Gloucestershire County Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Jo Walker since 19 May 2025[2] | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 55 councillors[3] |
 | |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 4 years |
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
Last election | 1 May 2025 |
Next election | 3 May 2029 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Shire Hall, Westgate Street,Gloucester, GL1 2TG | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Gloucestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for thenon-metropolitan county ofGloucestershire, in England. The council was created in 1889. The council's principal functions are county roads and rights of way, social services, education and libraries, but it also provides many other local government services in the area it covers. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than theceremonial county, the latter additionally includingSouth Gloucestershire. The council has been underno overall control since May 2024. Following the2025 election a minorityLiberal Democrat administration formed to run the council. It is based atShire Hall inGloucester.
The area administered by the county council comprises 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi).[4]
Elected county councils were created in 1889 under theLocal Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by unelectedmagistrates at theQuarter Sessions. The cities ofBristol and Gloucester were both considered large enough to provide their own county-level services, so they becamecounty boroughs, independent from the county council. The county council was elected by and provided services to the remainder of the county outside those two boroughs, which area was termed theadministrative county.[5]
The first elections were held in January 1889, and the council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at Shire Hall in Gloucester. The first chairman of the council wasJohn Dorington, aConservative, who was also theMember of Parliament forTewkesbury at the time.[6]
Local government was reformed in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, which made Gloucestershire anon-metropolitan county. As part of the 1974 reforms it ceded an area in the south of the county to the new county ofAvon, but gained the former county borough of Gloucester. The lower tier of local government was rearranged at the same time, with the county being divided into sixnon-metropolitan districts.[7]
Avon was abolished in 1996 and a newunitary authority calledSouth Gloucestershire created covering the area which had been ceded from the old administrative county of Gloucestershire to Avon in 1974.[8] As a unitary authority South Gloucestershire is independent from Gloucestershire County Council, although it is classed as part of the widerceremonial county of Gloucestershire for the purposes oflieutenancy.[9]
The council has been under no overall control since a change of allegiance in May 2024.[10] Following the2025 election theLiberal Democrats were the largest party on the council, but were one seat short of a majority. They formed a minority administration with informal support fromLabour (whose only councillor was made chairman of the council) and theGreen Party.[11]
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[12][13]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–2005 | |
| Conservative | 2005–2013 | |
| No overall control | 2013–2017 | |
| Conservative | 2017–2024 | |
| No overall control | 2024–present | |
Theleaders of the council since 2001 have been:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Clarke[14][15] | Labour | 3 Sep 2001 | Apr 2005 | |
| Independent | Apr 2005 | May 2005 | ||
| Barry Dare[16][17] | Conservative | 18 May 2005 | 19 May 2010 | |
| Mark Hawthorne[17][18] | Conservative | 19 May 2010 | 11 Sep 2024 | |
| Stephen Davies[18][19][20] | Conservative | 11 Sep 2024 | May 2025 | |
| Lisa Spivey[1] | Liberal Democrats | 21 May 2025 | ||
Following the2025 election, the composition of the council was:[21]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | 27 | |
| Reform | 11 | |
| Green | 9 | |
| Conservative | 6 | |
| Independent | 1 | |
| Labour | 1 | |
| Total | 55 | |
The next election is due in 2029.[22]
The county council has its headquarters at Shire Hall on Westgate Street in Gloucester.[23] The building had originally been built in 1816 as a courthouse and had served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. The county council then used the Shire Hall as its meeting place and built various extensions to accommodate its offices. Most of the building was demolished and rebuilt in the 1960s behind the retained façade of the 1816 building, with the reconstructed building being completed in 1970.[24]
Since the last boundary changes in May 2025,[25] the council has comprised 55councillors, each representing anelectoral division.[26] Elections are held every four years.
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| National | |
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