Tewkesbury council votes in favour of single unitary authority for county
Gloucestershire’s seven main authorities have been working on plans to reorganise local government
Tewkesbury Borough Councillors have backed plans for a single unitary authority amid concerns over Cheltenham and Gloucester’s “Gloxit” plans to split the county in two.
Gloucestershire’s seven main authorities have been working on plans to reorganise local government in the county.
The proposals considered include a single unitary authority across the current County Council footprint, two unitary councils split between one made up of Cheltenham, Cotswolds and Tewkesbury in the East and another composed of Gloucester, Forest of Dean and Stroud in the West.
Gloucester City Council has also worked on developing a Greater Gloucester option with an expanded unitary around the county town and another unitary made up of the rest of the county.
Cheltenham councillors voted yesterday in favour of the East/West split while Gloucestershire County Council believe a single unitary is the best option.
In Tewkesbury last night (November 18), Borough Council leader Richard Stanley (LD, Cleeve West) opened the debate and expressed why he believed a single unitary was the fairest option for residents.
He likened the debate over the council shake-up to Brexit and described proposals for more than one unitary as “Gloxit” or “Glos Split”.
He said he would vote to “remain in a successful Gloucestershire”.
“I wasn’t a fan of Brexit and I’m really not much of a fan of this either,” he said.
“Whether you want to call it Gloxit, Glos split, or the greater Gloxit doughnut, I’m gonna be backing Remain and remaining a successful Gloucestershire.
“Why? Well, the main argument for splitting Gloucestershire is that smaller authorities will somehow be closer to communities.
“Ironically, I’ve seen very little engagement with those communities from those councils, who proposed this split.
“If anything, it feels like it’s a Cheltenham for Cheltenham and a Gloucester for Gloucester proposal.
“In terms of what residents have said when we did the consultation, they said two things very clearly.
”They wanted us to protect services and they wanted to deliver value for council taxpayers.
“Those were the two key messages from the counties, from the consultation.
“The evidence suggests that the best way of achieving this is by keeping county services intact.”
He said he has written to town and parish councils in the Borough and not one has expressed a preference for “breaking up Gloucestershire”.
Green Party group leader Hilarie Bowman (Tewkesbury East) said she would support plans for a single unitary council but raised concerns over the impact it would have on democracy.
“Creating a unitary council for Gloucestershire instead of our current two-tier system could bring some advantages by pulling services together, reducing duplication, and giving residents a simpler system to understand,” she said.
“However, we cannot ignore a major concern that this creates an added democratic deficit.
“Cutting the number of councillors by around 60 per cent means far fewer local voices at the table.
“It means bigger patches to represent and less time for the conversations that bring residents and councils closer together.”
She said she supported the one unitary proposal because many of the organisations people rely on already operate on county boundaries.
“Splitting the county into two would force them to work across new artificial lines, creating more meetings, more coordination, and more confusion,” she said.
“Two unitaries would be less efficient and would not bring any real extra democratic accountability.
“A single unitary, if done well, has the best chance of delivering clarity, consistency, and a stronger voice for Gloucestershire as a whole.”
Conservative Councillor Paul McLain (Highnam with Haw Bridge) said he felt moving to unitary is the right move for local government.
He described the idea of a split county as a “non-starter” and the Greater Gloucester plan would take over areas he represents which residents there oppose.
“Option B appears to be little more than a crude takeover of Tewksbury Borough by Cheltenham,” he said.
“It is yet another example of someone wanting to be a big fish in a very small political pond.”
He praised Tewkesbury MP Cameron Thomas and Cllr Stanley for “standing up to this and making a strong advocacy”.
“He was probably under considerable pressure from his political colleagues, so chapeau.”
Tewkesbury North and Twyning Mike Sztymiak (I) said none of the options on the table were good and he suggested letting the ministers know.
He said the proposal for a unitary council would also see Borough taxpayers have to pay an extra £62 a year.
“The issue I haven’t really seen debated is the main one, and that is the increase in council tax for Tewkesbury Borough Council ratepayers,” he said.
“It’s quite clear in the papers before us, and if I focus just on option one, Tewkesbury Borough ratepayer and the band D will pay an over £62 pounds increase.
“Those in Cheltenham, will pay £37 less, in Gloucester they would pay £32 less.
“In Stroud they would pay £41 less.
“Now that’s not fair in all fairness, because we’re not doing it and we’re not getting any extra services out of this.”
And Reform UK councillor Graham Bocking (Northway) praised Cllr Sztymiak’s points and echoed concerns over council tax increases.
He claimed the Government did not have a mandate for the proposed changes as it was not in the Labour Party manifesto.
“We need to be honest with the Government and make a statement, no, we don’t support any of the options, we are saying we do not want this,” he said.
“If enough councils do it with the amount of U-turns this Government’s made, you may well see a U-turn on this as well.”
The Borough Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the single unitary option for local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire.
A total of 20 councillors voted in favour of this option while seven abstained.
The Borough Council will submit the single unitary council option to ministers for consideration.
Based on the Government’s current timetable, once they decided the outcome of local government reorganisation, elections to the new council or councils would be in May 2027 with the new authority taking over from the current seven councils from April 2028.