Ministers told Gloucestershire's councils to stop work on scrapping Cheltenham Borough Council. The April 2028 merger and May 2027 elections are on hold.

The plan to abolish Cheltenham Borough Council in April 2028 has been put on hold. On Monday 7 September the government ordered councils across Gloucestershire to stop work on implementing the merger while it reviews the whole reorganisation programme.

The instruction came in a letter from Jim McMahon MP, Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Regional Growth, sent to council leaders in every reorganisation area (MHCLG, 7 September 2026). Cheltenham Borough Council confirmed the same day that Gloucestershire is caught by it (Cheltenham Borough Council, 7 September 2026).

What the minister actually said

The letter does two separate things, and the difference matters for Cheltenham.

It withdraws outright the decisions made in March for four areas: Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock; Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton; Norfolk; and Suffolk.

Gloucestershire is not in that group. Its decision was made in July, and July’s decisions are instead under review. The letter says the review “will look at the programme as a whole and this will include reviewing the 14 decisions made in July”. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and West Sussex, where no decision has been taken yet, are also in scope. The two new Surrey councils are unaffected because they are already established in law.

Three instructions follow for Gloucestershire:

  • councils are asked to cease work on implementing the July decisions until the review concludes
  • elections scheduled for May 2027 will go ahead to existing council boundaries, rather than being replaced by elections to a new authority
  • the review is led by Mr McMahon, and the letter sets no date for it reporting

The minister gives the reason as “updated legal advice”, and says the government has “listened to representations about the approach and pace of reorganisation”. He also concedes the position “will feel uncomfortable”.

What was decided in July, and is now paused

Timeline of local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire Five stages: 5 February 2025, councils invited to submit proposals; 28 November 2025, final proposals due; 5 February 2026, statutory consultation launched; 16 July 2026, government decides on one unitary council for Gloucestershire from April 2028; 7 September 2026, implementation work stopped and the decision placed under review. How Gloucestershire got here, and where it stopped Key dates in local government reorganisation for Cheltenham. 5 Feb 2025 28 Nov 2025 5 Feb 2026 16 Jul 2026 7 Sep 2026 Councils invited Proposals due Consultation launched One unitary decided Work stopped April 2028 launch and May 2027 elections to the new council: both now on hold, with no review date published. Source: MHCLG collection page for Gloucestershire; decision letter of 16 July 2026; ministerial letter of 7 September 2026. Graphic by The Cheltenham Journal
Key dates in the reorganisation of local government in Gloucestershire.

On 16 July the then Secretary of State, Steve Reed, decided to implement the one-unitary proposal put forward by Cotswold District Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Stroud District Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council. Cheltenham Borough Council was not one of the four. It backed a two-unitary model and lost.

The new council would cover the areas of Cheltenham, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Gloucester City, Stroud and Tewkesbury, and take on the county council’s services too (decision letter, 16 July 2026). Mr Reed’s stated reason was economic geography. Splitting the Cheltenham and Gloucester economic area between two councils would, in his judgment, undermine it “given how physically close these urban centres are to one another”.

By the end of July the detail had firmed up considerably:

  • the new authority would be called Gloucestershire Council, with 110 councillors
  • 65 per cent of consultation respondents had expressed a preference for a single unitary
  • a Joint Committee of 12 councillors would oversee preparations, six from the county council and one from each district, borough and city council
  • Jo Walker, chief executive of the county council, was appointed senior responsible officer for the transition
  • the Structural Change Order, the legislation that would actually abolish the seven councils, was to go before Parliament in the winter (Cheltenham Borough Council, July 2026)

That is the work the minister has now asked councils to stop.

What the council says

Cheltenham Borough Council called the announcement “unexpected” and said councils in Gloucestershire were seeking further information. Its statement is careful about how little is known:

At this stage, we do not have any further detail on the implications for Gloucestershire or on the timescales for completing the review.

Council leaders and senior officers across Gloucestershire’s principal councils expected to be briefed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government within 24 hours, with a further statement to follow. Nothing further had been published on the council’s news page by the morning of Monday 8 September.

What it means for you

Nothing changes about the council you deal with. Cheltenham Borough Council still collects your bins, runs its car parks and decides planning applications. Gloucestershire County Council still runs the roads, schools and social care. That was already true before the pause, and the county council’s own line in July was that “for now, nothing changes”.

Your council tax bill is no clearer, and arguably less clear. When councils merge, their council tax has to be brought to a common level, and Gloucestershire’s six districts do not charge the same. Nobody had published how that would be done here before the pause, and now there may be no merger to do it for. The £252.11 borough element of a band D bill in a non-parish part of Cheltenham stands for 2026/27 either way. Our council tax bands page has the full A to H table for all six charging areas.

The elections position has changed. Under the July decision, elections in May 2027 would have been to the new authority and would have replaced any scheduled local elections, with sitting councillors’ terms extended. That is off. Elections in May 2027 now go ahead on existing council boundaries. Cheltenham’s most recent borough elections were held on 7 May 2026, alongside the Leckhampton with Warden Hill neighbourhood plan referendum and a county council by-election in St Mark’s and St Peter’s (Cheltenham Borough Council).

The local plan question is live again. Cheltenham is preparing a new local plan for submission this December, and until now the honest summary was that it would be inherited by a council that does not yet exist. That is no longer certain in either direction. See our planning news page for the timetable and the consultation dates.

Do not expect a date. The letter commits only to communicating next steps “early and clearly”. It sets no deadline for the review, and says the Devolution White Paper will address the role of local government separately. We will update this page when Gloucestershire’s councils publish their joint statement.

More Cheltenham local information: bin collection days, parking in Cheltenham, council tax bands, planning news.

Sources