To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the likely population of the Cheltenham urban area referred to in the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the South West 2006 to 2026 (a) with and (b) without implementation of the RSS, broken down by age bands, for each year from 2006 to 2026. (144985)

The total population of the Cheltenham borough area given in the 2001 Census was 110,013. For the urban area, which excludes rural parts of the borough but includes the contiguous urban area, which crosses local authority boundaries, the Census figure was 110,320. The most recent population projections published by the Office for National Statistics for the local authority area indicate a population increase from 111,900 in 2006 to 120,100 in 2026. The projections are trend-based and policy neutral. They do not illustrate either the implementation or the non-implementation of any strategy but indicate a continuation of existing trends. Unfortunately these projections are not published for the contiguous urban area.

The proposed housing figures contained in the draft RSS were submitted by the South West Regional Assembly based on proposals put to it by Gloucestershire county council. The hon. Member for Cheltenham would need to ask those bodies what assumptions they have made about the likely population of the Cheltenham area and the implications of the implementation or non- implementation of those RSS proposals. Following the end of the current Examination in Public of the RSS in July this year and the subsequent submission of the Panel report, the Government will then consider the recommendations in it, and the most up-to-date evidence, before considering the need to accept the RSS or propose changes to it.