The University of Gloucestershire are selling this area of The Park Campus for development. Our community's green open spaces are valuable. Please help save our conservation area by preventing the destruction of the trees of the Park Campus and erosion of our green space. Please sign to support the Park Campus to become a Local Green Space which makes it more protected from development. 

On the 7th March 2025 when the university had ALREADY agreed the sale of the land to developers, they still had on their website that “the grounds are protected through a unique partnership with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust who made it a community green space in 2009”. 
This has since been taken down but, for years, the local residents had believed this was a protected site because they trusted the university and, thus, declined the opportunity to apply for this space to be a Local Green Space. This land has no protection on it, other than being within the conservation area despite the fact it is registered with the GCER (Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records) as home to a wide and diverse range of wildlife including rare and endangered species. 

The Park Campus has been the heart of our community for years, it is not only a valuable space visually but, because the university generously grant public access, it is also used by the community for sport and leisure. Hundreds of people walk or drive past here every day. Few towns in Britain compare to Cheltenham for its trees and green space. Please don’t let it be spoilt. There are some 900 trees in The Park which are native and non-native species. This is considered to be a locally unique collection. It is home to a diversity of wildlife including bats, birds, rare flowers and trees. There are over 40 trees on the site they are selling, some of which are decades old and offer, not only an oasis in the urban setting, but also play crucial roles in carbon sequestration and in providing habitats for wildlife.

A study published in the Nature Communications journal revealed that trees remove 15.3 billion tons of CO2 per year (Bastin et al., 2019). Imagine the detrimental impact the destruction of The Park Campus's trees will have not only on our community's landscape but also on our planet at large. Moreover, scientific studies have shown the positive impacts green spaces have on community health, including reducing stress levels and encouraging physical activities (James, Hart, Banay & Laden, 2016). Let's not allow a redevelopment project to compromise our health, environmental wellness and the distinct character of our community. 

From CBC’s Local Development Framework The Park character appraisal and management plan: 

11) University of Gloucestershire’s grounds within The Park: 

The central green space within the teardrop form of The Park is a quintessentially important historic feature within the character area. The space was historically designed as pleasure grounds and has retained much of its open character despite several historic and more recent University buildings being located in the north eastern part of the grounds.

Action TP11: The Council will ensure the retention of the spacious character of this important central space within the Park through ensuring that any future development or redevelopment within the grounds does not erode any of the open space. This will ensure the retention of this area of green open space which makes an essentially important contribution to the character area.

Policy D3 of the 2020 Local Plan gives protection for private green spaces from development: "The development of private green areas, private open spaces and private gardens which make a significant contribution to the townscape and environmental quality of Cheltenham will not be permitted."

Please support these statements. 

If you would like to do more, please email:

The University of Gloucestershire to ask them to sell the land responsibly - appealsandcomplaints@glos.ac.uk

Our local councillor, Jackie Chelin, to ask her to help defend our conservation area - cllr.jackie.chelin@cheltenham.gov.uk

The CBC Trees Officer to ask him to protect the trees - trees@cheltenham.gov.uk