Parties unite to lead district for three more years
Published: Tuesday, 25 May, 2021
A Co-operative Alliance of three political parties will continue to lead Stroud District Council for the next three years.
Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat groups have 31 of the 51 SDC seats, and will continue to work together to run the council as they have done since 2012.
Following the elections on 6 May, the first meeting of the new district council was held on 20 May at Stratford Park Leisure Centre.
Councillor Doina Cornell (Labour) was re-elected as Leader of the Council, Cllr Catherine Braun (Green) elected as Deputy Leader of the Council, and the new committee chairs were announced. They are as follows:
Strategy and Resources Committee
- Chair: Cllr Doina Cornell
- Vice-chair: Cllr Catherine Braun
Audit and Standards Committee
- Chair: Cllr Nigel Studdert-Kennedy (Conservative, No Group)
- Vice-chair: Cllr Martin Pearcy (Green)
Community Services & Licensing Committee
- Chair: Cllr Chris Brine (Lab)
- Vice-chair: Cllr Jonathan Edmunds (Green)
Development Control Committee
- Chair: Cllr Martin Baxendale (Green)
- Vice-chair: Cllr Trevor Hall (Lab)
Environment Committee
- Chair: Cllr Chloe Turner (Green)
- Vice-chair: Cllr Robin Layfield (Lab)
Housing Committee
- Chair: Cllr Mattie Ross (Lab)
- Vice-chair: Cllr Chris Jockel (Green)
Cllr Steve Robinson (Labour) was elected Council Chair, and Cllr Trevor Hall elected Vice Chair.
A Co-operative Alliance of Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat councillors has formed the Administration of SDC since 2012.
"The Co-operative Alliance collectively returned more councillors, so we have strong continuity,” said Cllr Cornell. “We work well together as parties and people, and we will continue to do so for every one of our residents and businesses.
“We have led the district through the pandemic with partners, and we are already working on recovery.”
Cllr Braun said: “Almost half of the councillors elected are new to the council and this an exciting opportunity to bring fresh ideas to the table over the next three years. As well as responding to the immediate challenges, we’ll also be looking to the future and delivery of the District Council’s Carbon Neutral 2030 targets.”
Cllr Ken Tucker. Liberal Democrat Group Leader added: “We have a stable administration for the next three years and the make-up of Administration reflects the diversity of our district.”
The political make-up of the council’s political groups is:
Conservative 19 seats.
Labour 15.
Green 13.
Liberal Democrat 3.
Conservative (No Group) 1.
The election was due to be held in May 2020 but was delayed by a year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. That means the last term was five years instead of four, so the new current term will last three years.
Appointments to outside bodies were also made at the AGM – to view all, visit https://www.stroud.gov.uk/media/1485534/item-7-appointments-to-committees.pdf