Escalating row over election delay request

A city council leader has objected a neighbouring borough council's request to delay its May elections.

Half of the seats in Cheltenham Borough Council were up for election but councillors have requested a 12-month delay, citing concerns over costs linked to the scrapping of borough councils.

Gloucester City Council's leader Jeremy Hilton has objected to the request, backing the leader of the party's position that it is a human rights issue.

"I feel elections must go ahead as normally planned, that is Liberal Democrat policy," said Hilton.

"If we had a firm view of what the new local authorities would be like and what the government was legislating, at that point the government could say it will be practical to not have an election but at this point I don't think there is a case," he added.

Gloucestershire is moving towards a system in which one council manages all services, but there's three options on the table as to how that would work.

Gloucester City Council has backed the "greater Gloucester" model, with one bigger city council and another council managing all other areas of the county.

Hilton is concerned a delay in elections could mean this model is not given adequate time to be delivered and delaying elections will mean changing to a unitary authority will be rushed.

He has also cited worries that the delay could mean Cheltenham councillors stay in post past the start of the unitary authority.

This is because those elected in 2026 would serve a two year term, with the second year being a handover year while the new system is established.

"We could have councillors extending their right for not just two years, but long after that and I don't think that's correct," he said.

"When you're term is ended, an election should take place."

Both councils are controlled by the Liberal Democrats and Gloucester's objection brings them in line with the party's stance on election postponement after leader, Sir Ed Davey, said doing so would be a breach of human rights following similar requests by dozens of authorities.

The Liberal Democrats, and Hilton, believe any postponement should be done through a parliamentary vote.

Leader of Cheltenham Borough Council, Rowena Hay, said in a statement on 7 January that running the election as planned "would always be our preference," but said the drain on resources due to "major under-funding of local government," has led her to the decision.

"We have to take a balanced and pragmatic view as to how we can continue to prioritise our residents and deliver the high-quality services they rightly expect," she said.

"Elections are incredibly resource-intensive, and it does not seem responsible, in my view, to conduct an election with these concerns in mind, especially when those elected may not serve any more than 12 months," she added.

The Gloucester City Council leader is not alone in having his say over the potential delay.

Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, Max Wilkinson said he understands why Cheltenham Borough Council have asked to postpone the elections.

In a statement he said council reorganisation is happening in 2027 and all 40 of Cheltenham's councillors were elected in 2024 - councillors generally serve four-year terms.

"By the time a new unitary election takes place, those councillors will have served only three years," he said.

"Local people will be able to judge for themselves whether not having an election after councillors have served only two years, following 12 local elections in 15 years, produces a democratic deficit. I would suggest not.

Wilkinson went on to urge local councils to get on with delivering local services rather than 'endlessly debating boundaries and elections.'

The Reform UK group in Gloucestershire County Council accused the Liberal Democrats of delaying the vote over polling figures.

"The Liberal Democrats have shown their true colours. They speak of 'capacity' and 'efficiency,' but the public sees this for what it is: a desperate stitch-up to avoid a drubbing at the polls," said a spokesperson.

"You cannot pick and choose when democracy applies based on your internal polling. Reform is ready to fight these elections, and the people of Cheltenham deserve the right to vote for change now, not in 18 months' time," they added.

The Gloucestershire Conservatives have asked people on social media to sign a petition calling for the elections to go ahead, despite asking government to delay the county council elections last year.

The Cheltenham Green Party said on social media it is "concerned by this request as it undermines our democracy and fits into a wider trend in which public voices are disregarded or ignored".

The government's rejig of local government will replace the two-tier system of district and county councils that exists in many parts of England with new unitary councils responsible for delivering all councils services in their area.

It means some of the councils up for election this year will be folded into new unitary councils in 2027 or 2028, so councillors could only be in office for a year.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed, writing in The Times, said: "Running a series of elections for short-lived zombie councils will be costly, time consuming and will take scarce resources away from front-line services like fixing pot holes and social care."

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