Gloucestershire council area

Selling Land in Cheltenham

Cheltenham built just over half the homes it needed, and its supply of housing land has fallen well short of five years. The big growth is going to Golden Valley and Elms Park on the western and north western edges, while the Cotswolds National Landscape and the Green Belt limit where else homes can go.

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Cheltenham at a Glance

Cheltenham Borough Council covers the town that grew up as a Regency spa in the second half of the 18th century, together with its suburbs, from Charlton Kings and Leckhampton to Montpellier and Benhall. The Cheltenham Plan safeguards the GCHQ site on Gloucester Road, Benhall, for employment, and the M5 is reached at junctions 10 and 11 to the west of the town.

Delivery at 56%. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 result places Cheltenham well below the 75% line.
A thin land supply. A council decision reported in March 2026 put the borough's supply of deliverable housing land at 2.69 years.
Two plans in force. The Joint Core Strategy shared with Gloucester and Tewkesbury, adopted in December 2017, sets the strategy. The Cheltenham Plan, adopted in July 2020, safeguards employment land and designates Local Green Space.
Hills and Green Belt. The Cheltenham Plan puts the Cotswolds National Landscape inside the borough at about 10.5 square kilometres, and the Green Belt keeps open the land towards Gloucester and, to the north, Bishop's Cleeve.

Why Some Papers Say 65%

Anyone reading the council's own documents will come across a delivery figure of 65%, not 56%. Both are correct for their period. The council's Housing Delivery Test report of June 2025 quoted 65%, the result published in December 2024 for April 2020 to March 2023, and the planning consultants who reported the Reddings decision in March 2026 used the same figure because nothing newer had been published. The 56% is the 2025 measurement, published in August 2026 and covering April 2022 to March 2025. Delivery has slipped since, and on either figure the borough is below the 75% line that matters for the policies below.

For landowners, the questions are about the pockets of land in between and how the large schemes on the edges change the picture.

Cheltenham in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
56%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
935
of 1,679 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2020
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Cheltenham Plan adopted July 2020 alongside the 2017 Joint Core Strategy; joint strategic plan in preparation
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Golden Valley and Elms Park

Cheltenham's two biggest growth areas are Joint Core Strategy allocations: West Cheltenham, now known as Golden Valley, and North West Cheltenham, where Elms Park is planned.

Scheme	Location	Where it stands
Golden Valley	West of the town between M5 junctions 10 and 11, next to GCHQ, with the Cheltenham and Tewkesbury boundary running through it	Around 3,700 homes across four applications, with a tech and cyber campus. The first phase, 576 homes and more than 125,000 square metres of offices on 68.2 acres of council-owned land, was approved in July 2025.
Elms Park	North West Cheltenham	4,115 homes, given a positive decision by both Cheltenham and Tewkesbury on 29 May 2025, subject to a Section 106 agreement.

The council's June 2025 Housing Delivery Test report explains why these two sites weigh so heavily on its numbers. Around half of the borough's planned housing supply sits on them, and the report lists the M5 junction 10 works, tied to a Development Consent Order that was held up by the pandemic, among the reasons delivery has lagged. Homes on the strategic sites do not count towards the five year supply until they have consent. While they build out, homes that can be delivered sooner elsewhere carry extra value in the council's eyes.

Why 1,100 Homes Became 3,700

The Golden Valley planning guidance of May 2020, prepared by the two councils together, describes the allocation as approximately 1,100 homes and 45 hectares of employment land on 132 hectares, with a further 69 hectares of safeguarded land. The applications now add up to around 3,700 homes. Neither source is wrong. The guidance calls its own figures approximate and says a denser mix of uses could fit more on the site. For an owner near a strategic site, the lesson is that the number in a plan is a starting point, and it can rise a long way once detailed designs are drawn up.

Where the Low Result Makes a Difference

Below 75%, national policy (policy S5 in the August 2026 framework) allows an unmet need case for homes beyond a settlement boundary, on land that relates well to the town. In Cheltenham that route is narrower than it looks: S5 does not apply in the Green Belt, the National Landscape sets its own high bar, and Local Green Space is protected in much the same way as Green Belt. The places where the shortfall counts most are:

Land inside the built up area, under policy S4, where homes should be approved unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits.
Previously developed land, such as yards, depots and commercial sites with a lawful use.
Small areas on the edge of the town that are neither Green Belt, National Landscape nor Local Green Space.
Green Belt land that qualifies as grey belt.

A Grey Belt Decision on the Town's Edge

In March 2026 the council granted permission in principle for between one and four homes on a 0.43 hectare plot at The Reddings, beside the built up area, accepting that the land was grey belt because of how it relates to the buildings around it. The borough's short housing supply weighed in the decision. It is a small site, but it shows the council applying the grey belt test on its own doorstep. Our grey belt guide sets out the conditions in full.

The Shurdington Road Appeal

The shortfall has also decided a larger case. In 2022 the council refused Miller Homes' plans for 350 homes on land off Shurdington Road, objecting that every home would have a gas boiler. In February 2024 the Secretary of State allowed the appeal. With the council able to show only a 2.9 year supply at the time, the decision gave substantial weight to the homes, 40% of them affordable, and found the scheme would sit into existing development without harming views, even though the National Landscape was part of the assessment.

The Escarpment, the Gap and the Town Centre

The Cotswolds National Landscape

The Cheltenham Plan singles out the limestone grassland of Leckhampton Hill and the ancient woodlands of the Cotswold escarpment as the most prominent features of the landscape, and records the borough's one Site of Special Scientific Interest at Charlton Kings Common and Leckhampton Hill. Development inside the National Landscape is tightly limited, and land below the scarp is judged on how it would sit in views from the hills. A site tucked among existing homes on the lower ground is a very different proposition from one on the open slopes.

The Green Belt to the West and North

According to the Cheltenham Plan, a Green Belt between Gloucester and Cheltenham was first put forward in 1957 and formally approved in 1968, and an extension north of the town to separate it from Bishop's Cleeve was proposed in the county Structure Plan of 1981. What is left does important work in keeping those places apart, and that weighs heavily in any grey belt assessment.

The River Chelt

The Cheltenham Plan expects some developments beside the Chelt to contribute to the flood warning service and to the upkeep and improvement of the River Chelt flood alleviation scheme. Any such contribution is a cost of the scheme, not of the landowner.

The Regency Streets

The Cheltenham Plan records that the Cheltenham (Central) Conservation Area alone covers some 600 hectares. A plot behind one of the older houses, or a coach house yard, can still take a home or two, but the design has to match the care of the streets around it. We commission the heritage work that goes with an application like that, at our cost.

Costs That Come With Every Scheme

Cheltenham is inside the zone where new homes can affect the Cotswold Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation, which lies in Stroud, Tewkesbury and Cotswold districts. The council's guidance sets the mitigation contribution at £673 for each additional home, plus an administration fee of £125 or £510 depending on the form of agreement used. It is modest on its own, but it sits alongside affordable housing, Section 106 obligations and biodiversity net gain, and together they shape what a site can support.

We work all of these out at the start and allow for them in the fixed price we agree with you. You do not pay for any of the reports or the application, and you keep using your land until the purchase completes.

What We Look for in Cheltenham

Yards, workshops, garages and commercial land within the town.
Large gardens and backland plots with a workable access.
Small edge of town sites outside the Green Belt, the National Landscape and the Local Green Spaces.
Green Belt land enclosed by existing development that may be grey belt.
Land within reach of Cheltenham Spa station or the main bus corridors.
Land close to Golden Valley or Elms Park that could share their new roads and services.

We will be honest if your land is on the escarpment or in the heart of the gap towards Gloucester. How our agreements work, and everything we pay for, is explained on our how it works page.

Questions About Land in Cheltenham

The council has less than three years of housing land. What does that mean for me?

It adds weight to the case for new homes, both through the unmet need route and in grey belt assessments, as the Reddings and Shurdington Road decisions show. It does not override the National Landscape, Local Green Space or flood risk along the Chelt, so where your land sits still decides a great deal.

My field is next to Elms Park but in Tewkesbury borough. Which council decides?

Tewkesbury Borough Council, under its own housing figures rather than Cheltenham's. The joint Strategic and Local Plan is the main route there, and we can put land forward through it on your behalf.

Is land around Leckhampton worth looking at?

It depends on exactly where it is. The hill is part of the borough's only Site of Special Scientific Interest and the escarpment's setting matters. Lower down, the Cheltenham Plan has its own site policy for Leckhampton alongside its Local Green Space designations, so we check the policies map for your land first.

Will the Strategic and Local Plan change things?

Yes. It will set Cheltenham's housing figure for the next twenty years, which at the last consultation stage was around 16,400 homes, and decide where the three councils look for more land. Our guide to calls for sites and local plans explains how land is considered.

I own a small paddock inside the town. Is it too small for you?

Not necessarily. We look at small sites as well as large ones, and inside the town policy S4 favours well designed homes. Our page on paddocks and small sites describes what we look for.

Tell Us About Your Land in Cheltenham

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.