Gloucestershire council area

Selling Land in Stroud District

Stroud District is working from a plan adopted in November 2015, a review that has sat with inspectors since 2021, and a housing land supply well short of five years. The council has now started again, with a new plan that must find room for 846 homes a year between the Cotswold edge and the Severn.

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Stroud District at a Glance

Stroud District Council covers the town of Stroud and the valleys around it, the smaller towns of Stonehouse, Nailsworth, Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge and Berkeley, Cam and Slimbridge in the vale, Sharpness on the estuary, and the edge of Gloucester at Hardwicke and Hunts Grove. When the council talks about where growth can go, it names two constraints first: floodplains and the Cotswolds National Landscape.

A plan now 10 years old. Because the November 2015 Local Plan is over five years old, housing land is measured against the government's standard method, not the plan's figure.
Short of land. The council's January 2025 update put its supply at 3.24 years, measured from 1 April 2024.
An action plan, not a crisis. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 gave Stroud 85%: under the 95% level that requires an action plan, but not under 75%.
A fresh start. The council must now plan for at least 846 homes a year, and held early engagement from 29 June to 9 August 2026.

The rest of this page explains which of these matters most for your land.

Stroud District in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
85%
Below 95%: the council must publish an action plan to improve delivery.
Homes built against homes needed
1,633
of 1,932 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
November 2015
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
No recent stage listed
Check the council's website for its timetable.

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Why the Land Supply Counts for More Than the Delivery Score

At 85%, Stroud is clear of the 75% line that most commentary fixes on. That can make the district look closed to land outside its settlements. It is not, because national policy gives a second way to show unmet need.

The August 2026 NPPF, through its policy S5, lets homes beyond a settlement boundary be approved where unmet need is evidenced, the site relates well to the place beside it, and infrastructure can take the extra homes. A score below 75% is one way need is treated as proven. A shortfall in the five-year supply of deliverable sites is another, and it is the one that applies here.

How the Council's Own Figures Show the Gap

The January 2025 update set a five-year requirement of 4,144 homes, blending the older figure of 620 a year with the newer 820, plus a 5% buffer, and found 2,683 deliverable homes: 3.24 years.

The picture was very different not long ago. The council's November 2023 statement recorded 5.05 years of supply and a 2021 Housing Delivery Test result of 161%. Part of the change is arithmetic: the 2023 statement measured against 641 homes a year, the 2025 update against a blend rising to 820, and the council now quotes 846.

Land Inside the Towns and Villages

Policy S4 covers sites within settlements, where homes should be approved unless the harm would substantially outweigh what the scheme brings. Here that covers old mills and yards along the valleys as well as gardens and paddocks inside villages, and the council says it will look to brownfield land first. Our page on brownfield sites and yards explains how we assess them, and the wider policy change is set out in our guide to the 2026 NPPF.

The Review That Stalled at the M5

The last attempt at a new plan shows how the next one will be judged. The Local Plan Review was submitted in October 2021 and hearings began in March 2023. The inspectors then raised three soundness concerns: capacity at junctions 12 and 14 of the M5, public transport for the proposed development at Sharpness (site PS36), and a walking and cycling bridge over the M5 at Wisloe (site PS37).

The council asked for a pause and sent a joint action plan with its partners in November 2023. The council's June 2025 Local Development Scheme records that the inspectors wrote in February 2024 and again in April 2025 advising that the review should be withdrawn. In November 2025 they declined to consider fresh evidence from National Highways on the two junctions and repeated that withdrawal was the most appropriate way forward. The council leader said the council fundamentally disagreed.

Two Readings of Where the Review Now Stands

The council's April 2026 report says the submitted review remains under examination, while its planning pages now lead with the new plan and a 2026 call for sites. We have seen no document formally closing the review, but the council has plainly moved its effort to the new plan, and for a landowner the answer is the same either way. Decisions are made under the 2015 plan and national policy, and the sites that matter for the future are the ones put forward to the new plan.

The lesson is that very large schemes here can stand or fall on motorway capacity, and the April 2026 report says the junctions need early strategic consideration this time. Smaller sites that do not depend on new junction capacity largely avoid that question.

Where Stroud's Recent Homes Have Come From

Sites counted in the council's November 2023 supply statement, with the homes it expected each to deliver in the five years from April 2023.

Site	Homes counted	What it tells a landowner
Land west of Stonehouse (Nastend Lane)	544	The largest single entry, on the western edge of Stonehouse.
Hunts Grove (Colethrop Farm) and its extension	388 and 150	Two of the larger entries sit on the Gloucester fringe at Hardwicke.
North east of Draycott, Cam	264	An allocation in the adopted plan on the edge of Cam.
Stanley Mills, Wimberley Mill and Dudbridge Industrial Estate	146, 104 and 124	Former mills and industrial land in the valleys.
Sharpness Docks	None in the five years	An allocation in the adopted plan that the council did not expect to deliver within that period.

Much of the supply rests on a few large sites, so slippage on one shows at once in the five-year figure.

What Shapes a Site in Stroud District

A small number of issues decide most cases here, and we check each before giving you a view.

The Cotswolds National Landscape. The council lists it among the main limits on growth. Land within it faces a much higher bar, and land in its setting is judged partly on how it is seen from higher ground.
Floodplain. Many sites near the Severn and its tributaries can still work by keeping homes on the drier ground, as our flood risk guide explains.
Motorway and local roads. After the review, any sizeable scheme needs a clear answer on junctions 12 and 14.
Neighbourhood plans. The council's timetable lists plans in progress for Bisley-with-Lypiatt, Chalford, Standish and Wotton-under-Edge.
Contributions. The council's Community Infrastructure Levy schedule dates from 2017 and is being updated alongside the new plan, so the charges a scheme carries may change.

None of these costs fall on you. We pay for the surveys, highway work and applications, and the price we agree at the start already allows for the contributions.

The Land We Look for in Stroud District

Fields that sit well against the edge of Stonehouse, Cam, Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge, Berkeley or the larger villages.
Former mills, yards and workshops along the Stroud valleys.
Land on the Gloucester side of the district that relates properly to Hardwicke or Hunts Grove.
Larger holdings that could be put forward to the new plan through its call for sites.

Land on the high Cotswold plateau or the open estuary levels is not ruled out, but the route is narrower. We will tell you plainly what we think, and the first review costs you nothing. Our how it works page sets out each step.

What We Are Watching in Stroud District

The Next Housing Delivery Test

The test is published yearly, and the Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, covering April 2022 to March 2025. Stroud's 85% puts it in the band that needs an action plan and nothing more. If the next result fell below 85%, a 20% buffer would be added to the five-year requirement, widening a supply gap that is already large. Under 75%, the score itself would count as proof of unmet need for S5 purposes. Reaching 95% would end the action plan, yet leave the supply gap untouched. We have not found a published 2025/26 completions figure, so we make no forecast.

The Five-Year Supply

The latest statement we have found is the January 2025 update, at 3.24 years. It does not say when the next is due, and any new one will be measured against the higher annual figure.

The New Plan Timetable

The council's April 2026 report sets out the new plan under the government's 30 month process: the first gateway self-assessment by 31 October 2026, the Planning Inspectorate's second gateway check in early to mid 2027, an examination readiness check in late 2027, and submission, examination and adoption in 2028. The next public consultation is due in 2027. The June 2025 Local Development Scheme pointed to adoption in 2029, but it predates the council's decision to follow the faster national timetable, so the April 2026 dates are the ones to work to.

A Single Council for Gloucestershire

On 16 July 2026 the government chose a single unitary council, to be called Gloucestershire Council, with shadow elections on 6 May 2027 and the new council taking over on 1 April 2028. On 7 September 2026 the government indicated that reorganisation is being paused and reviewed, and the councils' joint website says the May 2027 elections will go ahead on existing boundaries meanwhile. The April 2026 report says reorganisation is no reason to delay the plan, as plan-making would pass to any new authority.

What It Means for Your Timing

Two routes are open at once: an application for land that meets the S5 tests while supply is short, and the new plan for larger land during 2026 and 2027. Neither waits on reorganisation. Our note on how land gets into a local plan walks through each stage.

Questions Landowners in Stroud District Ask

Stroud is above 75%. Does that mean my field outside the village has no chance?

No. The unmet need route in policy S5 can also rest on a shortfall in the five-year supply, and the council's last update put supply at 3.24 years. Your field still has to relate well to the village and pass the usual tests on access, flooding and landscape.

I put land forward to the old Local Plan Review. Do I need to do it again?

The council has run a fresh call for sites and published a map of the land submitted. If your land is not on it, we can prepare and submit the information for you.

My land is near junction 12 or 14 of the M5. Is that a problem?

Not necessarily. The concern at examination was the combined effect of the plan's large allocations. A modest site raises a much smaller question, though we still look at traffic carefully.

Will the new Gloucestershire council change what happens to my application?

In the short term, no. Stroud District Council decides applications until any new authority takes over, and the government is now reviewing the programme. The adopted plan and national policy carry on applying whatever happens.

I own an old mill building in one of the valleys. Is that the kind of site you mean?

It can be. Former mills and industrial sites were counted on for hundreds of homes in the council's 2023 supply, and the council says it will look to brownfield land first. Heritage, flooding from the streams and access often decide how many homes fit, and we check each of those.

Tell Us About Your Land in Stroud District

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.