New parish council will 'avoid boundary confusion'

There is growing support for a new parish council to cover a housing estate split up by boundaries that go through some people's gardens.

Coopers Edge, on the edge of Gloucester, is divided between the districts of Stroud and Tewkesbury and it also comes under three different parish councils, Brockworth, Hucclecote and Upton St Leonards.

Residents want the new council as part of local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire.

Chair of the Coopers Edge Liaison Committee, Chas Townley, said "Our new Tesco convenience store has its front door in Tewkesbury borough and its back door in Stroud district, which shows how ludicrous the boundaries are".

About 30 people attended a public meeting on the issue and another 60 have supplied comments to an online survey with "the majority strongly in favour", according to Townley.

"The boundaries are based on historic field boundaries which go way back before the airfield was developed and more recently Coopers Edge being developed," he added.

Townley believes one parish council would mean a single organisation speaking for the whole estate community "rather than having three parishes having a view just on their part of the neighbourhood".

Chair of Upton St Leonards Parish Council, Keith Pearson, said a new council would "avoid the confusion" that has been around for nearly 15 years.

"The school and community centre are in Upton St Leonards, while the playing field and pavilion are in Tewkesbury," he added.

"I think there will be a lot of support as people are confused a lot of the time."

The local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire will see district authorities merged with the county council, making way for one or two unitary councils

Some of Coopers Edge's boundary woes could be solved if a single unitary council for the county is chosen or the City Council's Greater Gloucester model is selected.

However, there are fears that if the Government splits the county into East and West unitary councils these divisions would be entrenchened further.

The liaison committee plan to submit information to Tewkesbury Borough Council's community governance review which is ongoing and then into Stroud District Council's review soon after.

"We hope this will convince both councils to support the principle of a single parish for Coopers Edge", Townley said.

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.