Community action/Stroud
The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Stroud.
News
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The Emergency: why communities must govern environmental resources, growingcommons.substack.com (Sep 15, 2026) — Childhood environmental lessons from a Stroud river keeper, Julian Jones- The English restaurant turning hospitality on its head, positive.news (May 27, 2026) — At a pay-as-you-can restaurant in Stroud, radical hospitality and good food are bringing strangers together
- Recalling two years of radical experiment in participatory democracy, the Stroud Area Assembly wishes you a “Radical Restmas”, Daily Alternative (Dec 15, 2024)
- The English restaurant turning hospitality on its head, positive.news (May 27, 2026) — At a pay-as-you-can restaurant in Stroud, radical hospitality and good food are bringing strangers together
- The pollution court case that could reach far beyond the banks of the River Wye, theconversation.com (Oct 22, 2025)
- Life lessons for a living world in the Forest of Dean, thenews.coop (Aug 16, 2025) — Community benefit society Wylderne has taken ownership of a wilderness education centre and is putting co-op principles into action
- Half a million trees to be planted in England in three years, says government, theguardian.com (Sep 30, 2026)
- The Space Time Continuum, Alternative Editorial (Sep 27, 2026) — Empty spaces will be put back into use, Andy Burnham said, turning them into "community hubs, health centres, shared workspaces, cafés and the local services that people actually want to see.”
- UK shares findings of damning climate crisis national security report suppressed under Starmer, theguardian.com (Sep 23, 2026) — El Niño poses critical threat to nations’ defences, says Ed Miliband in presentation to global foreign ministers
- Citizens need to power Europe's future, demnext.substack.com (Oct 02, 2026) — The EU can enable new democratic institutions: in European countries; with a European Citizens’ Assembly as a 4th branch of government, and by legally enforcing the Global Citizens’ Assembly on AI, Claudia Chwalisz and Another Democratic Future
- Reclaiming the streets: the architects clawing back Europe’s car-centric spaces, theguardian.com (Sep 09, 2026) — The European Prize for Urban Public Space’s shortlist highlights projects helping people cope with climate crisis
- We’re the mayors of Paris, Milan and Phoenix. The heat crisis has us all facing the same question, Emmanuel Grégoire, Giuseppe Sala and Kate Gallego, theguardian.com (Sep 07, 2026) — Our three cities are learning from each other about how to protect residents. These climate policies are also public health measures
- Citizens need to power Europe's future, demnext.substack.com (Oct 02, 2026) — The EU can enable new democratic institutions: in European countries; with a European Citizens’ Assembly as a 4th branch of government, and by legally enforcing the Global Citizens’ Assembly on AI, Claudia Chwalisz and Another Democratic Future
- Fifty Billion Seedlings: Can Ethiopia Replant Its Ravaged Forests?, e360.yale.edu (Oct 01, 2026)
- Want solar but don’t own a roof? California just legalized plug-in panels, no permission required, latimes.com (Sep 30, 2026)
Networks and sustainability initiatives
[edit | edit source]CDC video
[edit | edit source]Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.
Community action/Dorset, Community action/Gloucestershire, Community action/United Kingdom/Cycling activism / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism
UK and international events
[edit | edit source]UK events
Sep 7 - 11, 2026 (Mon-Fri) — Zero Waste Week, zerowasteweek.co.uk- Sep 11 - 20, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Heritage Open Days, celebrating our fantastic history and culture. Your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE to explore, heritageopendays.org.uk
- Sep 18 - 27, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Great British Beach Clean, mcsuk.org
Global or international events
- Sep 15, 2026 (Tue) — Free Money Day, Global invitation for people to explore, in a liberating and fun way, what it might be like if our relationship to money was a little different. Sep 15, annually, freemoneyday.org
- Sep 18, 2026 (Fri) — Park(ing) day, global, public, participatory project where people across the world temporarily repurpose curbside parking spaces and convert them into public parks and social spaces to advocate for safer, greener, and more equitable streets for people, myparkingday.org
- Sep 21, 2026 (Mon) — International Day of Peace, Globally shared date, Sep 21 each year for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace, internationaldayofpeace.org
- Sep 21-27, 2026 (Mon-Sun) — Global Week Of Action For Peace And Climate Justice, climatemilitarism.org
2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events
Stroud video
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Community involvement
[edit | edit source]- Stroud Area Assembly, a collaboration of governance practitioners, community development leaders and movement builders, and part of the work of Parents for Future Stroud and a national initiative, ‘Lifehouses – Collapse Preparing Communities’. Citizens’. "We are also linked with other UK networks and an internationalist solidarity movement. Citizens’ Assemblies are shorthand for wide ranging reform of democratic systems." Added 17:45, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
Localism
[edit | edit source]Stroud has a strong community of independent shops and cafés, which provide the mainstay of the retail experience in the town.W
Food activism
[edit | edit source]- The Long Table Stroud, added 16:52, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
- Stroudco Food Hub
- Stroud Community Agriculture Ltd
A farmers' market, launched by Jasper Conran and Isabella Blow on 3 July 1999, takes place every Saturday at the Cornhill market. It was nominated for the national Farmers' Market of the Year in 2001 and won it in 2007 and 2013. It also won the Cotswold Life magazine award for the best farmers' market in Gloucestershire in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. The market featured in an episode of BBC TV's The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain in September 2009, and won the Best Food Market award at the BBC Food & Farming Awards 2010. It is certified by FARMA.
In addition to the farmers' market there is a smaller market held (Fri & Sat) in The Shambles, an area adjacent to the steep High Street. John Wesley preached from a butcher's block in The Shambles on 26 June 1742. The Old Town Hall is one of the oldest existing buildings in Stroud: originally referred to as the market house, it was built in 1596 and is still in occasional use today. W
- Farmers Markets (in Stroud) information from Stroud District Council
Stroud, a market town in Gloucestershire was one of the birthplaces of the Organic food movement and was home to Britain's first fully organic café, Woodruffs. The Biodynamic Agricultural Association is based in the town. W
Commons
[edit | edit source]- Stroud Commons, group of Stroud residents coming together to build the ‘commons’ economy in Stroud, and to document everything so that it can be implemented in other towns too. added 14:43, 20 July 2023 (UTC)
Arts, sport and culture
[edit | edit source]Stroud has a significant artistic community that dates back to the early 20th century. Jasper Conran called Stroud "the Covent Garden of the Cotswolds"; the Daily Telegraph has referred to it as "the artistic equivalent of bookish Hay-on-Wye"; while the London Evening Standard likened the town to "Notting Hill with wellies". The town has a large and diverse number of creative artists, musicians. W
Community currencies activism
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The Stroud pound is a local currency in use in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Unveiled on 12 September 2009, the scheme is the third local currency scheme introduced in England in recent years after the Totnes pound and the Lewes pound.
Launched on 12 September 2009, the scheme is an initiative of the local Transition Towns group. Unlike the Totnes pound and the Lewes pound, the Stroud pound is based on the Chiemgauer, a community demurrage currency circulating in the Chiemgau region of Bavaria, Germany since 2003. The Stroud pound has a demurrage rate of 3% every six months. As of April 2010, 30 businesses in Gloucestershire are enrolled in the programme.
On the day of the launch, local currency with a face value of over 1,000 Stroud pounds was sold.
However, in 2011 only £4,000 worth of Stroud pounds were issued. Some local businesses complained about the hassle and said customers still supported them but preferred to use sterling.
In 2015 a discussion on a possible re-launch was held.
One of the founders, Molly Scott Cato said in 2016 that the currency was "never viable", since there was not enough currency in circulation, compared to the Bristol pound.
As of November 2019 the website had not been updated since 2012, but Stroud Pound Co-op Ltd still exists.
Sustainable transport activism
[edit | edit source]The Cotswold Canals Trust is a British registered charity that aims to protect and restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal. Formed in 1972, the organisation has a goal to restore navigability on the two waterways between Saul Junction and the River Thames. Since then, it has overseen restoration of the waterways, with many bridges, locks, and cuttings being rebuilt and reinstated.
In 2021, the charity was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service for "regenerating a 36-mile canal corridor, engaging communities and reviving heritage and wildlife". W
News archive
[edit | edit source]- Recalling two years of radical experiment in participatory democracy, the Stroud Area Assembly wishes you a “Radical Restmas”, Daily Alternative (Dec 15, 2024)
- This is what democracy looks like, parentsforfuturestroud.wordpress.com/ (Dec 11, 2024)
- “We live in a mere shadow of the world we could have”. Dil Green—building commons by means of housing and local trading, in Stroud and Liverpool—has a pathway, Daily Alternative (Nov 03, 2024)
- Solving the housing crisis via the commons, By Dil Green, resilience.org (Aug 23, 2024)
- Stroud Housing Commons: latest developments, lowimpact.org (May 08, 2024)
- The Stroud Commons aims to shift housing, energy, land, food, water, transport, social care & the means of exchange into community ownership, The Daily Alternative (Jul 08, 2023)
- Stroud Commons part 1: We’re putting our house into the ‘commons’. Follow our progress and replicate it in your community, lowimpact.org (Jan 08, 2023)
- How Stroud council is encouraging renewables in its Local Plan, takeclimateaction.uk (Mar 09, 2022)
- Seeds of the people: how communities are protecting the future of food, positive.news (Apr 27, 2021)
- Have your say on how developments in Stroud should promote sustainable construction, Nov 10, 2016...stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk
- New Green council chairman Norman Kay partners with climate change awareness project Transition Stroud, May 24, 2016...stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk
- An evening in Stroud: '10 years and beyond', May 9, 2016...Transition Network
About Stroud
[edit | edit source]Past events
- Oct 1 - 8, 2016, Stroud Valleys Showcase
- June 27 - 28, 2015, Edible Open Gardens
- February 7, 2015, Stroud Potato Day
- May 3 - 4, 2014, Stroud Eco Open Homes 2014
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021.
Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets. The Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty surrounds the town, and the Cotswold Way path passes by it to the west. It lies 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Gloucester, 14 miles (23 km) south-southwest of Cheltenham, 13 miles (21 km) west-northwest of Cirencester and 26 miles (42 km) north-east of the city of Bristol. London is 91 miles (146 km) east-southeast of Stroud and the Welsh border at Whitebrook, Monmouthshire, is 19 miles (31 km) to the west. Though officially not part of the town itself, the contiguous civil parishes of Rodborough and Cainscross form part of Stroud's urban area and are generally recognised as suburbs.
Stroud acts as a commercial centre for surrounding villages and market towns including Amberley, Bisley, Bussage, Chalford, Dursley, Eastcombe, Eastington, King's Stanley, Leonard Stanley, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Oakridge, Painswick, Randwick, Selsley, Sheepscombe, Slad, Stonehouse, Brimscombe & Thrupp, Whiteshill and Woodchester.
In March 2021 The Sunday Times named Stroud the best place to live in the UK, citing the town's abundance of green spaces, independent spirit, and high quality of schools.
Near you
[edit | edit source]Gloucestershire community action
External links
- Wikipedia: Stroud, Campaigns
- Stroud Town Council, link checked 15:08, 20 July 2023 (UTC)
- Stroud District Council, link checked 15:08, 20 July 2023 (UTC)
| Authors | Phil Green |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Cite as | Philralph (2023–2026). "Community action/Stroud". Appropedia. Retrieved October 3, 2026. |