Hesters Way Partnership

Hesters Way, which includes the council wards of Hesters Way, Springbank, St Peter’s and St Marks, is amongst the 20% most deprived areas in Britain. It has a population of 15,583 (Maiden) and includes the highest concentration of social housing in Gloucestershire.

It was originally built in the 1950s and 1960s to house people working for GCHQ and local engineering companies.
Changes that took place over the following 30 years adversely affected the area and reflected changes in society in general. Owner occupation, structural changes in the economy and the make up of the housing stock and subsequent housing allocations have lead to a concentration of relative poverty in this area of predominantly social housing.

By the late 1980s the contrast between Hesters Way and the rest of the town was evident. By the mid 1990s there was recognition that the area had become a serious issue for Cheltenham as a whole.