Stroud planning: 3.24 years of housing land, not 5

Stroud District Council is in the weakest planning position it has held in a decade. Its own published figure for deliverable housing land is 3.24 years against the five that national policy requires. Its adopted Local Plan dates from 2015. Its replacement, submitted in 2021, is still stuck at examination over motorway junction capacity. And the government has now told it to start a third plan from scratch, against a housing requirement of at least 846 homes a year.

That combination is why applications the council would once have refused are getting through, and why the phrase to watch in decision notices is the “tilted balance”.

The number that decides everything: 3.24 years

Councils must be able to point to a five-year supply of deliverable housing land. In its own Five Year Housing Land Supply Update of January 2025, Stroud District Council put its deliverable supply at 2,683 dwellings against a minimum requirement of 4,144 for the period to March 2029. That is 65% of what is needed, or 3.24 years’ worth.

When a council cannot demonstrate five years, national policy applies what planners call the tilted balance: permission should be granted unless the harm of a development would significantly and demonstrably outweigh its benefits. The council’s own April 2026 report to full Council spells out the consequence, warning of “continued speculative applications, reduced control over development quality, and greater difficulty securing necessary infrastructure”.

Three plans, and a requirement that keeps rising

The adopted plan (2015). Stroud’s Local Plan was adopted in November 2015 and runs to 2031, with a minimum of 11,400 homes across 2006 to 2031, or 456 a year. On that measure the district has already done its job: by 1 April 2025 it had recorded 9,488 completions since 2006 and held commitments for a further 2,671, a total of 12,159, which is 759 above the plan’s minimum. The problem is that the plan is now more than five years old, so its housing numbers carry little weight and supply has to be measured against current national need instead.

The submitted review (2021). The council submitted a replacement plan proposing 12,600 homes between 2020 and 2040. It has been at examination for years, and the sticking point is roads. The inspectors have been corresponding with the council over Strategic Road Network capacity on the M5 Junction 12 and Junction 14 corridors, with a letter on 18 February 2026, a follow-on consultation on 27 March 2026 and a further limited written consultation with National Highways, Gloucestershire County Council and South Gloucestershire Council running to 5 May 2026. The council’s own report expects the examination and any final report to stretch “well into 2026”. Against that plan’s target the district had 5,813 completions and commitments as at April 2025, leaving 6,787 still to find.

The new plan (2026). On 30 April 2026 full Council approved starting again, under the government’s new plan-making system. This was not a choice: the rules apply to any authority that submitted a plan for examination on or before 12 March 2025 where that plan met less than 80% of housing need under the revised standard method, and Stroud’s did not. The revised method lifts the district’s minimum need to at least 820 dwellings a year before buffers of 5% to 20%, which the council’s consultation puts at at least 846 a year, a rise of a third on the figure the 2021 plan was built around.

The timetable, and the deadline that bites

The 31 October 2026 date is the one with money attached. Stroud has been awarded £108,474.57 from the government’s Local Plan Implementation Funding Programme, and keeping it depends on publishing both the Notice of Commencement by 30 June and the Gateway 1 self-assessment by 31 October. Missing either risks government intervention: the council’s report names Amber Valley, Ashfield, Basildon, Castle Point, Medway, St Albans and Uttlesford as authorities where ministers have already used statutory powers.

The plan itself is budgeted at £2.693m across 2026/27 to 2028/29, approved in February 2026 as part of the medium-term financial plan.

The first public stage, an early scoping consultation on challenges and priorities rather than sites, ran from 29 June to 9 August 2026. Council leader Chloe Turner said the plan “will play a vital role in shaping the future”, and the council has said it will prioritise brownfield land and work within constraints including floodplain and the Cotswolds National Landscape. Options and site work come back for a further consultation in 2027.

The 2028 problem nobody can plan around

Stroud District Council will not exist to adopt this plan. Following the government’s July 2026 decision on local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire, the county council and all six district councils are being replaced by a single unitary authority on 1 April 2028, to be called Gloucestershire Council, with elections to a shadow authority on 6 May 2027.

The council’s own report addresses this head on: reorganisation “is not a valid reason to delay commencement”, because the plan-making function transfers to whatever authority follows. In practice Stroud is being required to spend £2.7m and two years preparing a plan that a different council will submit. The county council is separately preparing a Strategic Development Strategy, and the report is emphatic that it “cannot and does not replace a Local Plan”.

What is being decided now

235 homes at Draycott, Cam. The development control committee granted outline permission on 28 July 2026 for 235 homes on just under 24 acres west of the A4135 at Draycott, applied for by Robert Hitchins Limited. The vote was six in favour, two against and one abstention. It forms part of a wider allocation of around 1,000 homes on the north-west side of Cam, alongside Persimmon.

Objectors, including Cam Parish Council, raised the narrow railway bridge at Slimbridge, congestion at the Box Road junction, GP and secondary school capacity, ecology and density, and the risk of Cam and Draycott merging into one another. Officers pointed out that this was an outline application, so access details are not settled yet and will come back at reserved matters; developer contributions towards GP and school capacity were sought. A proposal to defer the decision until the county council gave a formal highways response was not seconded.

That decision is a fair illustration of what 3.24 years of housing land supply means in practice.

How to check or comment on an application

Stroud District Council decides planning applications for the district, from Painswick down to Berkeley. Search the register and comment on live applications through the council’s Public Access planning search, which also publishes a weekly list of newly validated applications. Committee agendas, reports and minutes, including the development control committee papers behind the decisions above, are at stroud.moderngov.co.uk.

Much of the district lies within the Cotswolds National Landscape, which constrains what can be built and where without being a separate planning authority. Roads, schools and the highways responses that shape big applications are Gloucestershire County Council’s.

Frequently asked questions

Does Stroud have a five-year housing land supply?

No. The council’s own Five Year Housing Land Supply Update of January 2025 put the figure at 3.24 years, being 2,683 deliverable dwellings against a requirement of 4,144. That triggers the tilted balance in favour of granting permission.

How many homes does Stroud have to build a year?

At least 846 a year under the government’s revised standard method, according to the council’s New Local Plan 2026 consultation. The adopted 2015 plan required 456 a year and the submitted 2021 review was based on 630.

What happened to Stroud’s new Local Plan?

The Local Plan Review submitted in 2021 is still at examination, held up by Strategic Road Network capacity at M5 Junctions 12 and 14. Separately, the government required the council to begin a completely new Local Plan in 2026, which it approved on 30 April 2026 and expects to submit in 2028.

Is Stroud District Council being abolished?

Yes. Following the government’s July 2026 decision, Gloucestershire County Council and all six district councils are replaced by a single unitary authority, Gloucestershire Council, on 1 April 2028, with shadow authority elections on 6 May 2027.

Where can I see planning applications in Stroud?

On the council’s Public Access planning register, which carries a searchable database and a weekly list of newly validated applications.

What was decided about the homes at Cam?

Outline permission for 235 homes west of the A4135 at Draycott, Cam, was granted on 28 July 2026 by six votes to two with one abstention, to Robert Hitchins Limited, as part of a wider scheme of around 1,000 homes.

Sources

• Stroud District Five Year Housing Land Supply Update, January 2025, Tables 4 and 5, for the 2,683 deliverable dwellings, the 4,144 requirement and the 3.24 years figure.
• Stroud District Council New Local Plan 2026, report to Council, 30 April 2026 for the commencement decision, the Gateway timetable, the £108,474.57 grant, the £2.693m budget, the M5 Junction 12 and 14 examination correspondence and the government intervention warnings.
• New Local Plan 2026, Stroud District Council and its consultation launch announcement for the 846 homes a year figure and the consultation dates.
• Stroud District Housing Land Availability at 1 April 2025, Tables 1 and 2, for the adopted plan requirement of 11,400 homes, the 9,488 completions since 2006 and the 6,787 still to find against the submitted review.
• Decision on plans for 235 homes in Cam, Gloucester News Centre for the 28 July 2026 committee decision, the vote and the objections.
• Government announces decision on local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire, Stroud District Council for the single unitary authority and the April 2028 date.

Planning positions change with every committee and every new supply statement. Check the council’s own documents before relying on a figure here. What homes are actually selling for is on Stroud house prices; what the M5 and A419 are doing is on Stroud roadworks and travel.