Demography
At the 2001 UK census the town itself had a population of 10,016. If the neighbouring parishes of Walton Cardiff (1,291 including the large new Wheatpieces housing development), and Ashchurch (6,064 including the even larger but older Northway residential area) were added, the figure rose to 17,371. The Tewkesbury urban area is divided in two by the north-south running M5 motorway, opened in February 1971. However, the town is generally considered as the built-up area to the immediate east and west of the M5 at junction 9, with the town centre, abbey and old town situated to the west. The close proximity of large areas of land that are prone to flooding, as evidenced by the severe floods that struck the region in July 2007, would make further expansion difficult. However, the present Borough of Tewkesbury, created on 1 April 1974, also contains a large portion of rural north Gloucestershire, extending as far as the edges of Gloucester itself and also Cheltenham, and has a present population approaching 80,000.
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