Full Council meets at 4pm on Monday 12 October: the annual State of the District, a bigger scrutiny committee, and motions on reorganisation costs and sewage spills.

The full district council meets on Monday afternoon, and the main item is the annual State of the District report. It is the one meeting of the year where the council sets out, in numbers, what the district looks like before it starts on next year’s budget. Three motions follow, on who should pay for the paused local government shake-up, on sewage spills at Shipston-on-Stour, and on letting residents decide part of the budget.

Two meetings have published agendas for the week of 12 to 18 October. Both are in the Council Chamber at Elizabeth House, Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, and both are webcast on the council’s YouTube channel.

Monday 12 October, 4pm: Council

Note the start time. The agenda flags that it has changed to 4pm.

State of the District. The report is a desk-research profile of the district, mostly to the year ending March 2026. Councillors are asked to note it and feed it into the 2027/28 budget. The numbers worth knowing:

  • Population was estimated at 148,800 in mid-2025, up 1.8% in a year. Growth of 21.1% between 2015 and 2025 was the fourth highest of any council area in England and Wales.
  • The median age is 47.9, against 40.7 nationally. Over-65s are 26% of residents, against 19% across England.
  • There were 68,396 dwellings in March 2025. The median house price was £370,000. (The Land Registry’s mean average, which we report on our house prices page, is higher, because a mean is pulled up by the most expensive sales.)
  • 9,196 crimes were recorded in the year to June 2026, a slight fall. That is 62 per 1,000 people, above the Warwickshire average of 57.
  • 1,685 residents were claiming unemployment benefit in July 2025.
  • The council says it is England’s top recycling area, with a 63.9% household recycling rate.

A bigger scrutiny committee. The political balance report asks Council to enlarge the Overview and Scrutiny Committee from 11 to 13 members. The Conservative group asked for an extra seat after the Kinwarton by-election in July. Adding one seat would have cost the Liberal Democrats their majority on the committee, so the group leaders agreed on 21 September to add two. The proposed split is Liberal Democrats 7, Conservatives 3, Greens 1, Reform UK 1 and one independent. Because the council’s arrangement is not strictly proportional, it needs to pass with no councillor voting against.

Referred from other committees. Council will also decide:

  • the revised Local Development Scheme, the timetable for the South Warwickshire Local Plan, recommended by Cabinet on 5 October
  • charging for Environmental Information Requests, at £38.62 an hour after the first three and a half hours, also from Cabinet
  • the calendar of meetings for 2027/28
  • the Welford-on-Avon community governance review, and a constitution change to reflect new planning regulations, both from the Audit and Standards Committee

Three motions. The first, from Councillors Pemberton and Parker, asks the chief executive to total up what local government reorganisation has cost the council so far, and the Leader to write to the Secretary of State asking for the money back. It argues that residents “should not be left to pick up the bill for a process which the Government has now chosen to pause”. The chair has said this one will be debated.

The second, from Councillors Hatch and Shenton, is about sewage. It says there have been more than 60 sewage spill incidents in Shipston-on-Stour since building began on the Campden Road estates in 2020, affecting 17 gardens, two homes and a children’s play area. It asks the council to consult Severn Trent Water on every major application and to press ministers to make water companies statutory consultees. Under the council’s rules it will be referred to Cabinet without debate. Shipston is about ten miles south of Stratford.

The third, from Councillors Passingham and Hatch, proposes a participatory budgeting scheme, where residents vote on how to spend part of a budget. The full wording of all three is on the agenda item page.

Also on the agenda: an update on the April motion for a safe cycle route from Stratford to Shipston, which Cabinet is still considering, and a note that the emergency decision to try to buy the Three Tuns in Alcester was taken as urgent business in September.

To ask a question: public questions to Cabinet members or committee chairs need notice under the council’s procedure rules. Email committeemanagers@stratford-dc.gov.uk.

Wednesday 14 October, 10am: Licensing Panel

A short agenda: one application to renew a private hire vehicle licence for a car that is older than the council’s policy allows. The panel decides case by case whether to make an exception. The council is separately consulting on a new taxi policy that would raise the age limits.

Coming up

The next Planning Committee is on Wednesday 21 October at 6pm. Its agenda is published in the week before the meeting, so expect it from about 13 October. Overview and Scrutiny meets on 28 October and Cabinet on 2 November.

The 7 October Planning Committee’s decisions, including 38 homes at Harbury, are covered separately. Our last council round-up has the background on the May 2027 elections and the taxi consultation.