A Lib Dem councillor has welcomed the granting of planning consent for Gloucester's £85 million digital quarter.

Councillors have given consent for the first phase of The Forum, including 43 apartments and retail space in the Kings Quarter redevelopment. Work on the first phase is expected to start in the spring.

A Liberal Democrat councillor has welcomed improvement work to the runways at Gloucestershire Airport.

Councillors at Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council, which are joint shareholders of the airport, agreed the redevelopment.

The two councils will provide funding for the resurfacing work and in return the airport will transfer the Meteor business park to the councils, which will provide an annual rental income of £650,000.

The Liberal Democrats are urging council bosses to step in and secure the long-term future of the Debenhams site in Gloucester after the department store announced its closure.

The nationwide chain is planning on closing all its 124 stores across the country with the loss of 12,000 jobs.

Debenhams had been in administration since April and it is not known when the store in Kings Square, which has been open since 1973, will close.

Calls have been made for the £6 million project to upgrade Gloucester railway station to begin early next year.

On November 19, the city council will debate a motion proposed by Lib Dem councillors Jeremy Hilton and Sebastian Field calling for the work to start in the first quarter of 2021.

The project will involve a major upgrade of the underpass running from Bruton Way to Great Western Road.

Gloucester Liberal Democrats are expressing concerns about the e-scooter trial in the city centre.

They fear the dangers the e-scooters might present to pedestrians and especially blind, partially sighted and disabled people in the city.

The 12mph e-scooters are virtually silent and blind or partially sighted people could find it hard to hear them coming and risk injury or worse.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the county and city councils to support hungry children in Gloucester failed by the Government's decision not to fund school meals through the half-term school holidays.

After a high-profile campaign led by footballer Marcus Rashford, the Government provided food vouchers for the poorest families through the summer holidays.

There will be a drastic cut in the number of affordable homes being built in Gloucester if the Conservative Government presses ahead with changes to the planning system.

The Government is proposing to scrap the duty of developers to build affordable housing on sites for up to 40 or 50 homes.

It means that in Gloucester if the 50 homes threshold was adopted 111 fewer affordable homes built in the city over the next decade - a cut of 10% on current plans.

The Liberal Democrats have written to the chief executive of Sainsbury's PLC about the proposed closure of its Northgate Street supermarket.

Councillor Jeremy Hilton, leader of Gloucester Lib Dems, wrote to Simon Roberts about the future of the store, which has been trading successfully for nearly 50 years.