Living and working in Gloucestershire

There is so much to discover and enjoy here in Gloucestershire, from the great outdoors to arts and culture, sports, and socialising, to fine food and great shopping.

It’s a diverse and complex place – regularly identified as a highly desirable place to live. But it’s also a place with pockets of deprivation and the council is committed to working with its partners to deliver long-term solutions to deep-rooted social and economic issues and ensure that the county is a place where everyone can thrive.

As well as being the gateway to the Southwest, we are well connected to the rest of the country and within easy travelling distance of Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, and London.

Whatever you are looking for, you are sure to find it here in Gloucestershire.

Diverse towns and cities

Gloucester, the county town, has plenty to offer and is everything you would expect from a vibrant, multi-cultural British city.

It is home to one of the finest medieval buildings in the country; its breath-taking cathedral has formed the backdrop of many scenes in Doctor Who and the Harry Potter films. From the Victorian Docks to the array of restaurants and shops at Gloucester Quays, the city is a unique blend of historic charm and modern attraction.

Cheltenham is the county’s cultural heart, resplendent with its celebrated Georgian architecture and world-renowned festivals of literature and music. The famous racecourse is home to the Gold Cup.

Stroud is home to an award-winning farmer’s market, while Cirencester is a beautiful town in the heart of the Cotswolds.

A centre of innovation

Whilst perhaps best known for its stunning landscapes, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and protected Green Belt land, Gloucestershire also enjoys a prosperous economy and an excellent track record of securing available government funding, which means the county is well placed to recover from the economic challenges of the pandemic.

We’ve worked hard to move projects forward that will secure future growth, including our multi-million pound transport and highways infrastructure programme, our ambitious economic growth agenda to provide 100,000 new homes, businesses, shops and leisure facilities over the next 30 years, and we are making significant progress with our climate change commitments.

We want Gloucestershire to excel as a county at the centre of innovation, where big ideas come to life and potential is unlocked. With GCHQ and our new cyber park, together with our bid to be the home of the first fusion reactor to produce electricity in the world by 2040, we aim to be at the centre of clean energy production and the digital revolution.

Well connected … but challenged

Thanks to excellent road, motorway and rail links, London is just two hours away and the cities of Birmingham and Bristol close by.

We are seen as an affluent and successful economy, which is generally true, but it is not evenly shared. Some 44,000 people live in regions on the mean multi-deprivation score of 20 per cent nationally.