Cheltenham 2026 elections could be postponed
The request has been made due to local government reorganisation
Cheltenham Borough Council’s elections next year could be postponed due to local government reorganisation in the county.
The Government wants to do away with two-tier authority areas, such as Gloucestershire.
And three options have been submitted to ministers for new unitary authorities to be created which would replace Gloucestershire County Council and the six districts.
The Government timeline suggests the new councils would be created by April 2028.
Because of this, Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) chiefs have requested that their half elections planned for next year be postponed.
The council has had elections in halves every two years, but due to a boundary change, they had all-out elections in 2024 to elect its current cohort of 40 councillors.
Council leader Rowena Hay (LD, Oakley) has written to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government saying the council believes postponing the election would be a good use of taxpayers’ money.
“Standard council terms are four years, therefore, having been elected in 2024, the councillors of CBC still have a strong democratic mandate from the public,” she said in her letter.
“Therefore, considering the democratic mandate already in place, and that elections to any future shadow authorities will be in 2027, we believe that the decision on whether to postpone the 2026 election to CBC should be based on whether this represents a good use of taxpayers’ money.
“Realistically, on this test, there is no case to be made on going forward to hold elections within a year of the first elections to the new shadow authority.
“In addition, considering that government’s position is that local authorities need to fund the full cost of creating the new council arrangements themselves rather than receiving any financial support from HM Treasury, we believe that it is better to save the expense of having an election and re-direct any saving made to help fund local government reorganisation transformation.
“In reality, we do not expect this to be a significant saving but, as a district council, we believe in making every possible savings we can to protect critical services while we go through unfunded and central government enforced change.
“On this basis we would welcome a response on both your position on this request and set out the steps that government will take to reach a pragmatic and sensible position on allowing the current cohort of 40 councillors to serve until the 2027 unitary elections.
“This would negate the requirement for elections in 2026 based on the reasoning set out above. It is a request CBC would not be making had we not had a full election in 2024 to renew our mandate.”
Ministers have today announced they will offer flexibility to councils undergoing local government reorganisation and have invited a total of 63 areas to set out their views on the potential postponement of local elections in their areas and their local capacity to deliver local government reorganisation alongside elections.
A deadline of January 15 has been set for representations and any evidence will be reviewed by government with a final decision to be made by ministers early next year.
Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness Alison McGovern said: “We have listened to councils who’ve told us of the challenges they face reorganising while preparing for resource-intensive elections for areas which may shortly be abolished.
“Several have submitted requests to postpone elections so it is therefore right we let them have their say so they can focus their time and energy on providing vital services while planning for reorganisation.
“Our goal is to create new councils who can improve services for residents and it is only right that we listen to councils.
“There are 204 councils across 21 areas undergoing reorganisation. 63 of these councils are scheduled to hold elections in May 2026 and have been written to for views on potential postponement.
“Surrey is on a faster timetable for reorganisation, and we plan to hold local elections to new councils in May 2026, so their views have not been sought on postponements.
“If delayed, these elections would be postponed for one year, before elections to the new unitary councils in May 2027, with the new councils then expected to be up and running in April 2028.”