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To: Stroud District Council

Keep Our SUBS* Public! [* Stroud's Subscription Rooms]

13/12/17

Well over a month since the launch of our campaign to keep Stroud Subscription Rooms in public hands, KOSP is delighted that Stroud District Council (SDC) has recently voted to opt for leasing the Sub Rooms rather than for a sale to the private sector. As far as it goes, this is a considerable victory.

IT IS GREAT NEWS! STROUD HAS SUCCESSFULLY STOOD UP FOR THE SUBS!

Thank you all so much for your support; as the excellent editorial in today’s Stroud News & Journal says, it was the people of Stroud – yourselves! – rising up with a united voice that turned things around, and in true Stroudie tradition!

The people of Stroud can now focus on creating a progressive solution anchored in the diversity, skills and needs of our community. From our extensive campaigning it is clear that Stroud believes that through working together and collaboratively, we can meet the challenge of scarcity and austerity, making the Subs into a vibrant hub for arts and culture in the widest sense, for all the community.

We, the undersigned, object to the privatisation of the unique community asset that is Stroud Subscription Rooms (the ‘Subs’) and its forecourt. We call upon Stroud District Council to keep our Subs in public, accountable ownership, and not to sell them off irreversibly to the private sector.

Please consult the people of Stroud fully and meaningfully about the future of our Subs. Please keep our Subs as a community-run and administered venue that both promotes local arts culture and addresses austerity’s most destructive local impacts.

Why is this important?

The Subs should be used by, and become an empowering hub for, ALL socio-economic groups, including vulnerable groups, community groups, the elderly and the young. The Subs can and should become a genuine community resource/space, showcasing a creative and caring community coming together to consolidate and extend what is rightfully ours, and to make available what should be accessible for all.

In conversations on our High Street, it is clear how passionately Stroudies feel about this issue. Many are uncomprehending, and some even horrified, that Stroud, of all places, should be contemplating transferring this much-loved community gem into the private sector.

With the active support of Stroud Town Council, the Stroud Trust has lodged an alternative bid, which would keep the centre run by, and open to, the whole community. Let's see all interested bidders and parties - including most importantly the District Council, Town Council and Ecotricity - come together with good faith and open mind to find a solution for the Subs' future that can serve and satisfy everyone's needs and aspirations.

If enough of us sign this petition, we can show Stroud District Council that the people of Stroud want the centre to be publicly owned by the community, as it has been historically, and to stay open full-time for the people of Stroud and its environs.

Stroud District

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Updates

2017-12-13 16:46:18 +0000

Petition is successful with 1,472 signatures

2017-11-08 23:17:31 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2017-11-08 13:55:30 +0000

500 signatures reached

2017-11-04 14:49:41 +0000

100 signatures reached

2017-11-03 20:16:56 +0000

50 signatures reached

2017-11-03 18:02:30 +0000

25 signatures reached

2017-11-03 12:44:08 +0000

10 signatures reached