Stroud council leader steps down after three years

The leader of Stroud District Council is stepping down after almost three years.

Catherine Braun, Green councillor for Wotton-under-Edge, will officially leave the position at the next full council meeting on 22 May – but said she is hoping to secure the deputy position instead.

A new council leader will be elected at the same meeting on Thursday.

"I felt like at this point in time I wanted to get a better balance with my day job, so I can have more time for my local projects as well," Ms Braun said.

As well as resigning as council leader, Ms Braun has also stood down as Stroud District Council's Green leader, instead becoming the group's deputy.

Councillor for Minchinhampton, Chloe Turner, has been elected as the new Green leader and will put herself forward for the position of council leader next week.

Ms Braun has listed the creation of the Stroud District Council plan - which has a focus on the environment, housing, health and the local economy - as among her greatest achievements while in the role, alongside promoting a culture of "cooperative working" within the council.

She has also acknowledged her successor will face some significant challenges, including with the council's local plan, which the planning inspectorate last week asked the council to withdraw for the second time this year.

"The local plan process has taken longer than we could possibly have expected," Ms Braun said.

"We are committed to taking this local plan through to the end of the process, so we will not be withdrawing it.

"It's going to take some time, but I think we're almost there."

The new leader will also have to grapple with the issue of local government reorganisation, which will see the largest shake up of Gloucestershire's councils in a generation.

The county's seven council leaders are currently debating whether to move to either one or two 'super councils' which will be responsible for running all services in Gloucestershire.

Ms Braun said there is a lot of work to do on future transitions.

"Local government reorganisation is going to continue for some time and it's really important we have some political shaping to that in terms of what any new council structures would look like," she added.

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