Your council

Forest of Dean: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Forest of Dean District Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, South West; within the county of GLS. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Gloucestershire County Council. ONS code E07000080.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Forest of Dean for 2026–27: £218.29 of a £2,443.42 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 0 opened, 2 closed (1 result of amalgamation/merger, 1 closure)

Coalway Community Infant School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: result of amalgamation/merger, 31 March 2026
Wyelands Creek Outdoor Learning Centre — closed; reason recorded: closure, 2 February 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Forest of Dean reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Forest of Dean: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	£130,000
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£2.0 million
Cultural and related services	£24,000
Environmental and regulatory services	£7.6 million
Planning and development services	£2.7 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£3.8 million
Other services	none budgeted
Total service expenditure	£16.2 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Life in Forest of Dean: the official facts

Facts about the people who live here: their pay, homes, health and more, from official statistics. They describe the place, not you, and every council gets the same list. Each shows when it was measured.

Show the figures for:

Showing: Forest of Dean.

People living here: 90,157 people 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsAn official estimate of everyone who lives in the area, in the middle of the year.
Typical age: 48 years 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsHalf the people who live here are younger than this and half are older.
Money to live on, per person, per year: £22,925 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage household income per person after taxes, with benefits added: what people have to spend or save.
Typical weekly pay, before tax: £661 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsFor employees who live here: half earn more than this each week, half earn less.
Children growing up in poverty: 25.3% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsThe share of children under 16 in families on low incomes once housing costs are paid.
People claiming unemployment-related benefits: 2.6% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsThe share of people aged 16 to 64 claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work.
Average price of a home: £296,807 August 2026 · HM Land RegistryThe average price of a home here in the month shown.
How many years of pay a home costs: 6.5 times yearly pay 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsA typical home's price divided by the typical yearly pay of people who live here.
Greenhouse gases, per person: 5.0 tonnes per person 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroEmissions from the area in a year, shared out per resident, in tonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.
Homes and businesses that can get the fastest broadband: 79.5% 1 January 2026 · OfcomThe share of addresses that can get gigabit broadband (1,000 Mbps).
Public chargers for electric cars: 193.9 per 100,000 people 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublic charging points at all speeds, for every 100,000 people.
Businesses trading here: 3,485 businesses 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with sales or staff in the year.

More figures for Forest of Dean from the ONS

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

38 seats in 2026. Run by: Greens, as a minority administration. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Green Party (E&W) 15, Independent / Other 11, Conservative and Unionist 6, Labour Party 4, Reform UK 1, Liberal Democrats 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 38 councillors, by ward

Jamie Elsmore (Independent / Other) — Berry Hill
Tim Gwilliam (Independent / Other) — Berry Hill
Alison Bruce (Green Party (E&W)) — Bream
Beth Llewellyn (Green Party (E&W)) — Bream
Di Martin (Labour Party) — Cinderford East
Stuart Graham (Independent / Other) — Cinderford East
Jacob Sanders (Labour Party) — Cinderford West
Mark Turner (Independent / Other) — Cinderford West
Clive Elsmore (Independent / Other) — Coleford
Ian Whitburn (Independent / Other) — Coleford
Patrick Kyne (Labour Party) — Coleford
Gillian Kilmurray (Conservative and Unionist) — Dymock
Clayton Williams (Conservative and Unionist) — Hartpury & Redmarley
Philip Burford (Independent / Other) — Hartpury & Redmarley
Dave Tradgett (Green Party (E&W)) — Longhope & Huntley
John Francis (Independent / Other) — Longhope & Huntley
Sid Phelps (Green Party (E&W)) — Lydbrook
Alan Preest (Reform UK) — Lydney East
Andrew McDermid (Green Party (E&W)) — Lydney East
James Bevan (Conservative and Unionist) — Lydney East
Harry Ives (Conservative and Unionist) — Lydney North
Mark Topping (Green Party (E&W)) — Lydney West & Aylburton
Jackie Fraser (Green Party (E&W)) — Mitcheldean, Ruardean & Drybrook
Shaun Stammers (Labour Party) — Mitcheldean, Ruardean & Drybrook
Trevor Roach (Green Party (E&W)) — Mitcheldean, Ruardean & Drybrook
Gill Moseley (Liberal Democrats) — Newent & Taynton
Jonathan Beeston (Conservative and Unionist) — Newent & Taynton
Julia Gooch (Independent / Other) — Newent & Taynton
David Wheeler (Green Party (E&W)) — Newland & Sling
Andy Moore (Green Party (E&W)) — Newnham
Richard Burton (Green Party (E&W)) — Newnham
Jackie Dale (Green Party (E&W)) — Pillowell
Bernie O'Neill (Independent / Other) — Ruspidge
Chris McFarling (Green Party (E&W)) — St. Briavels
Adrian Birch (Green Party (E&W)) — Tidenham
Johnathan Lane (Green Party (E&W)) — Tidenham
Nick Evans (Conservative and Unionist) — Tidenham
Simon Phelps (Independent / Other) — Westbury-on-Severn

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.