Notice of Election – District Council
Stroud District Council
Election of District Councillors
Download the Notice here
Author: The Editor
Stroud District Council
Notice of Election – Parish Council
Stroud District Council Election of Councillors for the Parish Council listed below
Parish Council – Stinchombe
Number of Parish Councillors to be elected – Five
- Nomination papers can be obtained from the Returning Officer, Council Offices, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud, Glos, GL5 4UB or by emailing elections@stoud.gov.uk.
- Nomination papers must be delivered to the Returning Officer, Council Offices, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud, Glos, GL5 4UB between 9am and 5pm on any working day after publication of this notice but no later than 4pm on Thursday, 8 April 2021.
- If any election is contested the poll will take place on Thursday, 6 May 2021.
- Applications to register to vote must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at the Council Offices, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud, Glos, GL5 4UB by 12 Midnight on Monday, 19 April 2021. Applications can also be made online: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
- Applications, amendments to, or cancellations of postal votes must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at the Council Offices, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud, Glos, GL5 4UB by 5pm on Tuesday, 20 April 2021.
- Applications to vote by proxy at this election must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at the Council Offices, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud, Glos, GL5 4UB by 5pm on Tuesday, 27 April 2021.
- Applications to vote by emergency proxy at this election must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at the Council Offices, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud, Glos, GL5 4UB by 5pm on Thursday, 6 May 2021.
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Elections 2024
Elections 2024 – here’s all the dates, deadlines and information you need to know
Elections will take place on Thursday, May 2 for Stroud District Council, parish and town councils, the Police and Crime Commissioner, and some neighbourhood planning referendums.
Registration
Stroud District Council wants residents to ensure they are registered to vote. In order to vote, please go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. You will need your national insurance number, registering only takes a few minutes. Alternatively, residents can register to vote by calling 01453 766321. The deadline is midnight, on Tuesday 16 April 2024.
Photo identification (ID)
The UK Government has introduced a requirement for registered electors to show photo ID when voting at a polling station. All electors will be required to present a government approved photo ID document at the polling station in order to be issued with a ballot paper. Residents are urged to make sure they are ready to vote by checking they have an accepted form of ID.
The most common forms of photo ID are permitted e.g., photo driving licence, passport, and some concessionary travel passes, such as an older person’s bus pass. Voters will be able to use expired ID if they are still recognisable from the photo. Only original documents are accepted. Further details and a full list of acceptable forms of ID are included on the Council’s website at www.stroud.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/elections/voter-id.
If you do not have an accepted form of photo ID, you can apply free-of-charge for a Voter Authority Certificate. To apply, visit www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate or book an appointment to have a photo taken and complete an application at the district council offices by calling 01453 766321. The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate is 5pm on Wednesday 24 April 2024.
Applications to vote by post online
You can now apply to vote by post online and will need to provide your National Insurance Number to verify your identity.
Apply for a postal vote at https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote. Postal vote application forms are available to download at www.stroud.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/elections/voting-options/postal-voting or can be obtained by emailing elections@stroud.gov.uk or calling 01453 766321.The deadline for postal vote applications is 5pm on Wednesday 17 April 2024
Proxy votes
To apply for a proxy vote either:
- Apply at gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote (you will need your national insurance number)
- Download an application form and either post or email to Stroud District Council
- Call 01453 766321 or email elections@stroud.gov.uk.
Your proxy will need to vote on your behalf at your polling station and present their photo ID. The deadline for proxy vote applications is 5pm, Wednesday 24 April 2024.
For more details, and information on emergency proxy votes: www.stroud.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/elections/local-government-and-police-and-crime-commissioner-elections-thursday-2-may-2024
Our Swedish Houses are under threat.
Threat of demolition and redevelopment on The Avenue
You may or may not be aware that our 4 historic “Swedish Houses” situated at the top of The Avenue are under threat of demolition. These are the two pairs of timber clad dormer bungalows opposite the cricket pitch. The right-hand pair is owned by Stroud District Council (SDC) and have been left vacant for 5 – 6 years. Of the other pair, the house on the left (No4) is privately owned and the house on the right has a SDC tenant.
There are similar redevelopment plans for Swedish houses in Uley and Wotton Under Edge.
The SDC proposal
SDC wish to demolish all four houses and replace them with a high density complex of 16 dwellings, a mixture of houses and flats. The plan above is indicative of how they currently envisage the layout. The original plan was to squeeze in 18 dwellings, but this has now been reduced to 16.
The 16 dwellings would comprise 6 x1 bedroom 2 person flats, 3 x 2bedroom 4 person houses and 3 x 3-bedroom 5 person houses = 39 new residents with probably two cars per dwelling.
What we don’t like about the proposal
This plan raises concerns regarding visual impact, (especially with the site being adjacent to the conservation area and within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), road safety, inadequate parking facilities, drainage, and disturbance of wildlife to mention a few. Furthermore, our Swedish houses are an important part of Stinchcombe’s rich history. You can read more about that here.
Redevelopment of the site as a whole will require the purchase of No4. The owners have lived there happily for 27 years and would like to stay.
The Parish Council’s Position
Stinchcombe Parish Council have already met with SDC Housing officers to discuss the plans and held an open meeting for parishioners, which housing officers declined to attend. The Parish Council subsequently wrote to Housing stating their opposition to re development of the site. The wish of the Parish Council is for the council owned Swedish houses to be sensitively restored to modern standard whilst retaining their important historic status.
Swedish houses at three other locations in Stroud District have been or are to be refurbished.
Stinchcombe History Society’s position
Not surprisingly SHS wants to preserve these historic buildings, which we have included in our heritage walk and in our Virtual Village house histories. We’ve tried and failed to get the two empty Swedish Houses listed by Historic England. Historic England recommended looking at local designation options, which we will do in parallel with any other measures for their protection.
What stage has the proposal reached?
At the Stroud District Council Housing committee meeting on the 19/3/24, members voted to add the Stinchcombe, Uley and Wotton Under Edge sites to the new Homes and Regeneration programme and progress redevelopment for the provision of new council homes, subject to planning permission. They agreed for £14.7 million to be funded from capital receipts and from Homes England.
An amendment was approved requiring that an update be brought back to committee as soon as practicable regarding highways safety and other key infrastructures considerations before the submission of planning applications. This amendment will at least ensure we get some insight into what highways and other statutory consultees think before the planning stage.
Housing currently estimates that the feasibility and pre planning stage would take another 12 – 24 months and it would take another 3 – 4 months to get planning permission.
What can we do?
The stated programme means there is still time to prepare a strong case for saving the Swedish houses and preserving our village landscape and history.
It is not something the History Society and Parish Council can do on their own – we need the support of a sizable number of villagers.
If you care about this issue and want to help. Please email stinchcombehistory@gmail.com with your comments.
Please include your full name if it isn’t obvious from your email address, and your postcode. We only ask this in case it should prove to be necessary if your comments are needed to show support against the threat of demolition to Stroud District Council.
A Stump Descendant
A fascinating story, of hard work, opportunism, murder, and the rise to power of the successful family of a weaver from North Nibley. This was the story that the Stinchcombe History Society was told by Historian Tony McAleavy last Friday 8th in the Village Hall. The story was of a man called William Stumpe who was a just poor weaver in North Nibley but set off to make his fortune in the 1500’s.
The King is a direct descendant of a man from North Nibley!
In around the year 1500 William Stumpe moved to Malmesbury where he became extremely wealthy as a result, first, of his successful business making wool cloth and, second, by the way he obtained control of much of the property of Malmesbury Abbey after the Dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539. Tony McAleavy, a local historian from Malmesbury, has investigated William Stumpe’s family tree and discovered that King Charles III is a direct lineal descendant of the man from North Nibley. Some seventeen generations separated the King from his North Nibley ancestor. The following chart supplied by Tony shows the direct line of descent from Stumpe to our King today.
| Generation | Decendant |
|---|---|
| 1st | William Stumpe of North Nibley (died 1552) married Joyce Berkeley |
| 2nd | Sir James Stumpe (died 1562) married Bridget Baynton |
| 3rd | Elizabeth Stumpe later Lady Elizabeth Knyvett (died 1587) married Sir Henry Knyvett |
| 4th | Katherine Knyvett later Countess of Suffolk (died 1633) married Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk |
| 5th | Lady Katherine Howard later Countess of Salisbury (died 1673) married William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury |
| 6th | Lady Elizabeth Cecil later Countess of Devonshire (died 1689) married William Cavendish 3rd Earl of Devonshire |
| 7th | William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire (died 1707) married Lady Mary Butler |
| 8th | William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (died 1729) married Lady Rachel Russell |
| 9th | William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (died 1755) married Catherine Hoskins |
| 10th | William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (died 1764) married Lady Charlotte Boyle |
| 11th | Lady Dorothy Cavendish, later Duchess of Portland (died 1794) married William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland |
| 12th | Lord Charles Bentinck (died 1826) married |
| 13th | Rev. Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (died 1865) married Caroline Burnaby |
| 14th | Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck later Countess of Strathmore (died 1938) married Claude Bowes-Lyon, Earl of Strathmore |
| 15th | Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon later Queen Elizabeth (died 2002) married King George VI |
| 16th | Queen Elizabeth II (died 2022) married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh |
| 17th | King Charles III |
Stinchcombe Community Speedwatch
Stinchombe Speed Watch update March 2024
Stealthy Speed Monitoring: The Results
We all paid for the radar speed sign via our Council Tax so it’s only right that there should be a progress report.
People asked why the sign wasn’t working when it first appeared. In fact, it was stealthily logging the time and speed of every vehicle in both directions. These baseline data show the “normal” speeds at the four places marked with a red star on the map i.e. the Highways-approved locations where we have a post and mounting bar. Baseline data also enable us to quantify the slowing effect of the sign when illuminated.
So, how much of a speeding problem does Stinchcombe have? Here are the results:
Largest number of speeders: Taits Hill Road – Blackthorn Barn
- over 5,000 vehicles a day in total
- around 2,800 of those exceed the 30-mph limit
- about 120 vehicles a day exceed 40 mph, the majority heading towards the A38
- on average about 4 vehicles a day exceed 50 mph
Worst speeding: The Avenue
- about 4,000 vehicles a day in total
- over 2,100 of these exceed the 30-mph limit
- about 10% of speeders are doing more than 40 mph
- on average about 13 vehicles a day exceed 50 mph
- highest recorded speed 73 mph – in the middle of the day!
Less but not trivial speeding: The Street
- about 4,000 vehicles per day in total
- around 670 of these exceed the 30-mph limit, mostly by only a few mph
- this matters in a residential area with village hall, sports fields and soon to be reinstated playground – a pedestrian hit at 30 mph has a 1 in 5 chance of being killed compared with a 1 in 3 chance at 35 mph
Lack of safe crossings: Taits Hill – Vale Vets
- no real problem with the 30-mph speed limit being broken
- even at these compliant traffic speeds we’re told that
- pedestrians find it difficult to cross the road safely
- residents struggle to pull out of their driveways safely
- we recommend that Stinchcombe and Cam Parish Councils work together to lobby for road safety improvements
Initial results with the sign illuminated are encouraging!
We’ve only processed the initial results for The Avenue and The Street to date.
The Avenue
Traffic entering the village from Dursley Road encounters the sign. While it was in place, compliance with the speed limit in that direction increased from about 40% to nearly 75%. The mean speed fell from 32.7 mph to 29.0 mph.
The Street
While the sign was in place on The Street, compliance with the speed limit for traffic travelling in the Dursley direction increased by almost 10%, from 82.71% to 92.26%. The mean speed decreased from 27.2 mph to 25.8 mph.
What’s next?
Stinchcombe Speed Watch will continue to move the radar sign around the four locations. Now we know there is a particular problem with vehicles heading towards the A38, we’re going to do 2 weeks in each direction at Taits Hill Road – Blackthorn Barn.
After several complete cycles, we’ll issue a further report looking at the effectiveness of the sign over a longer period. Will the response of drivers diminish, or will there be a progressive training effect? Time will tell.
The report will consider additional ways to maximise speed reduction. Evidence from the Police suggests that their advisory letters to recorded speeders are an effective deterrent. We’ll be looking at the feasibility of measures that generate letters to the worst and most persistent offenders, including:
- targeted manual monitoring; and
- deployment of a permanent AutoSpeedWatch camera on at least one of the existing posts.
The Price Tag
There would be costs associated with the AutoSpeedWatch option, which we’ll quantify in the report. Stinchcombe Speed Watch already has funds to purchase a camera and cover the first year’s data connectivity charge. Ongoing operating costs (data connectivity and the Police’s charge for letters) would need to be met from the Parish precept, which comes from our Council Tax.
We’re keen that residents should see the cost data and have chance to express their views on whether the expense would be justified.
Kath
on behalf of Stinchcombe Speed Watch
Stinchcombe Parish Council - A community with Spirit
Clerk to Stinchcombe Parish Council
Stinchcombe Parish Clerk Vacancy
Would you like to become more involved with what goes on in your Parish?
If so and you have 2-3 hours per week to work, the Parish Council is looking to replace its current Parish Clerk who is retiring after providing many years of valuable support.
Stinchcombe Parish Council has five councillors, three of whom are new to the role and two who are experienced, so a good mix. We are looking to engage more with the Stinchcombe Community as we take the Village forward.
We would be delighted to hear from anyone able and interested in joining us. You do not need to have specific experience as training can be provided.
If you would like an informal chat for further information, please contact Charlie Macfarlane on 07976 353325 or Tracey Legg on 07790 389467.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Chair of the Parish Council
Charlie Macfarlane