Less than a month since plans were revealed for the restructuring of local government in England, Gloucestershire councils are starting to explore their options, both here in the county and beyond the border.
A white paper published on the devolution of powers in December 2024 outlined government plans to restructure areas with two tiers of local government, to create single-tier, unitary councils — covering areas with populations of more than 500,000 — and overarching, combined authorities for areas with populations of more than one million, which would be led by elected 'metro mayors'.
Debate has ensued about what this could mean for Gloucestershire, with options at unitary level including all six of the county's district councils merging with Gloucestershire County Council.
Alternatively, five of Gloucestershire's MPs have written to the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon, this January 2025 to propose that two unitary councils be created, covering the Forest of Dean, Gloucester and Stroud in the west; and Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds in the east.
In the letter, the MPs say they feel Gloucestershire is too large an area to be covered by one council — but a single unitary is understood to be Gloucestershire County Council's preferred option.
Meanwhile Gloucestershire County Council — the lead authority on devolution in the county — has been exploring how Gloucestershire could enter into a combined authority with neighboring counties.
Council leader Stephen Davies has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the county has three main options at combined level — joining with Herefordshire and Worcestershire to the north; becoming part of the West of England Authority (WECA) around Bristol to the south; or joining with Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Reading and Swindon to the east.
Councillor Davies said conversations with neighbouring counties would begin this month.
Local councils have also written to the government opposing Gloucestershire County Council's proposal to postpone this year's local elections in a bid to fast-track devolution in the county.
The county council wrote to central government this month expressing a desire to be a part of a devolution priority programme, which would see the formation of the first new unitary councils as early as May 2026 — a process that could take years in other areas.
But several district leaders, including Rowena Hay of Cheltenham Borough Council and Adrian Birch of Forest of Dean District Council, have called for the proposal to be rejected, as they feel Gloucestershire is not ready to meet the 'ambitious' timescale of the priority programme.
SoGlos will be tracking decision making over Gloucestershire's local government reorganisation in the coming weeks and months.
