Gloucestershire council area

Selling Land in Tewkesbury Borough

Tewkesbury Borough has built far more homes than the delivery test asks, much of it on urban extensions that serve Cheltenham and Gloucester. Measured against its own need, the council's latest statement finds 3.65 years of housing land, and a joint plan with its two neighbours is due to be submitted in December 2026.

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A Borough That Wraps Around Two Neighbours

Tewkesbury Borough Council covers the riverside town of Tewkesbury with Ashchurch, the rural service centres of Bishop's Cleeve and Winchcombe, a ring of service villages, and the places on the edges of Gloucester and Cheltenham where much of the county's recent growth has gone, from Innsworth and Churchdown to Brockworth.

Two plans in force. The Joint Core Strategy shared with Cheltenham and Gloucester, adopted in December 2017, sets the strategy, and the Tewkesbury Borough Plan 2011 to 2031, adopted on 8 June 2022, adds smaller allocations and detailed policies.
Homes for its neighbours. The Joint Core Strategy places urban extensions for Gloucester at Innsworth and Twigworth, South Churchdown and North Brockworth, and for Cheltenham at North West and West Cheltenham, all inside the borough.
A result of 219%. The borough built 3,566 homes against a requirement of 1,632 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025.
Landscape and water. The Borough Plan records about 36% of the borough in the Cotswolds National Landscape and around 13% of its land at a one in 100 or greater yearly risk of flooding.
A Garden Town. The area has Garden Town status, and the Borough Plan made no allocations around Ashchurch so as not to prejudge that work.

The borough is two places at once: a supplier of land for its neighbours, and a rural district with its own, separate housing need. Which of the two a field belongs to decides most of what follows.

Tewkesbury Borough in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
219%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
3.65 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Position at 31 March 2024, measured against the standard method under the December 2023 NPPF, 554 homes a year, with no buffer. Stated by Tewkesbury Borough Council.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
3,566
of 1,632 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
December 2017
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Joint Strategic and Local Plan: publication consultation from late October or early November 2026, submission December 2026
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.

Twice Its Target, and Still Short of Land

The gap between the headline result and the supply comes from what each counts. The delivery figure takes in the urban extensions built for Cheltenham and Gloucester. The council's five-year supply statement, published in November 2024 and measured at 31 March 2024, leaves those sites out and counts only homes towards Tewkesbury's own need. On that basis local completions ran at 933 in 2017/18 and 980 in 2018/19, then between 301 and 434 a year from 2019/20 to 2023/24. In the two latest years, 309 and 371 homes were built against requirements of 557 and 554.

Source: Tewkesbury Borough Council, Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement as at 31 March 2024 (November 2024).
Part of the calculation	Council's figure
Local housing need	554 homes a year, by the standard method under the December 2023 framework
Five-year requirement	2,770 homes
Buffer	None, as the borough had then passed the delivery test at 161%
Deliverable supply	2,065 homes, less 42 for small sites that may lapse
Supply counted	2,023 homes
Result	3.65 years

The biggest contributors are land at Fiddington (227 homes in the five years), land south east of Bluebell Road (174), land north west of Fiddington (172) and Stoke Road, Bishop's Cleeve (107). The statement explains that the Joint Core Strategy turned five on 11 December 2022, which is why local need, not the plan's figure, is the yardstick.

Why the Statement Is Now Dated

It applied the framework of December 2023. The standard method has changed since, and the joint plan work put the homes required in Tewkesbury at 12,600 over twenty years in December 2025, about 630 a year. Set against a higher figure, the same supply would cover fewer years. We have found no later statement from the council, so 3.65 years remains the latest published position.

How the Council Treats Sites Outside the Plan

In September 2023 an inspector allowed 45 homes at Truman's Farm, Gotherington, finding the council could not show five years of supply. Two months later the council adopted an Interim Housing Position Statement setting out what it looks for in unallocated sites, including:

a location well related to an existing sustainable settlement, with access to facilities;
a scale in keeping with the settlement's place in the hierarchy;
land at the lowest risk of flooding;
no inappropriate development in the Green Belt;
a scheme that is deliverable and viable, with the infrastructure it needs.

Those criteria sit comfortably with national policy S5, introduced in August 2026. It backs homes beyond a boundary where the land relates well to the town or village next to it, services can cope and unmet need is shown, and Tewkesbury's shortfall counts as evidence of that need for the decision-maker to weigh, not as an automatic pass. S5 does not reach Green Belt land.

Service Villages and the Ashchurch Question

The Borough Plan puts Tewkesbury town at the top of its hierarchy, then Bishop's Cleeve and Winchcombe, then twelve service villages: Alderton, Coombe Hill, Gotherington, Highnam, Maisemore, Minsterworth, Norton, Shurdington, Stoke Orchard, Toddington, Twyning and Woodmancote. Outside settlement boundaries new homes are generally restricted, and at smaller places outside the hierarchy the plan looks for growth of no more than 5%. For a field beside a service village, the size of the scheme against the village is usually the first question. Within a settlement boundary the national starting point differs: policy S4 favours approval, and a refusal needs harm that substantially outweighs what the homes would bring.

Ashchurch and the Garden Communities

The Garden Town has had an uneven path. During a review in 2023 the council said the programme was a longer-term project that would not be delivered within five years, and so does not count towards the five-year supply. In July 2026 it announced a company, fully owned by the council, as the first formal step towards a locally led development corporation. It will act as an interim delivery body for what is now the Tewkesbury Garden Communities programme and is due to be set up this autumn, helped by £805,000 of government funding awarded in 2025.

For land around Ashchurch, the practical reading is that the joint plan and the Garden Communities work will set the shape of growth, so a stand-alone application there is rarely the first move.

Green Belt, Grey Belt and the Gap Between the Towns

The Joint Core Strategy took land to the east of M5 junction 10 and to the west of the West Cheltenham allocation out of the Green Belt and safeguarded it for longer-term needs, which normally means it waits for a plan review such as the joint plan. The strategy also stresses keeping Cheltenham separate from Gloucester, and describes the Green Belt as part of what delineates the two.

Policy S5 does not apply there, so grey belt is the route. Land that makes only a weak contribution to Green Belt purposes can qualify. National policy allows homes on grey belt land only where the need for them is evidenced, usually by a supply short of five years, as here, or a delivery result below 75%. Major schemes must then meet the Golden Rules on affordable housing, infrastructure and green space. Parcels whose job is to stop the towns merging will be hard to argue, while those already enclosed by roads, homes or the new extensions may not be. Our grey belt guide sets out the test, and old yards and depots, which have their own route, are covered on our brownfield and yards page.

Flood Risk First

Flood risk runs through the borough. Tewkesbury itself lies where the Severn and Avon meet, the Joint Core Strategy carries its own flood policy, and the council's interim criteria ask for land at the lowest risk. On any holding near a river, we map the flood zones before we look at anything else.

The Land We Look for in Tewkesbury Borough

Fields of 2 acres or more on the edges of Tewkesbury, Bishop's Cleeve or Winchcombe.
Land beside service villages such as Twyning, Gotherington, Highnam or Shurdington, at a scale that suits the village.
Green Belt parcels between Cheltenham and Gloucester that may be grey belt, or that carry lawful buildings or hardstanding.
Larger holdings that could contribute to the joint plan or the Garden Communities work.
Land mostly in Flood Zone 1.

We pay for the flood, highways, landscape and ecology work, and the option fixes your price at the beginning, above the land's present value. The land stays in your hands and your use until completion, and a refusal leaves you owning it and owing us nothing. Our comparison of option and promotion agreements explains why we work this way.

Tewkesbury Borough Before the Joint Plan Goes to an Inspector

The Pre-Submission Plan

The joint plan timetable, updated on 22 September 2026, has each council approving the pre-submission plan in October 2026, consultation from the end of October or early November to December, and submission to the Secretary of State in December 2026. That is a little later than the council's Local Development Scheme of February 2025, which placed consultation in August and September 2026 and submission in October or November. Examination and adoption dates depend on the Planning Inspectorate. Once published, the pre-submission plan's sites start to carry weight, and landowners whose land is left out take their case to the inspector.

A Supply Statement on the New Need

The next statement is likely to be the first measured against the current standard method, and so against a need above 554 a year. We make no forecast of the result. What it would change is the size of the shortfall that S5 and the grey belt test rest on, not whether one exists, unless deliverable supply rises sharply.

The Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. At 219% the borough is clear of every threshold, and because the urban extensions count towards it, the result says more about building on those sites than about the villages. A fall below 95%, 85% or 75% would bring an action plan, a 20% buffer or unmet need treated as evidenced under S5, in turn.

Reorganisation Paused

In July 2026 the government decided on a single council for Gloucestershire from 1 April 2028. On 7 September it paused reorganisation for review, with the May 2027 elections going ahead on existing boundaries. The borough council remains the planning authority.

What This Means for Timing

Land by a town or service village that meets the interim criteria can be looked at now, while supply is short.
Possible grey belt land needs its Green Belt assessment done early, as it will be tested parcel by parcel.
Larger holdings are best prepared for the pre-submission consultation this winter.

Questions About Land in Tewkesbury Borough

The borough built more than twice its target. Why would the council need more land?

Because much of that building was on urban extensions for Cheltenham and Gloucester. For its own need the council counts separately, and on that basis its latest statement finds 3.65 years, which national policy treats as evidence of unmet need.

My field is in the Green Belt between Cheltenham and Gloucester. Could it be grey belt?

Possibly. It depends on how much the field does to keep the towns apart and whether it is already enclosed. With supply short of five years, the need test for grey belt is usually met, so the parcel's own role tends to be the deciding question.

I own land beside Twyning. Must I wait for the joint plan?

Not necessarily. A scheme sized to the village, well related to it and clear of flood risk can be judged against the council's interim criteria now. Larger proposals usually belong in the joint plan.

My land is near Ashchurch. Is the Garden Communities company a reason to wait?

It is a reason to plan together with it. Growth at Ashchurch is being shaped through that programme and the joint plan, so we would look at how your land fits both before recommending a route.

Part of my land floods. Is it worth asking?

Often, yes. Many holdings here have flood-free ground as well as low-lying fields. We map the flood zones first and design around them, at our cost.

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.