About Us

South Gloucestershire has a rich natural and cultural heritage. Attractive and historic landscapes link unspoilt market towns and villages and established rural and urban communities with major new residential areas and industrial and commercial developments. The area stretches from the Severn Estuary in the west to the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the east, whilst its southern boundary borders the city of Bristol.

Much of our population (62%) lives in the suburbs to the north and east of Bristol. There are also the large towns of Yate, Thornbury and Chipping Sodbury, where a further 18% of our residents reside, plus the population centres of Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell. Around 20% of our residents live in rural locations.

Our Team

It takes a lot of diverse skills, experience, and talent for us to excel, which is what makes our organisation a vibrant and exciting place to work. We’re friendly and flexible, passionate and proud, innovative but inclusive.

We’re committed to learning and development for all and offer a range of flexible working options to ensure a good work life balance. We have a reputation for delivering high quality services, from social care and public health, to schools services, street care and environmental planning.

We believe in putting our residents first, ensuring that their lives are improved by what we do. 

We have a one council ethos of being innovative and agile and we actively encourage new ideas and ways of tackling issues within our teams, with everyone working in an integrated way, across all departments. This is reflected in our values of embracing equality, working together and encouraging responsible growth. 

The Covid-19 outbreak has meant big changes for our staff. Many of our colleagues are currently working from home, but our strong and supportive culture, robust technology and comprehensive wellbeing measures have enabled us to thrive through adversity and deliver essential services at a time when our residents have needed us most. 

Demographics

South Gloucestershire is an area of diversity and contrast with a mix of long established urban communities, vibrant market towns, small villages and substantial new development. Its strong yet differing communities have individual needs and aspirations, and the diversity of the landscapes and neighbourhoods contribute to a high quality of life. There is a growing population of around 271,000 living in 113,000 households which is split roughly 50/50 between the sexes. According to the 2011 census, the area is predominantly white with a BAME population of 13,193, which amounts to around 5.0% of our total population. 

Residents enjoy a high-quality local environment and South Gloucestershire is relatively affluent, although there are some pockets of deprivation at a sub-ward level, mainly in our urban areas. 

Transport South Gloucestershire is one of the best connected areas in the country and within easy commuting access from Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire, Somerset, South Wales and beyond. It has excellent road and rail links including the M4 and M5 motorways and a major mainline rail station Bristol Parkway at Stoke Gifford providing fast links to London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Southampton. 

Our Priorities

Creating the best start in life for our children and young people

Children and young people are our future, and we are determined to give them the very best start in life. Our priority is excellence in education and skills, ensuring equal opportunities for all. We see education as the primary driver for tackling inequality and with our partners we will provide an inclusive education offer in which leaders and staff have high aspirations for all children.

Identifying and supporting those most in need and helping people to help themselves

South Gloucestershire is a safe, healthy and affluent district with high levels of employment. However, inequality gaps have increased over recent years and without preventative action, the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to further hold back the prospects of the most disadvantaged. We want to ensure that all South Gloucestershire residents lead safe and healthy lives and that they enjoy good quality health and social care which focuses on their individual needs and enables them to retain their independence.

Promoting sustainable inclusive communities, infrastructure and growth

The pace and scale of growth in recent years has presented new opportunities for our area, but also challenges. We want to deal positively with future expansion, by planning in a sustainable and integrated way to deliver high quality life-time and affordable homes, a dynamic local economy which supports forward-looking employment opportunities, key local community facilities and a convenient and safe transport network, which meets the needs and aspirations of both existing and new communities.

Realising the full potential of our people and delivering value for money

We are extremely proud of what we have achieved over recent years, continuing to offer high quality services at a time when we have delivered over a hundred million pounds in annual savings. Going forward our budgets will continue to be stretched and so delivering on our future vision requires us to achieve the best outcomes from every penny we spend, closely aligning our resources against our priorities and commitments

Closing the inequality gap 

We must re-double our efforts to promote equality and build cohesive communities. We will develop our partnerships and networks to engage directly with the most vulnerable in our communities, allowing us to better hear the voices of harder to reach groups, so we can have more meaningful conversations with them to understand their needs and can work with them in co-producing services

Addressing the Climate Emergency

In 2019 we declared a Climate Emergency, pledging to lead the way in moving South Gloucestershire to carbon neutrality by 2030. It is a big challenge, but we recognise the threats to our area – extensive parts of South Gloucestershire are subject to flood risk and the impacts of drought, high winds, and other extreme weather events due to climate change. 

You can read more in our Council Plan 2020-2024. 

Equalities 

Our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people, from all kinds of backgrounds make South Gloucestershire Council a special place to work. It takes a wide range of skills, experience and talent for us to thrive. We believe everyone should have the opportunity to be part of an inclusive environment in which respect, collaboration and fairness are part of everyday working.

Staff equality groups
We have a number of groups that are part of a colleague network. This is supported by, and works together with our organisation. The groups offer members a safe and confidential space to discuss issues affecting them and identify, develop and help improve our policies and procedures.

Our four dedicated network groups include:

• Black and Minority Ethnic Staff Network (BME)

• Disabled Employees Group (DEG)

• LGBTQ+ Staff Network

• Women’s Staff Network

• Disability Confident employer

We promote equal opportunities through our recruitment process and a positive culture across our services. Being a Disability Confident employer means that we meet a set criteria under the scheme and that we encourage applicants with a disability to apply for roles within our organisation.