David Smith

Lichfield District Board and Lichfield and District Community & Voluntary Sector signs the district’s ‘Compact’ agreement

Residents across Lichfield District will benefit from an improved relationship between the public sector and voluntary and community organisations, thanks to a new agreement.

The Staffordshire Compact has been drawn up by the county's public sector organisations, including councils, and various voluntary and community sector organisations - also known as the third sector. It sets out values and commitments on how the sectors can best work together to achieve more for people living in Staffordshire.

A local version of the compact has been created to engender closer and more effective working between the sectors across Lichfield District.

The district’s agreement was signed today (Thursday 4 March) by Councillor David S. Smith, in his role as Chairman of Lichfield District Board and Rose Vakis, Director of Lichfield and District Community & Voluntary Sector Support - who was representing the third sector.

We already have an excellent working relationship with our third sector partners, and so I was delighted to sign the agreement to see how we improve on these links. We know it will have a huge benefit to our residents, and look forward to seeing the results."

Rose Vakis, Director of Lichfield and District Community & Voluntary Sector Support, added: “The voluntary sector is a huge part of community life in the district and really benefits from the support of local agencies. Signing up to this agreement makes sure this good work continues and these partnerships get even stronger.”

For more information on Lichfield District Compact, please contact Steve Lightfoot, Regeneration Projects Manager, Lichfield District Council on 01543 308220 or email stephen.lightfoot@lichfielddc.gov.uk

Lichfield District Council is celebrating winning a coveted Coach Friendly City Award. Ian Austin MP, Minister for the West Midlands, presented the leader of the council and members of the tourism team a stunning glass trophy at the Confederation of Passenger Transport's (West Midlands) annual dinner. The event was held at the Wanderer's Molineax Stadium in Wolverhampton on 27 February.

We are delighted to have won this major national award. Lichfield is now one of only two cities in the West Midlands to have achieved coach friendly status - the other being Stratford on Avon.

Lichfield District has long been a favourite destination for group travel, and we work hard to attract and look after both visitors and drivers. Being recognised as a coach friendly city will now help us to encourage more and more visitors into our city and district attractions, and will help us to boost our local economy even further.

Phil Bateman, Confederation of Passenger Transport Regional Manager, added: "As an industry we have been urging local authorities to do much more to improve facilities for coach operators and their customers. Good signage, toilets, adequate coach parking, all play a part in growing visitor numbers.

"Coach travel and holidays are on the increase and bring tremendous economic benefit to local economies. Lichfield's coach friendly status ensures it is positioned perfectly to reap these benefits and puts it squarely in the category of tourist location of choice."

The Lichfield Garrick set the scene to launch Lichfield District Council’s visitor guide – Visit Lichfield 2010. A handbag-sized booklet, it gives visitors a taste of what the district has to offer when planning a day out or a longer stay.

The guide is split into useful sections, including: heritage & culture, festivals, leisure, food, shopping, accommodation and wedding & conference venues.

I had great pleasure in launching Visit Lichfield 2010 in front of tourist providers, contributors and special guests on Tuesday 9 February.

From the recent Staffordshire Hoard find, to the stunning Lichfield Cathedral and National Memorial Arboretum, through to the thrills and spills of Drayton Manor Park, now in its sixtieth year, Lichfield district is a fantastic visitor destination.

Tourism is an important part of our local economy. More than three million visitors travel to our district each year, spending around £90 million and supporting 3,000 local jobs. In today's financial climate, it is even more important that we encourage visitors to our district, so I am delighted to launch Visit Lichfield 2010.

The council’s Tourism team has already distributed 73,000 copies of the guide to tourist attractions and tourist information centres all over the country, and even further a field.

Visit Lichfield 2010 is now available at Lichfield's award winning Tourist Information Centre in the Lichfield Garrick. So, if local people are looking for something exciting to do on their doorstep, or just want to know what events are coming up, they can pop into the Garrick and pick up their free copy.

To find out more about Lichfield district’s tourist attractions log onto www.visitlichfield.co.uk

Photo: Here is am posing with the Visit Lichfield 2010 guide with Colin Bryan (Managing Director of Drayton Manor)

One billion gallons of water will drain out of Chasewater’s reservoir, to allow essential safety improvements to the reservoir to take place

A team of reservoir experts and representatives from Lichfield District Council have today opened the valves, to allow around one billion gallons of water to drain out of Chasewater reservoir.

The reservoir is being drained in preparation for a major programme of safety improvements to Chasewater’s eastern dam. These works will make sure the dam remains safe for years to come.

Now that the valves are open, the water will flow into the Anglesey Branch Canal and then into Crane Brook – which will join the River Tame in Fazeley.

Visitors to Chasewater will notice that the reservoir’s water level will drop dramatically over the coming months. As the water level goes down, it will expose the muddy reservoir bed, which visitors are being warned not to go near for fear of soft, deep mud and silt.  

This is why the district council is putting up temporary information panels across Chasewater. These will warn about the dangers, explain what the works involve, and how long they are expected to take.

While the works take place, visitors are asked to:

• stay on marked footpaths
• keep children and dogs under close supervision, away from the reservoir bed
• not walk on the exposed reservoir bed at any time

I attended today with Councillor Val Richards, Lichfield District Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure Services who said that opening the valves to drain the reservoir signifies the start of a major programme of safety improvements. Getting to this stage is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and it is good to finally get started on these works as it is essential that we make sure the dam meets current safety standards, making it safe for years to come.

It is very important that visitors follow our safety advice. However, I would like to stress that Chasewater Country Park will be open as usual. Visitors can still enjoy the surrounding countryside and facilities, including the heritage railway and Innovation Centre.

The works cannot begin until the water level has been lowered. The works will take around seven months to complete and should be finished by the end of the year. The council expects to start refilling the reservoir in September. However, it could take between two and four years to refill it to its normal level, as it will depend upon rainfall levels and the amount of water the local canal network needs.

I would like to extend our gratitude to the clubs that use Chasewater reservoir for their understanding and patience during these works.

To keep up to date on the works and to watch the progress of the water levels dropping captured by a ‘Dam Cam’ visit www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/chasewaterdamblog

More than one hundred people came to the free event at the Lichfield Garrick, to find out more about how to make the district greener at a local level.











We’re delighted the conference has proved popular with local people, and places booked up so quickly. This shows that, as a community, we are ready to act on climate change. The day was extremely interesting, and we heard from experts who presented simple ways that we can cut our emissions, and tackle the district’s carbon footprint.”

Guest speakers at the Go Green conference included: The University of Birmingham’s Dr Mark Gaterell, Corinne Le Quéré - Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia and researcher at the British Antarctic Survey, Richard Davies from Marches Energy Agency, Malcolm Harbour MEP, Michael Fabricant MP, and many local leaders.

We hope the conference has inspired people to get involved in local climate change groups, such as Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group or Low Carbon Lichfield. However, if you couldn’t make it to the conference, but are interested in become a ‘Climate Change Champion’, by joining a local action group, or setting one up in your area, please visit www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/gogreen or call the council on 01543 687545.

The Go Green conference was organised by Lichfield District Council, in partnership with Low Carbon Lichfield, Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group, Midlands Co-operative, M6 Toll and Fairtrade.

*In the picture from left to right: Ruth Plant (LDC’s Director of Operational Services), Chris Cole (LDC’s Recycling & Street Scene Development Officer), Michael Fabricant MP, Mike Kinghan (Chair of WFEG), Robin Taylor (Founder of LoCaL), Malcolm Harbour MEP, Prof Corrine Le Quere (University of East Anglia), Cllr David S Smith (Leader of Lichfield District Council) Julie Walker (Director of Housing Homezone Living).Local people found out how to tackle climate change locally at the Go Green conference, which took place on Saturday 30 January

Lichfield District Council’s Go Green conference, which focused on how to reduce the district's carbon footprint, was a sell-out success.

Launching Chasewater Green Park Projects

At the conference, a range of climate change initiatives, which are all part of Chasewater Green Park Projects, will be outlined by Cllr David S. Smith. Find out more below: