County-wide local government reorganisation survey

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Shape the future of local government in Gloucestershire


What is Local Government Reorganisation?

The national government wants to change how local councils work. You currently have one county council and six smaller district councils in Gloucestershire. The plan is to swap them for fewer, bigger councils that look after all services. These are known as ‘unitary’ authorities and have existed across the UK in many places for several years. The government produced an official document at the end of 2024, making clear their plans for all English councils to become ‘unitary’.

What does it mean for Gloucestershire?

The government has asked local councils to produce proposals on how they would like to move to a unitary model. The city, district and borough councils and the county council are discussing what the best plan/s to propose to Government might be, both individually and as a group. The views of residents and communities will help to inform their thinking. Ultimately, Government will make the final decision.

There are three options currently being considered by councils in Gloucestershire:

• One council covering the whole county.
• Two councils, with an east (Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Cotswold) and west (Gloucester, Forest of Dean and Stroud) split.
• Two councils, one being an enlarged Gloucester city (referred to as ‘Greater Gloucester’), and one being the remainder of the county.

When will we know what is happening?

The deadline for all seven local councils to submit a joint final plan is the end of November 2025. Any council that wishes to can submit a plan independently. Government Ministers will make the final decision, hopefully by the middle of 2026.

We want to hear from you about how local services in Gloucestershire can work best for you, both now and in the future. These changes give us a chance to check all the services we offer. We want to make sure we can give people in Gloucestershire good, strong, and effective public services for years to come.

Why your views matter

Your feedback is crucial in shaping your local government. We will use your feedback to develop a vision for local government in Gloucestershire before giving a final proposal to the Government in the autumn.

This is your chance to inform our proposals at an early stage. You can share your views from 1 July until 9 August 2025, and there will be more opportunities to comment on the plans in future.

Although many of us use council services daily, we might not often think about how local government is organised – and that's perfectly okay! You don't need to answer every question; just let us know what matters most to you.


Keeping your data safe

All of your answers are entirely anonymous. In this survey, we won't ask for your name, but we will ask a few questions about you. This helps us understand make sure our work represents everyone in Gloucestershire.

You don't have to answer any personal questions if you don't want to. But if you do, here's how we'll handle your data:

  • We'll follow the Data Protection Act 2018 and Gloucestershire County Council's rules to keep your data safe and only use it for the purposes set out in this feedback form. You can find a copy of our privacy statement on the Gloucestershire County Council website: here

Important points:

  • We'll keep this data for five years.
  • We usually won't share this data with anyone else, except for the agency we have appointed to help us run this survey – Cratus Group. You can read their Privacy Policy here: www.cratus.co.uk/privacy-policy
  • If we have to share your data more widely, because of laws like the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 2018, or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, we'll make sure it's done legally.

Your choices:

  • You don't have to take part if you don't want to.
  • You can stop at any time.
  • You can skip any personal or other questions you don't want to answer.

Shape the future of local government in Gloucestershire


What is Local Government Reorganisation?

The national government wants to change how local councils work. You currently have one county council and six smaller district councils in Gloucestershire. The plan is to swap them for fewer, bigger councils that look after all services. These are known as ‘unitary’ authorities and have existed across the UK in many places for several years. The government produced an official document at the end of 2024, making clear their plans for all English councils to become ‘unitary’.

What does it mean for Gloucestershire?

The government has asked local councils to produce proposals on how they would like to move to a unitary model. The city, district and borough councils and the county council are discussing what the best plan/s to propose to Government might be, both individually and as a group. The views of residents and communities will help to inform their thinking. Ultimately, Government will make the final decision.

There are three options currently being considered by councils in Gloucestershire:

• One council covering the whole county.
• Two councils, with an east (Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Cotswold) and west (Gloucester, Forest of Dean and Stroud) split.
• Two councils, one being an enlarged Gloucester city (referred to as ‘Greater Gloucester’), and one being the remainder of the county.

When will we know what is happening?

The deadline for all seven local councils to submit a joint final plan is the end of November 2025. Any council that wishes to can submit a plan independently. Government Ministers will make the final decision, hopefully by the middle of 2026.

We want to hear from you about how local services in Gloucestershire can work best for you, both now and in the future. These changes give us a chance to check all the services we offer. We want to make sure we can give people in Gloucestershire good, strong, and effective public services for years to come.

Why your views matter

Your feedback is crucial in shaping your local government. We will use your feedback to develop a vision for local government in Gloucestershire before giving a final proposal to the Government in the autumn.

This is your chance to inform our proposals at an early stage. You can share your views from 1 July until 9 August 2025, and there will be more opportunities to comment on the plans in future.

Although many of us use council services daily, we might not often think about how local government is organised – and that's perfectly okay! You don't need to answer every question; just let us know what matters most to you.


Keeping your data safe

All of your answers are entirely anonymous. In this survey, we won't ask for your name, but we will ask a few questions about you. This helps us understand make sure our work represents everyone in Gloucestershire.

You don't have to answer any personal questions if you don't want to. But if you do, here's how we'll handle your data:

  • We'll follow the Data Protection Act 2018 and Gloucestershire County Council's rules to keep your data safe and only use it for the purposes set out in this feedback form. You can find a copy of our privacy statement on the Gloucestershire County Council website: here

Important points:

  • We'll keep this data for five years.
  • We usually won't share this data with anyone else, except for the agency we have appointed to help us run this survey – Cratus Group. You can read their Privacy Policy here: www.cratus.co.uk/privacy-policy
  • If we have to share your data more widely, because of laws like the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 2018, or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, we'll make sure it's done legally.

Your choices:

  • You don't have to take part if you don't want to.
  • You can stop at any time.
  • You can skip any personal or other questions you don't want to answer.
Page last updated: 14 Jul 2025, 01:03 PM