City council plan approved as Lib Dems look to rivals

THE Liberal Democrat's weakness at the helm of the City Council has come to the fore as they had to concede to Labour and the Conservatives to get their vision for Gloucester approved.

- Carmelo GARCIA

Gloucester City Council has finally approved its corporate plan more than half a year after it was first announced by the new administration.

Lib Dem leaders announced the authority's plan which sets out the strategic direction of work for the council over the next four years in November last year. It sets out how it intends to deliver its priorities and its overarching vision is to “put the heart back into Gloucester”.

But despite its announcement last year it has only just been approved this month. The Lib Dems pulled the plan from a previous meeting amid calls from opposition groups for more details to be added.

The Lib Dem group has 17 councillors out of the 39 at North Warehouse and relies on councillors from other groups in order to get proposals approved. Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) presented the corporate plan which runs from 2025 to 2028 at the annual meeting on May 19.