Cam, Gloucestershire

Cam is a large village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, situated in the Cotswolds. The Cotswold Way runs less than a mile from the village. It has a boundary with the town of Dursley.

Cam had approximately 8,500 residents in the 2001 census. In the May 2006 local elections, Cam East was held by the Conservative Party, while Cam West was taken by the Liberal Democrats, having previously been a Labour stronghold. Labour regained Cam West in 2011.

Cam actually has a larger population than neighbouring Dursley, which is a town.

Facilities
The village has an identifiable centre, with several shops (including a pharmacy, a hardware store and funeral directors, a fish and chip shop, a takeaway, a beauty salon, a combined Post Office and card shop, a council shop, a few pubs, and a Tesco supermarket clustered loosely around St Bartholemew's Church. There are more businesses, including another hardware store,a butchers and a pair of convenience stores scattered around the rest of the parish and a small industrial estate to the west of the village centre.

Cam supports three state sector primary schools located in the Woodfields, Hopton and Everlands districts of the village. The nearest mainstream secondary school is Rednock, just across the parish boundary in Dursley.

Leisure
Cam Bulldogs FC is Cam's football team and plays in the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division One. The cricket team is called Cam Cricket Club. Both play at The Shed along Everlands.

Future development
In Late 2011, construction began on a Community Resource Area, including a cafe and meeting areas in the old car park between Tesco and the Methodist Church. Cam Parish Council hopes that this will attract a farmer's market and that the area will become a spot for the community to come together.

Employment
One of the main companies for employment in Cam is Cam Mills which has just under 100 employees. It is a woollen mill and has been creating the cloth for tennis balls since the Tudor era.