Stroud District

Stroud District
Non-metropolitan district
Stroud shown within Gloucestershire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South West England
Non-metropolitan county	Gloucestershire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Stroud
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Stroud District Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (TBA (council NOC))
• MPs	Neil Carmichael Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Area
• Total	177.9 sq mi (460.7 km2)
Area rank	97th (of 326)
Population (mid-2014 est.)
• Total	115,093
• Rank	198th (of 326)
• Density	650/sq mi (250/km2)
• Ethnicity	98.7% White
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	23UF (ONS) E07000082 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SO8508905550
Website	www.stroud.gov.uk

Stroud is a local government district in Gloucestershire, England. It is named after its largest town, Stroud, and has its administrative headquarters in Ebley Mill, in the Ebley area on the outskirts of the town.

Ebley Mill. Headquarters of Stroud District Council

The district is mixed and consists of part of the Cotswolds and the Vale of Berkeley, an area of the flat, fertile valley of the River Severn. The town of Stroud is by some way the largest in the area. The southern portion of the district is served mostly by its own market towns, chief among which are Dursley and Wotton-under-Edge. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974, by a merger of Nailsworth and Stroud urban districts, Dursley Rural District, Stroud Rural District, and parts of Gloucester Rural District, Sodbury Rural District and Thornbury Rural District.

The area is rich in Iron Age and Roman remnants and is of particular interest to archaeologists for its Neolithic burial grounds, of which there are over 100. Much of its wealth was built on the cloth industry during the Victorian era, and its many mills, most of which are now listed buildings, survive as testament to this.

Much of the landscape in this area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The esteemed Cotswold Way walk leads through the area. There are gliding clubs at Aston Down and Nympsfield.

Politics

See also: Stroud local elections

Elections to the district council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the seats on the council being elected at each election. At the 2011 election, the Conservatives lost its overall control of the council following four Labour gains, including that of former Stroud MP David Drew after he won in the Farmhill and Paganhill ward. Following the 2012 election, the council is composed of the following councillors:

Year	Conservative	Labour	Liberal Democrat	Green	Independent
2011	21	16	6	5	3
Current	20	19	3	6	1

External links

• The web site of Stroud District Council