Community Governance Review 2025/26 consultation summaries

Below are summaries of the feedback received from the three stages of consultation.

Stage one consultation: Gathering your views (19 May - 18 July 2025)

During the stage one consultation we asked for your initial feedback on what works well and what could be improved. We invited suggestions for changes to parish councils, such as boundary changes, mergers, or governance improvements or suggestions that new parish or town councils are set up.

The first stage generated several proposals:

• To complete a full review of the boundaries of Swindon Village Parish and Prestbury Parish, including Wyman’s Brook to establish which parish it should sit in
• To complete a full review of the unparished area between Prestbury and Charlton Kings to understand if it should be incorporated into one of the already established councils
• To consider setting up a new parish for Benhall and The Reddings
• To directly ask the public, if they would like to see a town council in Cheltenham
• To complete a full review of the Leckhampton and Warden Hill Parish to understand whether the existing parish should be extended and/or separated into two parishes

We are now beginning further work on the requested parish boundary reviews which will include preparing options for further consultation. Local engagement with affected communities will take place as those options are developed.  Consultation is likely to take place in April-May 2026.  

Stage two consultation: Your views on a town council for Cheltenham (24 February to 29 March 2026)

At stage two of the process we asked residents for their views on whether Cheltenham should have a town council.

Overall there was a positive response to the idea of creating a new town council for Cheltenham town centre.

Stage three consultation: Boundary options for town and parish councils (22 June to 31 July 2026)

The stage 3 consultation asked a number of specific questions around the possible changes to parish boundaries based on the outcomes of the consultation at stages 1 and 2.

These included:

• options for the boundaries for a new town council 
• proposed boundary changes for the other five existing parishes 
• possible creation of new parished areas

See the results of the stage 3 consultation

The outcome of the consultation was then further discussed with the parishes and with local community groups and considered by the community governance working group in order to draft recommendations for approval by full council on 19 October 2026.

Our approach to collecting consultation results

Results collected through our online form will be held securely by CBC. Any paper submissions received will be filed accordingly and typed up, so they are included in the analysis.

All analysis will be carried out by CBC officers, and it is this analysis that will form the basis of the final recommendations.

All information that has been collected through surveys for this CGR will be deleted and destroyed after the CGR has finished and the reorganisation order has been made. So that we can keep a record of the review, CBC will keep on file recommendations and reports which do not contain any personal data.

All personal data that is collected during the review will not be used for any other purposes other than that stated on the survey. The collection of names and post codes is to ensure that we are not receiving multiple responses from the same people as we want to ensure that we have responses that are representative of all of Cheltenham.

CBC will not be publishing the analysis; however, we will clearly publish all decisions taken in the review and the reasons for taking those decisions. In carrying out the review we will work towards the government’s view that “community governance reviews should be conducted transparently so that local people and other stakeholders who may have an interest are made aware of the outcome of the decisions taken on them and the reasons behind these decisions.”

Related Pages

• Background to the Community Governance Review 2025 to 2026