Dear Editor,
Open letter to Dr Simon Opher, MP for Stroud; Dr Roz Savage, MP for South Cotswolds; Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for North Cotswolds; and the leaders of Gloucestershire County Council and Stroud District Council
We, the Stroud District Green Party, strongly oppose the Labour government’s English Devolution White Paper. While it is presented as “devolution”,’ in reality, it is nothing of the sort.
This plan would see Stroud District Council abolished and replaced by a new unitary authority (or authorities) for Gloucestershire. However, these new councils would have even less power than Stroud District and the current county councils, as additional power would go to a “strategic authority” outside of Gloucestershire.
It is very odd that Councils are expected to ask to join one of these strategic authorities: our District Councils didn’t “join” Gloucestershire nor did our parishes “join” Stroud District. A strategic authority should cover a geographic area decided on by an independent body, based on citizen consultation and the logic of transport and other geographic/economic factors.
The government has no right to impose such a radical course of action without consultation with the people of Gloucestershire.
If these changes are forced through without our consent, decisions affecting our communities in Stroud District—on housing and planning, nature recovery, community projects, the arts, and the environment—will be made in Gloucester or even further away. Services that Stroud District Council has successfully preserved, while other councils have lost them, will come under threat as budgets are reallocated to cover the ever-increasing costs of adult and children’s social care—currently managed by the County Council.
Furthermore, the distinctive ways in which Stroud District Council has adapted to meet the needs of our unique communities will be lost within a large, centralised unitary authority, driven by Labour’s one-size-fits-all approach to “growth.”
This reorganisation takes power away from local people and makes it harder to deliver the real change we need: building high-quality homes, cleaning our rivers, creating flood defences, improving public transport, reforming social care, and greening our local economies.
It is a rushed, undemocratic proposal, forced through without public consultation or any opportunity for proper scrutiny by the affected councils. No one asked for this. No one voted for it. Stroud District Green Party firmly opposes it.
As Greens, we always look for hope, and our work starts now. Here in Gloucestershire, we will push back, scrutinising these plans at every stage. We will fight to restore democracy, protect our councils’ legacies, safeguard our environment, and defend our communities’ right to determine their own future.
The Green Party believes that decisions should be made as close as possible to those they affect, with real devolution of powers and funding from Westminster to enable local councils to improve services for their communities. Without this, public trust in politics will only erode further.
Stroud District Green Party is planning a public meeting to make sure local residents know what is going on. More on this in due course, but be assured we will not stand by. We will continue to fight for local democracy, accountability, and the right of our communities to shape their own future.
Signed: Adrian Oldman and Lynn Haanen on behalf of Stroud District Green Party
