51.748°N 2.216°W / 51.748; -2.216

Stroud District is a local government district in Gloucestershire, England. The district is named after its largest town of Stroud. The council is based at Ebley Mill in Cainscross. The district also includes the towns of Berkeley, Dursley, Nailsworth, Stonehouse and Wotton-under-Edge, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Over half of the district lies within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.^[2]

The neighbouring districts are Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Cotswold and South Gloucestershire.

The area is rich in Iron Age and Roman remnants and is of particular interest to archaeologists for its Neolithic burial grounds, of which there are over a hundred. Much of its wealth was built on the cloth industry during the Victorian era, and its many mills, most of which are now listed buildings, survive as testament to this. Much of the landscape in this area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Cotswold Way walk leads through the area. There are gliding clubs at Aston Down and Nympsfield.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the whole area of four former districts and parts of another three, which were all abolished at the same time:^[3]

• Dursley Rural District
• Gloucester Rural District (part, rest split between Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury)
• Nailsworth Urban District
• Sodbury Rural District (parish of Alderley only, rest went to Northavon)
• Stroud Rural District
• Stroud Urban District
• Thornbury Rural District (parishes of Alkington, Berkeley, Ham and Stone, Hamfallow and Hinton only, rest went to Northavon)

The new district was named Stroud after its largest town.^[4]

Boundary reviews in 1991 saw the district gain the parish of Hillesley and Tresham from Northavon and cede the parish of Quedgeley to Gloucester.^[5][6]

Stroud District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Gloucestershire County Council.^[9] The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[10]

Since the last full review of boundaries in 2016 the council has comprised 51 councillors representing 27 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[21]

The district covers a very similar area to the Stroud parliamentary constituency. The 2019 general election saw the constituency won by Siobhan Baillie, a Conservative.

The district is entirely covered by civil parishes. The parish councils for Berkeley, Cainscross, Dursley, Nailsworth, Stonehouse, Stroud and Wotton-under-Edge take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.^[22]

Margaret Hills (née Robertson) was the first woman elected to Stroud Urban District Council in 1928.^[23] where she stood as a representative of the Stroud Women's Citizens Association (SWCA).^[24] She remained a member until 1936 when the council was expanded to cover Cainscross and Rodborough.^[25]

David Drew is also a former member of the council originally representing the Stonehouse Ward and more recently the Paganhill and Farmhill Ward.^[26] Tom Levitt is also a former member and served for a short time before moving to High Peak in the early 1990s.^[27]