Your Town Council at a glance
Highworth has its own Town Council, based right in the middle of town. The team there is your first stop for anything local.
Highworth Town Council Offices
Town councilThe Town Council's home is on Gilberts Lane, just off the town centre. Pop in, ring or email — the Town Clerk and her team handle the day-to-day business of the town, from allotment lettings to market stalls. Council meetings happen in the same building, so it's also where you go to see your council at work.
Open Monday–Thursday 9.00am–5.00pm, Friday 9.00am–1.00pm. Email admin@highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk, or use the contact form on the council website.
What the Town Council looks after
The Town Council runs the local, everyday things that make Highworth tick. Here are the big ones.
The Saturday market
Every SaturdayHighworth's market runs every Saturday in the Market Place, 8am to 2pm — and it's the Town Council that organises it. Fancy a stall? Email or ring the office with what you sell and the size of stall you need, and they'll find you a spot.
Stall bookings: admin@highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk. For what to expect on the day, see our market page.
Allotments
OutdoorsThe council runs three allotment sites — Park Avenue, the A361 Swindon Road, and near the Golf Course and Recreation Centre — with around 235 plots in total. A plot costs £30 a year plus a one-off £30 returnable deposit. Contact the office to ask about taking one on.
£30 a year plus £30 returnable deposit. The rental year runs 1 February to 31 January.
Highworth Cemetery
Council serviceThe Town Council manages the cemetery on Cricklade Road, on the western side of town. It offers full burial plots and plots for cremated remains, with burial rights sold for 100 years. The grounds are open to the public at all times, and the office team are happy to talk anything through — just call or email.
Grounds open at all times. Enquiries: admin@highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk
Parks, play areas and the skate park
OutdoorsThe council maintains the town's play areas at Barra Close Park, Northview Park and Jubilee Park (The Rec), plus the skate park at the Lower Rec, which opened in December 2021. A new 3G sports pitch project is also under way. Its grounds team keeps the parks, litter bins and dog bins in shape week in, week out.
For pitches, clubs and where to play, see sport & recreation.
Community Room, public toilets and more
Council serviceYou can hire the Community Room (with its own kitchen) at the council offices for meetings and groups. The council also runs the public toilets (open 7am–7pm daily, 20p), looks after public defibrillators around town, supports the library and youth services, and puts on town events — May Day is a fixture, with "Magic" chosen as the 2026 theme.
Room hire enquiries: admin@highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk. Find the toilets on our car parks & toilets page.
Council meetings — everyone's welcome
Council decisions are made in public, and you can come and watch — or speak.
Full Council and committee meetings
Open to the publicThe council meets at its Gilberts Lane offices, usually on Tuesday evenings. Alongside Full Council there are Planning and Environment & Leisure committees, plus an Annual Town Meeting each year. You're welcome at all Full Council and committee meetings — and you can do more than watch.
Agendas are published before each meeting and minutes afterwards on the council website; the archive goes back to 2018/19.
Want to ask a question? Ten minutes is set aside for public questions at the start of every meeting. You can't join the debate itself, but your question goes on the record — and you'll get an answer. Check the meetings page for the next date.
Your councillors and the Mayor
Fifteen local people give their time as town councillors. They are elected by you.
The town councillors
Town councilHighworth Town Council is made up of 15 elected councillors, chosen at local elections held every four years — the last full election was on 4 May 2023. Each year the councillors choose one of their own as Town Mayor: currently Julie Murphy, with Ian Durnin-Duffy as Deputy Mayor. Every councillor's contact details are on the council website, or you can go through the office.
Your Swindon Borough councillors
Borough councilHighworth also elects councillors to Swindon Borough Council, which runs the bigger services (more on that below). The Borough councillors hold a drop-in surgery at the Town Council offices on the first Saturday morning of every month — no appointment needed. Bring your question and a bit of patience for the queue.
Surgery: first Saturday morning of every month at the Council Offices, Gilberts Lane.
The precept, in plain English
Ever wondered where the Town Council's money comes from? Here's the short version.
What the precept is
The precept is the Town Council's small share of your council tax bill. It pays for the things on this page — the market, allotments, cemetery, parks, toilets, events and the office that runs them.
For 2026/27 the council froze its charge per household (a 0% rise), and the total precept is £735,873. Because more homes have been built in the parish, that total is slightly higher than last year even though each household pays the same — the extra is going to the town's Neighbourhood Plan work.
Like detail? The council's budgets, accounts and annual reports are all published on its website.
Who to contact for what
Two councils serve Highworth, and they do different jobs. Save yourself a phone call — here's who handles what.
Swindon Borough Council
Bins · roads · planningThe big borough-wide services are run from Swindon, not Highworth. That means rubbish and recycling collections, potholes and road repairs, faulty streetlights, planning decisions, schools, housing and council tax. The quickest way to report most problems is online via the council's "Report it" pages — or ring the contact centre.
Contact centre: Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri 9.00am–5.00pm; Tue 9.00am–4.00pm. Out-of-hours emergencies (e.g. a dangerous road or streetlight fault): 01793 466453. Housing benefit and council tax enquiries: 0345 302 2316.
Highworth Town Council
The local thingsAnything on this page — allotments, the cemetery, play areas and parks, the Saturday market, the Community Room, public toilets, town events — is the Town Council's patch. Not sure who to ask? Ring the Town Council first; the office team will point you the right way.
admin@highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk — office open Mon–Thu 9am–5pm, Fri 9am–1pm.
In a real emergency, call 999. Crime in progress, fire, or a medical emergency — always 999. For everything urgent-but-not-an-emergency: ring 101 for the police and 111 for NHS health advice, day or night.
How to stay in the loop
The council is easy to keep up with — pick whichever way suits you.
Website, social media and in person
The council website carries meeting agendas, minutes, news and all the practical details. The council is also on Facebook (Highworth Town Council), Instagram (@highworthtowncouncil) and X (@HighworthTC).
Prefer a chat? Drop into the office on Gilberts Lane during opening hours, catch the Borough councillors' surgery on the first Saturday of the month, or look out for councillors at the Saturday market.
Sources & credits
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk/contact/
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk/meetings/
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk/about-us/
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk/councillors/
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk/our-services/
- highworthtowncouncil.gov.uk/saturday-market/
- Highworth Town Council — Full Council minutes, 27 January 2026 (PDF)
- swindon.gov.uk — contact us
- swindon.gov.uk — can't do it online
- swindon.gov.uk — report a problem
- Wikimedia Commons — Category: Highworth
- Wikimedia Commons — Highworth Market Place (Des Blenkinsopp, CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Market Place, Highworth (P L Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — High Street, Highworth (Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Information compiled June 2026 — please check details with venues before travelling.