Local elections 2022: Cheltenham prepares for May poll

Voters in Cheltenham go to the polls on Thursday, 5 May

Cheltenham Borough Council is Gloucestershire's only local authority holding elections this year.

Voters will decide 21 of the Liberal Democrat-run council's 40 seats in the poll on Thursday, 5 May.

The party has run it for more than a decade, and the group currently enjoys a majority with 29 councillors.

Unsurprisingly, the party is fielding candidates for all 21 seats, along with its biggest opposition group, the Conservatives.

The Greens are making a play for their first representative on the council by putting up 19 candidates.

'Partygate'

Labour is fielding just eight candidates, with the Reform, People Against Bureaucracy, and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition groups each standing one person respectively.

As it is a half-council election, the Liberal Democrats are not expected to lose overall control, but the tussle for individual seats such as St Pauls and Pittville have the potential to be points of high drama.

More than half the seats on Cheltenham Borough Council will be fought over in the election

And the vote helps to set the scene for the next general election, when Cheltenham will be a target seat for the Liberal Democrats.

It comes after the party cut the Conservative majority to less than a 1,000 votes in 2019.

• A simple guide to English council elections

• Is there an election in my area?

• London elections 2022: What's at stake?

Ahead of the poll, I spoke to voters in the town about what most mattered to them.

'Living in fear'

I found there was no single unifying issue influencing voters on the doorsteps for this election, with both governmental and local matters being discussed.

Many who I spoke with said the national agenda was a major factor in their decision making process, including the cost living crisis, the war in Ukraine and Partygate.

Hazel from Hesters Way ward told me: "People are not able to live in comfort, they're living in fear of paying their next bill, and what the next bill is going to be, and it shouldn't be like that.

"Especially for people who have worked all of their lives and are still working now."