Stroud Mayor Stands Down Four Months Into Third Term

The Mayor of Stroud has stood down four months into a third consecutive year in the role, and his reason is one most residents will never have heard of.

Cllr Tony Davey announced the decision in his Mayor’s Blog on Thursday 18 September, and Stroud Town Council published it the same day. He remains a town councillor for Uplands ward.

His explanation is about the calendar rather than about a row. Budget work for the next civic year starts now and finishes in February or March. The budget takes effect in April. But the mayor is elected in May, so the person who leads the town through a financial year has no hand in setting its budget.

A quirk of local government calendars means that budget setting commences for the next civic year now, with budgets finalised around February/March, then being implemented from April; but annual elections for a new Mayor would take place in May and the elected Mayor takes the budget set prior to their appointment. We can’t change that, but it does seem a little unfair.

By going now, he says, councillors can elect a mayor who will be in post for the budget discussions and for the year that budget pays for.

By enabling a new Mayor to be elected by the Councillors now, it increases the chance of the appointed Mayor being the one leading the collaboration to get a fair and effective budget for the civic year ahead; a year they (hopefully) will lead.

Three terms, from the council’s own minutes

Stroud Town Council’s records date the whole run precisely.

• 13 May 2024. Cllr Davey was elected Mayor at the annual meeting of the council. The minutes record that the former mayor, Stella Parkes, conducted the election. Cllr Sue Fenton was elected Deputy Mayor.
• 12 May 2025. He was re-elected at the following annual meeting, with Cllr Louisa Stinton as Deputy Mayor.
• 11 May 2026. He was elected again, for the 2026-27 civic year, with Cllr Stinton again as Deputy.

Those are the two councillors he singles out in his statement, saying their support as deputy mayors “has been immeasurably impactful and valued”.

He also says he nearly did not stand in May. He stayed, he writes, to see through three things: the council’s move to new offices, a new chief executive settling in, and the early work on replacing Gloucestershire’s councils with a single unitary authority. The council’s May 2025 annual meeting minutes name Helen Bojaniwska as chief executive; its website now names Alison Robinson.

On the last of those three, he adds a line that matters beyond the town hall: “Whilst Local Government Reorganisation has been temporarily suspended, our work goes on.” The government paused the programme on 7 September, as we reported in Stroud council abolition paused by the government.

What happens next, and when

Stroud Town Council has 18 councillors across six wards: Central, Farmhill and Paganhill, Slade, Trinity, Uplands and Valley. They elect the mayor from among themselves, and they next meet as Full Council on Monday 28 September at 7.30pm at the council offices on Locking Hill.

No agenda for that meeting had been published when we checked on Saturday 20 September, so the council has not yet confirmed in writing that the election will be held then. The deputy mayor does not automatically succeed.

One practical note for anyone looking this up: the council’s own Stroud Town Mayor page still named Cllr Davey as mayor when we checked on 20 September. That page was last updated on 12 May 2026.

Town council, not district council

The two are easy to confuse and they do different jobs.

• Stroud Town Council is the parish-tier council for the town itself. It owns and runs the Subscription Rooms, Stratford Park, the cemetery, parks and green spaces, and it sets its own precept on your council tax bill. Its civic head is the Mayor of Stroud.
• Stroud District Council covers the whole district, from Painswick to Berkeley, and deals with planning decisions, bin collections, housing and licensing. It is the council the government decided in July to abolish in 2028, and whose abolition is now paused.

Both appear separately on your bill. Every parish precept in the district, including Stroud’s, is set out on our Stroud council tax bands page.

What it means for you

• If you want a say, the meeting is public. Full Council meets at 7.30pm on Monday 28 September at the Stroud Town Council offices, Locking Hill, GL5 1QN.
• Check the agenda before you go. It had not been published when we checked. The council publishes agendas on its council meetings calendar.
• Nothing changes about services. The mayor of a town council is a civic role. Parks, the cemetery and the Subscription Rooms carry on as before.
• Your Uplands councillor is unchanged. Cllr Davey has given up the mayoralty, not his seat.

Sources

• Cllr Tony Davey steps down as Mayor of Stroud, Stroud Town Council, posted Friday 18 September 2026, carrying his Mayor’s Blog entry of 18 September in full. All quotations are from that statement.
• Stroud Town Mayor, Stroud Town Council, page last updated 12 May 2026 and checked by us on 20 September 2026, for his election on 11 May 2026 and Cllr Louisa Stinton’s election as Deputy Mayor.
• Minutes of the meeting of Council, 12 May 2025, items 1 to 4, for his re-election and Cllr Stinton’s election as deputy, and for the chief executive in post at that date.
• Minutes of the meeting of Council, 13 May 2024, items 1 to 4, for his first election as mayor, the outgoing mayor conducting it, and Cllr Sue Fenton’s election as deputy.
• Council meetings calendar, Stroud Town Council, checked 20 September 2026, for the date, time and venue of the Full Council meeting and the absence of a published agenda.
• Councillors, Stroud Town Council, for the 18 members, the six wards and Cllr Davey’s ward.