COTSWOLD District Council (CDC) leader Lynden Stowe announced that he will be stepping down after 11 years in the role.

The announcement that Cllr Stowe will step down on May 16, when members of the district council will gather for their annual meeting, was made on Tuesday at a full council meeting.

He will be handing over his responsibilities to a successor due to be elected by the Conservative group at CDC.

However, he will continue to represent the Campden and Vale ward at the district council.

Cllr Stowe said: "It has been a challenging time, I think we've delivered well for the people of the Cotswolds but it's time for somebody else to have a go.

"Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to getting stuck back into my family business and, frankly, have a few more days off."

The council leader for CDC since 2006 reflected on his experiences over the years: “When I took over as leader from Cllr Julie Girling in 2006, I originally planned to do the job for about three years and then hand over the baton to someone else.

“I have obviously stayed a lot longer than I ever imagined, principally because I enjoyed the many challenges which the role presented.

“During the last 11 years, I have always done what I thought was best for the people of the Cotswolds to ensure that it is a great place to live, work and visit.

“Like my predecessor, one of my key aims was to keep down the cost of council tax, and I take great pride in knowing that bills for council tax payers are about the same as they were when I first became leader – in fact, in real terms, residents have enjoyed a reduction of 33 per cent.

“We’ve also frozen charges for car parking and garden waste collections for about six years now.

"It’s important that we enable taxpayers to keep as much money as possible in their pockets – and, hopefully, these price freezes have allowed residents to spend more with local businesses.

“The advent of joint working with other authorities – most notably West Oxfordshire – has enabled us to make significant savings without any detriment to the quality of our services.

“We are now working jointly with four authorities and we can call on an impressive pool of resources and expertise while also boosting our purchasing power when negotiating for goods and services.

“One great source of pride for me personally is the increase in the resilience of our communities across the district since the 2007 floods.

“I was also very pleased to help oversee the introduction of the council-owned environmental services company Ubico Ltd in 2012. This has been a huge success and the company is on course to deliver savings of £6 million in its first five years of trading.”