Stroud District Council party leaders confirm details of Cooperative Alliance

By Amplify Stroud

Stroud District Council will continue to be run by an alliance of Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat councillors.

Following talks between the parties after the 6 May election, the three groups have renewed their commitment to work together to lead the Council for the benefit of all residents.

Cllr Doina Cornell (Labour) will continue as Leader of the Council, with the Greens’ Cllr Catherine Braun becoming Deputy Leader. Nominations to these roles and to District Council committees will be voted on at the Stroud District Council Annual General Meeting on Thursday 20 May.

Following the elections, the Alliance has a total of 31 councillors (15 Labour, 13 Green, 3 Liberal Democrat), with 19 Conservative councillors and 1 Independent in opposition.

Cllr Cornell (Dursley) said: “I welcome the renewal of our alliance, which has achieved so much for the district over these last nine years, protecting and investing in our communities instead of cutting back. We’ll continue to work together, tackling our biggest challenges: recovery from the pandemic and the climate and ecological emergency.

Cllr Braun (Wotton-under-Edge) said: “We are pleased to have reached agreement following discussions on the detail of how the Alliance will operate. Our experience of working in co-operation over recent years has proved our three parties are able to rise above party politics to make decisions for the benefit of all residents in the District.

“The Green Group of councillors is really looking forward to working with other Alliance members to deliver improvements for our communities, to support residents and businesses to recover from the pandemic. We are all committed to deliver on the District Council’s ‘2030 Strategy’ on the climate and nature emergency, which was formally adopted in March.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Ken Tucker (Wotton-under-Edge) said: “We will continue to work together amicably and collaboratively, to empower Stroud District Council to operate effectively and efficiently and in the best interests of all our residents. Following the Covid pandemic there are additional challenges ahead of us and we will be working even harder to ensure that the next three years of our elected period and beyond are productive, in making Stroud District an even better place to live, work and visit.”

You can listen to Amplify Stroud’s pre-election interviews with representatives from the four major parties on Amplify FM here and read our summary of these discussions here