‘A huge opportunity’ for Gloucestershire

Possibly the biggest single investment in the Forest of Dean in recent times looks set to go ahead, tipped to bring hundreds of jobs, visitors and have ripple effects across the district.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to our Monday edition.

With best intentions that hopefully won’t jinx its progress through the district council on Tuesday 13 August, we take a look at plans to invest £50 million-plus in Gloucestershire to develop a former industrial site with a scheme that includes a restaurant with a covered balcony overlooking the Forest of Dean.

It all promises to be very exciting, but its journey to this stage has not been easy. However, everyone seems confident that this time the man behind the scheme will be given the go-ahead, and we hear from possibly the Forest of Dean’s best-know businessman, Enill Ricketts, about why it is so important.

We’ve also got our weekly introduction to one of the county’s many charities (there are more than 2,000 of them apparently), a mini feature we usually try and tie in with some existing connection to the business community, be that fundraising, mentoring, volunteering.

And then there are our ‘briefing notes’, the succinct round up of stori…