Councils need to find places for 25,000 new homes

A consultation about where the homes should be built is open until mid January

Three Gloucestershire councils need to find places to build 25,000 homes over the next two decades.

Gloucester City Council, Cheltenham Borough Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council work together when planning where to build houses.

The three areas have a target of 43,000 homes to be built in 20 years but have already got 18,000 going through the planning system.

Alistair Cunningham, the Senior Responsible Officer for the Strategic & Local Plan (SLP) said it's "vitally important" people in the county engage with a consultation which is running until January.

The government's revised housing targets have meant councils facing pressure to find more places to build homes.

If authorities cannot show they have found suitable places to build, developers will be able to submit speculative planning applications without associated infrastructure.

The three Gloucestershire councils have come up with a long list of suggested sites, but now want the public to have their input on the proposals.

More sites have been listed than the three authorities need, and Mr Cunningham said officials want to hear if residents have issues with them.

'Youth input is important'

"We do need to tell us why a site might not work, not because 'I don't want you building next to my house' but why," he said.

"We would love to hear from young people as well because of course this is a 20-year plan so if you're a teenager now you will be living in one of these houses if you stay in Gloucestershire so tell us what you need."

Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and Gloucester have long shared house building and planning proposals with the Joint Core Strategy being in place before the Strategic and local plan.

This consultation is open until 16 January but the full engagement runs until June 2026.

The final submission of the plan to the government will be in Autumn 2026.