factored into the SWDPR timetable prior to Submission of the plan for Examination to allow for updates relating to the Sustainability Appraisal to be made available for consultation.

An updated Local Development Scheme (LDS) for 2020-2023 was approved by each local authority in September 2020 (effective from 1 October 2020). The 2020-2023 LDS includes an updated SWDPR timetable, which has moved back the Publication version of the plan to October/November 2021. This allows an additional further Regulation 18 (III) consultation to take place in order to provide greater clarification and updates to elements of the Sustainability Appraisal evidence base work.

Consultation Details

The public consultation will run for seven weeks from Monday 1 March to Monday 19 April 2021. 

This consultation is focused on the Sustainability Appraisal and will be technical in nature: 

•  The consultation is not seeking views on an updated version of the SWDP Review. 
•  This stage is not a further opportunity to make comments on proposed site allocations or policies published in the SWDP Review Preferred Options (2019); any such comments will not be considered. 

Therefore, the material published for this consultation only relates to updates to the Sustainability Appraisal evidence base. 

Further details relating to the consultation, including how to comment, can be viewed on the SWDP Review Regulation 18 (III) consultation webpage using the following link: https://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/swdp-review/swdp-review-regulation-18-3-sa-consultation.  

The SWC have also published the schedule of summaries of the responses made to the SWDP Review Preferred Options consultation, conducted in November and December 2019; this can be viewed on the SWDP Review Preferred Options webpage using the following link: https://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/swdp-review/swdp-review-preferred-options-consultation. 

Hello and welcome to my latest newsletter.

This edition includes: working with partners and investing in crime prevention; a call for vigilance to help protect our communities; some new four legged recruits; my continued commitment to victims; my support for West Mercia Police and multiple ways for you to get involved in policing.

Due to the new COVID-19 government guidelines, my office is mainly working from home and, whilst we are able to take phone calls to our usual OPCC number, I would encourage you to contact us by emailing opcc@westmercia.pnn.police.uk or by using our social pages ‘westmerciapcc’ on Facebook and Twitter. Any members of the public needing to call the office can do so between 09:00 and 17:00, Monday – Friday. Please stay safe and look out for each other.

You can download and read the full document at:

https://mailchi.mp/0c5801ca5c2d/pcc-newsletter-make-respect-your-biggest-gift-4742409?e=a41cfb5db5

Following recent press reports of shoppers being refused the option to pay for their shopping with cash, The Evesham Journal has provided the following summary of the payment rules from all of the major local supermarkets.

Asda

Asda is encouraging contactless shopping using its scan and go machines across all of its stores, in a bid to speed up transactions and reduce customer and staff contact.

The brand has rolled out ‘Scan and Go’ mobile to all of its supermarkets, superstores and supercentres, allowing shoppers to use their own device to scan their shopping and pack as they go.

Contactless payments now have a payment limit of £45.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s has said that customers who choose to pay by cash should use the self-checkouts, so as to avoid any exchanges at the tills.

A spokesperson for the store said: “We would like customers to pay by card. If you would like to pay by cash, please use our self-service tills.

“SmartShop is available in Sainsbury’s supermarkets and helps you spend less time in store and reduces contact by letting you scan your own shopping and check out through a dedicated till area.”

Tesco

Tesco does not have any rules on refusing cash payments, but said it is focused on “ensuring everyone can get the food they need in a safe environment”.

The supermarket has various safety measures in place in stores, including screens and mandatory face masks, based on the latest government guidance.

Morrisons

Morrisons has not introduced a ban on cash payments, but all digital orders must be paid for at the online checkout.

For online shopping, the supermarket said: “We can’t accept cash or cheques, so all payments must be made by card.”

Aldi

Alid is encouraging shoppers to pay for items using contactless card payments in all stores where possible, although cash payments will not be refused.

Lidl

Lidl has not announced any specific rules on cash payments, meaning shoppers will be able to pay by cash if needed.

The current broadband service in our area is simply not good enough for most people’s requirements. Since there is currently no formal plan for improvement, a small group of local residents and business owners is looking to undertake a Community Project, which will be supported by the Superfast Worcestershire Broadband Team. If successful, this will bring a fibre to the premises, (FTTP), ultrafast broadband, network to our community. The Parish Council fully supports this scheme.

Ultrafast broadband network, delivered via an optical fibre cable infrastructure to the premises, is capable of offering far faster speeds, depending on a suitable broadband supplier and package. We are looking to utilise Government grants, (the Rural Gigabit voucher scheme), to fully pay for the required works. Access to the full fibre technology would therefore offer a future-proofed solution and speeds many times faster, (again depending on chosen supplier and package), than the current infrastructure.

Click here for more information on the grant scheme

The area under consideration for the project is outlined in red in the illustration below (residential properties coloured green, businesses coloured red):

A similar scheme covering properties in Haselor Lane and Boston Lane has already been approved and will beging implementation in 2021.

If you have not already signed up to confirm your interest please send an email to:

Broadband@charlton-worcestershire.org.uk 

with the following information: Your Name, Address, Telephone number, Email address, Business name if appropriate and also the company registration number if a Limited Company. For sole traders we also need your Unique Tax Reference number.

A letter describing the new project in detail will be delivered to all properties within the red outline above.

Download a copy of the letter