Cotswold District

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
Area
• Total	449.6 sq mi (1,164.5 km2)
• Rank	20th (of 296)
Population  (2021)
• Total	91,125
• Rank	260th (of 296)
• Density	200/sq mi (78/km2)
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 96.3% White 1.5% Mixed 1.3% Asian 0.4% Black 0.4% other
Religion (2021)
• 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. The much larger area referred to as the Cotswolds encompasses nearly 800 square miles, spanning five counties: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Worcestershire. This large Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty had a population of 139,000 in 2016.

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.

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

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:

• 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.

Cotswold District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Chair	Nikki Ind, Independent since 24 May 2023
Leader	Joe Harris, Liberal Democrat since 14 May 2019
Chief Executive	Robert Weaver since January 2021
Structure
Seats	34 councillors
Political groups	Administration (21)   Liberal Democrat (21) Other parties (13)   Conservative (9)   Green Party (2)   Independents (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. The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

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:

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 2001 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election and one subsequent suspension later in May 2023, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

The council is based at the Council Offices on Trinity Road in Cirencester. 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.

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.

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

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

Radio stations for the area are:

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

The district is served by the weekly local newspaper, Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard.

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.

Councillors

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

Chairs of the Council