Councillors from different parties elected to key positions on Stroud District Council

Cllr Martin Whiteside

Here's the press release about last night's meeting...

At the Council’s Annual General meeting held last night, Councillor Steve Lydon was voted in as leader of Stroud District Council. Following the May elections, an administration of Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats will continue to run the council.

Councillor Lydon, who is leader of the Labour group and a district councillor for The Stanleys also represents the Dursley division as a county councillor. He said: “It is an honour to be elected to this post and to lead the work of this council. I’m looking forward to building on our work on strengthening the local economy and improving affordable housing opportunities – which includes the continuation of our council house building programme. We’ll also maintain our focus on improving the outcomes for our residents with our health and wellbeing initiatives and environmental priorities.”

At the same meeting, Norman Kay (Green) was elected chair of the council. The chairs of the five council committees were also decided.

They are:

Steve Lydon  (Labour) - Strategy & Resources Committee

Simon Pickering (Green) - Environment Committee

Mattie Ross (Labour) - Housing Committee

Steve Robinson (Labour) - Community Services & Licensing Committee

Tom Williams (Labour) - Development Control Committee

Nigel Studdert-Kennedy (Conservative No Group) - Audit & Standards Committee

Martin Whiteside, leader of the Greens on the District Council said: "It is exciting to see councillors from different parties working together on the different committees in the interests of the District. I am also delighted that we have seen fit to maximise  transparency and scrutiny of Council affairs by electing a councillor who is not a member of the cooperative alliance to chair the Audit and Standards Committee. This is a better sort of politics."

Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ken Tucker added: “‘With all 51 District Councillor seats on Stroud District Council being re-elected this year until 2020, it gives us a great opportunity to put in place both short and long term plans for the benefit of our communities, support for local businesses and the Stroud district as a whole. We look forward to working with our Co-operative Alliance members and the opposition Conservative Group.”

The recent district council elections saw all 51 district councillors elected to the council. The council now comprises 22 Conservatives, 18 Labour, 8 Green, 2 Liberal Democrat and 1 Conservative (No Group) councillors.