Your guide to Cheltenham Borough Council elections

Dust off your tiny pencils and pick out your ID of choice, as it's election time once again in Cheltenham.

Half of the borough council's seats will be contested in May, and here is everything you need to know about the poll.

Cheltenham Borough Council is made up of 40 councillors, with two representing each of the borough's 20 wards.

Half-out elections are held every two years, where residents vote for 20 seats – one for each ward.

It's been a bit of a bumpy run up to this year's vote.

In January the council - alongside 29 others across the country - was given permission from the government to suspend the election.

Leaders argued the poll would be a waste of money as Gloucestershire is set to get rid of its seven district and county authorities and replace them with one or two 'super councils' in two years' time.

The suspensions were opposed nationally by Reform UK, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens - significantly putting the local Lib Dem group at odds with the wider party.

A month later in February the government reversed the suspensions after Reform launched a legal challenge.

Due to the planned local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire, May will likely be the last set of elections for Cheltenham Borough Council before it is abolished.

Election day is on Thursday, 7 May, with polling stations open between 07:00 and 22:00 BST. The council isn't counting ballots overnight, so the result is expected on Friday afternoon.

Ahead of the big day there are some other important milestones.

The deadline to register to vote is Monday 20 April, and information on how to do this can be found on the Cheltenham Borough Council website.

Once registration is complete, residents have until 17:00 BST on Tuesday 21 April to apply for a postal vote, and the deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 17:00 on Tuesday 28 April.

Only people aged 18 or over and living within the Cheltenham Borough Council boundaries are eligible to vote.

In order to cast a ballot, residents will need to bring a valid form of ID. A full list of permitted documents can be found on the Electoral Commission website.

Those eligible should receive a polling card in the post which will list their assigned polling station.

You don't need to present a polling card to vote.

Affordable housing and the location of new developments remain a hot topic in the borough.

There are concerns about the reduction of affordable homes in the 2,500 Golden Valley development, alongside what has been described as "unrealistic" central government housing targets being applied to the council.

The future of key sites in the town centre is also high up on the list. It's unclear whether there are any firm plans for the flagship Cavendish House on the Prom, after it closed to a number of pop-up businesses in February.

And the council has yet to formally confirm the sale of the Municipal Offices to Almiranta Capital, which has bid to convert the building in to a hotel, spa and event space.

There's ongoing uncertainty about Gloucestershire Airport, which is jointly owned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council, after an agreed £25m sale fell through in March.

National issues are also playing on voters' minds, despite the authority having no direct control over them.

Samantha Cave, a customer at Springbank Community Café, said inclusion and equality are big concerns for her next month.

"I want everyone to feel welcome here. I don't want any minority group to be bashed or hurt in any way," she added.

"So equality for everybody is my main issue."

Natalie Beach said she will be thinking about the cost of living when casting her ballot.

"It's the cost of things and the change in the whole country at the moment," she said.

Regular patron, Ann Barnes, will be considering local issues.

She said: "It's the state of the pavements, the state of the roads, rubbish being dumped."

Faith Rooke-Matthews, who runs the café and is the director of the wider Springbank Community Group, said she wants the council to focus on supporting community projects like hers.

"We need to have people in power who support small community organisations, and aren't just out for the big people," she added.

The Liberal Democrat group has a strong grip on the council, currently holding 36 of the 40 seats. The Greens have three councillors and the People Against Bureaucracy group has one.

Labour has historically failed to have much of a presence in the borough and the Conservatives were wiped out in the 2024 election.

The largest challenge to the Lib Dem supremacy will likely come from the Greens and Reform.

Political enthusiasts will be watching closely to see whether their current national popularity is reflected at a local level, and whether they can chip away at the Lib Dems' vice-like grip.

The 20 councillors who received the lowest share of the vote in the last election two years' ago will see their seats contested in May.

They include:

In total 98 candidates are standing across Cheltenham's 20 wards on 7 May.

The Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Reform UK, the Green Party are contesting all 20 seats.

Labour is fielding 14 candidates, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is putting up two, and the Heritage Party and Christian Peoples Alliance each have one representative standing.

A full list of candidates can be found on the Cheltenham Borough Council website.

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