Cheltenham Open Data Press Pack

Press pack for Cheltenham Open Data — boilerplate, key facts, story angles, quotes and contact details for journalists and media.

Everything a journalist, blogger or broadcaster needs to write about Cheltenham Open Data. Feel free to quote anything on this page without asking. If you need something that isn’t here, get in touch.

In One Line

Cheltenham Open Data is a free, independent hub that pulls public data about Cheltenham and Gloucestershire into one place — fuel prices, crime figures, flood alerts, food banks, GPs, planning, local news and weather to name just a few.

Boilerplate (Copy and Paste)

Short (≈25 Words)

Cheltenham Open Data is a free, independent site bringing together public data for Cheltenham and Gloucestershire — from fuel prices and crime figures to flood alerts, food banks and local news.

Medium (≈60 Words)

Cheltenham Open Data is a free, independent site that collects public and open data about Cheltenham and Gloucestershire and presents it in one clear, accessible place. It covers fuel prices, crime figures, flood warnings, food bank needs, GP and pharmacy details, planning applications, recycling, schools, local news and a 10-day weather forecast — all sourced from official providers and updated regularly.

Key Facts

  • What it is: A free local open-data hub for Cheltenham and Gloucestershire.
  • Cost to use: Free, with no paywall.
  • Launched: August 2026
  • Run by: Mat Benfield, an independent resident and developer — thechels.uk.
  • Funding: Independent and self-funded, supported by local sponsors, hyper-relevant affiliate links and Ko-fi.
  • Site: https://cheltenham-od.uk

What We Cover

Live and regularly updated data across:

  • Air quality
  • Crime data
  • EV charging
  • Flood warnings
  • Food banks (needed items)
  • Food hygiene ratings
  • Fuel prices
  • GPs and pharmacies
  • House prices
  • Local news and daily summaries
  • Planning applications
  • Recycling
  • Schools
  • Security alerts
  • Weather (10-day forecast)

Plus classifieds, festivals, points of interest, post offices, public toilets, public holidays, helplines and more.

Story Angles

A few ways to frame a piece:

  • Cost of living — free, at-a-glance local fuel prices and house prices.
  • Community resilience — real-time flood warnings, air quality, security, and live food bank needs lists.
  • Civic transparency — planning applications and crime data made readable for residents.
  • Independent, local tech — a self-funded project putting open data to work for one town.

Latest Findings

Our own analysis of the data, each with a quotable figure, a chart you can embed and the data as a CSV.

Quotes You Can Use

“The idea is simple: local data for local people. That is, using data that already exists about Cheltenham and Gloucestershire, and some curation and some developer magic and put it somewhere residents can actually use it — free, in one place.” — Mat Benfield, Cheltenham Open Data

(Happy to provide a tailored quote for your story — just ask.)

Facts & Figures

  • 115 data pages across six topics, from fuel prices to flood warnings
  • 77 news posts, including 6 analyses of local data
  • 77 data sources, most of them openly licensed
  • 11 free feeds, including an all-in-one alerts feed
  • Data updated from every five minutes to once a year, in line with each source
  • The town’s headline figures are on Cheltenham in Numbers

Follow & Feeds

Social Media

Feeds

Subscribe in any RSS or feed reader. These are the main ones; every feed we publish is on the feeds page.

Logo & Brand Assets

Please don’t alter the logo’s colours or proportions.

Data & Licensing

Site, content, code and compilation © Cheltenham Open Data. Underlying data © respective providers, used under licence. No liability is accepted for data accuracy. Please credit “Cheltenham Open Data” and link to https://cheltenham-od.uk where possible.

Contact

For interviews, comment or media enquiries: