People who live and work in Gloucestershire are being invited to have their say on the future of the county's local councils – with three options being considered for their reorganisation.
The Future Gloucestershire survey, from Gloucestershire County Council and the county's six district councils, is asking residents, businesses and local organisations to feed back on proposals to create either one or two unitary authorities for the county – absorbing the functions of its existing councils – under government plans for the devolution of powers across England.
The restructuring is set to change the way council services, from education and highways, to planning, housing and waste collection, are provided in Gloucestershire, with three options being considered by the authorities before final proposals are submitted to the government in November 2025.
Those three options consist of a single unitary authority covering the whole of Gloucestershire; two unitaries, covering Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds in the east and Gloucester, Forest of Dean and Stroud in the west; and another plan for two unitaries, one being an enlarged Gloucester city referred to as ‘Greater Gloucester’ and one covering the remainder of the county.
Feedback from the survey, which runs until Saturday 9 August 2025, is described as 'crucial' in helping the councils 'develop a vision' for the future of local government in Gloucestershire.
It includes questions on how local services are currently provided and what should be prioritised in the future, along with what matters most to residents about their community.
The Future Gloucestershire webpage provides information about the proposals, including what local government reorganisation means and a timeline.
It says that once the councils' final proposal is submitted, the government will then review and make a decision between December 2025 and April 2026.
There will then be elections between May and December 2027 for 'shadow' unitary authorities, before the new structure is introduced in April 2028.
To complete the survey and find out more about the process, head to the 'Future Gloucestershire' page on the Gloucestershire County Council website.
