Cotswold District

51.719°N 1.968°W / 51.719; -1.968

Cotswold District
Non-metropolitan district
Cirencester, the administrative centre of the Cotswold District
Cotswold shown within Gloucestershire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South West England
Non-metropolitan county	Gloucestershire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Cirencester
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Cotswold District Council
• MPs	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Roz Savage
Area
• Total	449.6 sq mi (1,164.5 km2)
• Rank	20th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	91,311
• Rank	260th (of 296)
• Density	200/sq mi (78/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 96.3% White 1.5% Mixed 1.3% Asian 0.4% Black 0.4% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 55.7% Christianity 36.7% no religion 7.3% other 0.3% Islam
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	23UC (ONS) E07000079 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SP0221002304

Cotswold is a local government district in Gloucestershire, England. It is named after the wider Cotswolds region and range of hills. The council is based in the district's largest town of Cirencester. The district also includes the towns of Chipping Campden, Fairford, Lechlade, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach, Stow-on-the-Wold and Tetbury, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.

In 2021 the district had a population of 91,125. The district covers nearly 450 square miles (1,200 km²), with some 80% of the land located within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.^[2][3] The much larger area referred to as the Cotswolds encompasses nearly 800 square miles, spanning five counties: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Worcestershire.^[4][5] This large Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty had a population of 139,000 in 2016.^[6]

Eighty per cent of the district lies within the River Thames catchment area, with the Thames itself and several tributaries including the River Windrush and River Leach running through the district. Lechlade is an important point on the river as the upstream limit of navigation. In the 2007 floods in the UK, rivers were the source of flooding of 53 per cent of the locations affected and the Thames at Lechlade reached record levels with over 100 reports of flooding.^[7]

The neighbouring districts are South Gloucestershire, Stroud, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Wychavon, Stratford-on-Avon, West Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, Swindon and Wiltshire.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the area of five former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:^[8]

• Cirencester Rural District
• Cirencester Urban District
• North Cotswold Rural District
• Northleach Rural District
• Tetbury Rural District

The new district was named Cotswold, reflecting its central position within the hills and wider region of that name.^[9]

Governance

Cotswold District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Chair	Nikki Ind, Independent since 24 May 2023[10]
Leader	Joe Harris, Liberal Democrats since 14 May 2019
Chief Executive	Robert Weaver since January 2021[11]
Structure
Seats	34 councillors
Political groups	Administration (21)   Liberal Democrats (21) Other parties (13)   Conservative (9)   Green (2)   Independent (2)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Council Offices, Trinity Road, Cirencester, GL7 1PX
Website
www.cotswold.gov.uk

Cotswold District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Gloucestershire County Council.^[12] The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[13]

Political control

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since the 2019 election.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[14][15]

Party in control		Years
	Independent	1974–1999
	No overall control	1999–2003
	Conservative	2003–2019
	Liberal Democrats	2019–present

Leadership

The council has a ceremonial chair of the council who presides at council meetings and acts as the district's first citizen. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2003 have been:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Julie Girling[16]		Conservative	May 2003	May 2006
Lynden Stowe[17]		Conservative	May 2006	16 May 2017
Mark Annett[18][19]		Conservative	16 May 2017	Sep 2018
Tony Berry[20][21]		Conservative	11 Dec 2018	14 May 2019
Joe Harris[21]		Liberal Democrats	14 May 2019	Incumbent

Composition

At the 2023 election the Liberal Democrats extended their majority. As of August 2024 the current composition of the council is:^[22]

Party		Councillors
	Liberal Democrats	21
	Conservative	9
	Green	2
	Liberal	1
	Independent	1
Total		34

The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

The council is based at the Council Offices on Trinity Road in Cirencester.^[23] The building was built in 1837 as the Cirencester Union Workhouse, later serving as Watermoor Hospital following the creation of the National Health Service in 1948. After the hospital closed the building was converted to become the council's headquarters, being formally opened by Prince Charles on 21 May 1981.^[24][25]

Towns and parishes

Further information: List of civil parishes in Gloucestershire

The whole district is covered by civil parishes. The parish councils for Chipping Campden, Cirencester, Fairford, Lechlade, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach with Eastington, Stow-on-the-Wold and Tetbury take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.^[26]

Media

In terms of television, the area receives various transmitters from different regions:

• Mendip (BBC West/ITV West Country) covering Cirencester and Tetbury.^[27]
• Oxford (BBC South/ITV Meridian) covering Stow-on-the-Wold, Lechlade, Northleach and Fairford.^[28]
• Sutton Coldfield (BBC West Midlands/ITV Central) covering Chipping Campden and Moreton-in-Marsh.^[29]

Radio stations for the area are:

• BBC Radio Gloucestershire
• BBC Radio Wiltshire
• BBC CWR
• Heart West
• Capital Mid-Counties
• Greatest Hits Radio South West
• Corinium Radio (serving Cirencester)
• North Cotswold Community Radio (serving North Cotswolds)
• Cotswolds Radio ^[30]

The district is served by the weekly local newspaper, Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. ^[31]

Elections

Since the last full review of boundaries in 2015 the council has comprised 34 councillors representing 32 wards, with two wards electing two councillors and the rest electing one each. Elections are held every four years.^[32]

Councillors

There are 34 councillors. After the May 2019 election, there were 18 Liberal Democrats, 14 Conservatives, one independent and one Green.

Ward	Councillor	Party
Abbey	Mark Harris		Liberal Democrats
Blockley	Clare Turner		Green
Bourton Vale	Len Wilkins		Conservative
Bourton Village	Jon Wareing		Liberal Democrats
Campden and Vale	Gina Blomefield		Conservative
	Tom Stowe		Conservative
Chedworth and Churn Valley	Paul Hodgkinson		Liberal Democrats
Chesterton	Roly Hughes		Liberal Democrats
Coln Valley	David Fowles		Conservative
Ermin	Julia Judd		Conservative
Fairford North	Michael Vann		Liberal Democrats
Fosseridge	David Cunningham		Conservative
Four Acres	Ray Brassington		Liberal Democrats
Grumbolds Ash with Avening	Tony Slater		Conservative
Kemble	Mike McKeown		Liberal Democrats
Lechlade, Kempsford and Fairford South	Clare Muir		Liberal Democrats
	Helene Mansilla		Liberal Democrats
Moreton East	Angus Jenkinson		Liberal Democrats
Moreton West	Daryl Corps		Conservative
New Mills	Claire Bloomer		Liberal Democrats
Northleach	Tony Dale		Liberal Democrats
Sandywell	Jeremy Theyer		Conservative
Siddington and Cerney Rural	Mike Evemy		Liberal Democrats
South Cerney Village	Juliet Layton		Liberal Democrats
St Michael's	Joe Harris		Liberal Democrats
Stow	Dilys Neill		Liberal Democrats
Stratton	Patrick Coleman		Liberal Democrats
Tetbury East and Rural	Nikki Ind		Independent
Tetbury Central	Ian Watson		Liberal Democrats
Tetbury with Upton	Chris Twells		Liberal
The Ampneys and Hampton	Lisa Spivey		Liberal Democrats
The Beeches	Nigel Robbins		Liberal Democrats
The Rissingtons	Andrew Maclean		Green
Watermoor	Gary Selwyn		Liberal Democrats

Chairs of the Council

Councillor	Party		From	To
D C Leadbeater		Independent	1973	1976
C Staite		Independent	1976	1977
J Clark		Independent	1977	1981
I Lamb		Conservative	1981	1983
H Groves		Independent	1983	1986
P Cutts		Independent	1986	1989
I Maitland Hume		Independent	1989	1991
D Godman		Independent	1991	1993
M Brown		Independent	1993	1995
Sue Herdman		Independent	1995	1998
P Pretty		Independent	1998	1999
B Evans		Independent	1999	2001
Tim Royle		Conservative	2001	2004
Sue Jepson		Conservative	2004	2007
Sheila Jeffery		Conservative	2007	2009
Ben Jeffrey		Conservative	2009	2010
Carolyn Nicolle		Conservative	2010	2012
Edward Horsfall		Conservative	2012	2014
Clive Bennett		Conservative	2014	2015
Mark Annett		Conservative	2015	2017
Julian Beale		Conservative	2017	2019
Nigel Robbins		Liberal Democrats	2019	2021
Dilys Neill		Liberal Democrats	2021	2023
Nikki Ind		Independent	2023