Gloucester

Introduction

Gloucester is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire, situated on the River Severn in the north of the South West region. Gloucester City is one of six district authorities which make up Gloucestershire County. The Gloucester urban area extends into neighbouring Tewkesbury and Stroud Districts, and is the fifth largest urban area in the South West. The town of Cheltenham, just a few miles to the east of Gloucester, is of similar size.

The city is linked to the Severn Estuary by the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, which still sees some commercial use.  Gloucester Docks are being regenerated into a mixed housing and leisure use, with a new Further Education campus just to the south. Gloucester is just off the M5 and main rail line running north, with the A40 running east to west. Gloucestershire has a small commercial airport at Staverton, between Gloucester and Cheltenham, mostly used for private business flights. Gloucestershire as a county has relatively high productivity levels, including a healthy manufacturing sector. Other key sectors in the county are banking, insurance and business services. Both the City and County councils have offices in Gloucester city centre.

Major flooding was experienced in July 2007, affecting some 1,000 households in the city.

Recent Visits

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Demographics for Gloucester

Mid-2006 Population Estimates

Figures updated annually. Last update August 2007. Source: Office for National Statistics.

Children and Learners

• Gloucestershire and its schools have capital allocation of £36.6m for 2007-08, which will rise to £48.2m in 2010-11. Allocations for the three years 2008-09 to 2010-11, including ICT and the new primary programme, will amount in total to £126.0m
• £3.3m was allocated to Coney Hill Community Primary School, providing a purpose built single entry point primary school and attached Family Centre, replacing poor accommodation. The school lies within an area of multiple deprivation, and its previously remote location made it a vandalism target. The new building, in its new location, now incorporates a number of anti-vandalism design features. Its new environment has also had a marked affect on improving pupil behaviour. It was completed in July 2005
• the Gloucester Education Achievement Zone (EAZ), established January 2000, transformed into an Excellence Cluster in January 2005. The cluster will continue working as a partnership between communities, businesses and schools, dedicated to raising standards and improving learning opportunities for young people and their families in Gloucester. As a result of new funding arrangements from April 2006, all Excellence Cluster funding will pass to the School Development Grant

Health and Well Being

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, granted Status as of July 2004, was amongst the first hospital trusts to become a Foundation Trust. The trust comprises Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Cheltenham General Hospital, and Delancey Assessment and Rehabilitation Hospital, and serves the whole of Gloucestershire and parts of neighbouring counties.

Crime

• Gloucester has been named as one of 40 priority Respect Action Areas in England, for being a council who has a strong record in tackling anti-social behaviour. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is also backing the scheme with £6m of funding in 2007-08 for parenting classes in the 40 areas
• for 2007-08, the Gloucestershire Local Area Agreement (LAA) was allocated £884,000 from the Safer Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) block of their LAA grant, which was formerly made up from the Building Safer Communities Fund, Anti-Social Behaviour and the Partnership Support Grant. A portion of this grant will be used in Gloucester city to tackle crime and drugs in the community, in partnership with the Drugs Action Team, based on priorities identified in the Gloucester City LAA
• the Forest and Gloucester City Basic Command Unit (BCU) was allocated £169,000 in BCU Funding to help deliver crime and disorder reduction locally, and to promote partnership working
• in 2007-08, the Gloucestershire Drugs Action Team was allocated under the Drugs Intervention Programme Revised Main Grant a grant up to £361,000 to enable implementation of local delivery of the updated National Drugs Strategy

Transport

• £21.5m of funding has been allocated to Gloucestershire County Council as part of the Local Transport Plan funding settlement for 2008-09
• Gloucestershire County Council are currently preparing a major scheme to provide a new park and ride site at Elmbridge, together with bus priority measures between the site and Gloucester and Cheltenham
• the Department for Transport has provided £10m as an interim payment to Gloucestershire County Council to reflect the damage caused to transport infrastructure by the flooding in July 2007. A further payment is expected once assessment of the damage has been completed

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder scheme, which brings £3.5m over seven years from 2002-09, makes public services more responsive to the needs of the community. This includes £280,000 joint funding with the Police for a new Community Safety Team for the area. The team has been successful in helping to bring down crime by 26 per cent over the whole year since August 2004. These funds are now part of the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund
• Gloucester is also receiving £2.6m Liveability Funding to involve the community in re-focusing the City Council’s environmental services to meet the needs of neighbourhoods
• the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company, supported by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), is responsible for a massive regeneration programme for the city over the next ten years. This will include the restoration of over 90 heritage buildings and the redevelopment of nearly 100 hectares of largely derelict land in Gloucester's historic city centre and waterfront areas

European Funding

All European Social Fund (ESF) projects operating in Gloucester have now ended, with the closure of the 2000-06 programme; projects were allowed to be active until end December 2007. These included activities around improving school attendance, and specialist support and skills training for those excluded or disengaged from mainstream school or college provision. The new 2007-13 programme is under development, and project operation will start shortly.