Town Council continually strives to improve and maintain its local environment for the benefit of both residents and visitors alike. The following are just some of the current projects which are being pursued: –
Destination Lydney – Exciting times in Lydney as plans are being developed to make Lydney a thriving, bustling market town once again and news that two funding bids have since been awarded to Lydney to support this aim.
Recent changes in the way we shop, our local and national economy and a whole host of other factors have resulted in us believing Lydney needs a boost. It is important that we consider how our town could work more efficiently – how traffic flows, how people shop, where we park our vehicles and how this will help in making the town an inviting destination for locals and tourists alike, increasing foot fall for our businesses and ensuring visitors to our town want to stay in Lydney and invest in our shops. By also preserving our heritage and green spaces we aim to continue to ensure Lydney remains special.
To make the aforementioned a reality we started consulting in 2013 as part of the town and neighbouring communities extensively to develop the Lydney Neighbourhood Development Plan (or NDP Plan as it is known), which provided Lydney with the opportunity to decide how it wanted to effect change in the future. As a result of this consultation Lydney Town Council, Forest of Dean District Council and Gloucestershire County Council have continued to work in partnership to secured specialist support to further projects such as:
Lydney Coastal Community Team (LCCT) – Project Aim: To improve Lydney Harbour
The focus for the team during 2018/19 was the preparation and submission of multiple funding bids.
The team prepared a £1.9M bid submission to the Coastal Community Fund (round 5) for the Destination Lydney Harbour project, consisting of a number of elements which cover the area from the A48 roundabout on Harbour Road to the docks and harbour and serve to improve connections between these areas and the town centre. They can be broadly categorised as Improvements to Access Routes and Wayfinding, Enhancements to the Landscape, Enabling Increased Use of the Canal, Docks and Harbour. The project would complement the forthcoming Gloucestershire LEP-funded Links Lydney Cycle Improvement Scheme.
The bid includes an amount for the refurbishment and conversion of the Harbour Store and Mortuary buildings to provide a heritage information point and toilet facilities respectively plus the installation of a modular café unit.
Preparatory work is underway to ensure a swift start to work on site should the LCCT be successful in its bid. Discharging pre-commencement planning conditions and securing permits form part of the current activity.
LCCT members Dean Forest Railway (DFR) have completed the repair of the Listed St Mary’s Footbridge following their successful RDPE Growth Programme fund bid.
Gloucestershire LEP-funded Links Lydney Cycle Improvement Scheme – Project Aim: safe connectivity for pedestrians & cyclists in and around Lydney.
The primary rationale for the scheme is to improve connectivity by the delivery of enhanced improvements to walking and cycling links. This falls within the context of the Lydney Transport Strategy and the GCC Local Transport Plan. The scheme will create a pleasant, safe and accessible network of pathways around Lydney, linking Aylburton, Lydney town centre, the railway stations, Dean Academy and nearby residential developments. Since 2013 a tremendous amount of positive collaborative partnership working between Lydney Town Council and GCC has enabled this project to develop and fulfil the key objectives and stringent requirements of GFirstLEP; work is expected to commence ‘on ground’ Summer 2019.
The Flood Defence Multi-Agency Group – Project Aim: To provide the fora which enables positive partnership working to take place on order that complex issues can be shared, discussed and resolved.
The ability to work together on flooding issues has enabled progress to be made to reduce the risk of flooding in Lydney. Without doubt, the increasing frequency of extreme rainfall events as a result of climate change, will increase the chances of flooding as drainage systems need enhancement to cope with increased flow rates in the catchment.
The Stakeholders attending these Lydney Flood Defence meetings include; developers, land owners, Lydney Town Council, the Forest of Dean District Council with its flood engineers, Town District and County Councillors, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water, and the Highways department from Gloucestershire County Council.
Through the sharing of ideas, solutions, funds and fundraising potential, a number of flooding problems have been progressed. A number of projects have been developed through this multi-stakeholder approach and they include: Lakeside Avenue, Cookson Terrace, Mead Lane, the early warning system, the Penstock, and liaison with the new housing developments upstream of Lakeside Avenue. New flooding issues have continued to be monitored as they have come to the attention of the group.
It would be fair to say that these projects are ongoing as the need to increase system capacity for a growing population and the need to upgrade both sewerage and surface water run-off drainage infrastructure is expensive and time consuming.
