Gloucester News Centre Round-Up: Tuesday 25th March 2025
Police cuts, councillors quit and 300 skeletons found.
Gloucestershire Constabulary will cut 60 police staff jobs and the mounted police unit will be transferred to West Midlands Police as they aim to save £12.3m over the next year.
The force has announced its plans to ensure financial and organisational stability which will result in the loss of around 30 to 40 police community support officers (PCSOs).
Britain’s oldest anti-slavery memorial, built in 1834 to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, has been repaired and restored.
Some £42,000-worth stone repairs and cleaning to the Grade II* Listed monument were carried out by a specialist contractor for Stroud District Council which owns the arch.
More than 300 skeletons have been excavated during the redevelopment of the former Debenhams building in Gloucester.
The King’s Square landmark is on course to open as the University of Gloucestershire’s City Campus this summer.
Gloucestershire will lose its own police horse unit as the constabulary aims to make budget savings over the next year.
Gloucestershire Constabulary will transfer its mounted unit to West Midlands Police in a bid to help plug the £12.3m funding gap it faces over the next year.
Two Liberal Democrats and a Labour councillor have resigned in Gloucestershire while a Lib Dem has defected to the Conservatives.
Dymock councillor Gillian Kilmurray has joined the Conservative group at Forest of Dean District Council while Newent and Taynton councillor Julie Hudson has resigned.
There are calls for recently installed traffic calming “chicanes” near Asda in Cheltenham to be altered amid fears they currently act as “road blocks”.
Gloucestershire Highways chiefs say the traffic calming measures installed along Hatherley Lane and Hatherley Road aim to make the area a safer environment for walkers, cyclists and children going to nearby schools.
The family of a man who died following a collision in Lydney earlier this month have paid tribute, describing him as someone who “lit up the room and made you smile”.
Emergency services were called to Highfield Road at the junction with Centurion Road at around 9.35pm on Friday 14 March following a report of a collision involving a pedestrian and a car.