Changing Swindon Borough Council's electoral cycle to an all-out election would bring the borough largely into line with our neighbouring authorities.

Except for one oddity.

All the neighbouring top tire councils - Wiltshire (like Swindon a unitary authority) and Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire County Councils run their elections on an all-out basis once every four years, as do district councils bordering Swindon; Vale of the White Horse and Cotswold District Council. Cheltenham Borough Council is an outlier, having elections every two years.

Matt Box, head of elections and democracy at Euclid Street said: "We are quite unusual in having elections by thirds in this region - most do it every four years.

"We haven't considered going over to elections every two years- Cheltenham does it , but it's very unusual."

The one wrinkle if Swindon councillors decide to change the electoral pattern would be the timing of it.

Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Cotswold and Vale of the White Horse all held their last elections in 2017.

That means they will all be holding their next elections in 2021.

But that probably wouldn't be the case for Swindon.

It will be holding it the last election in the series of three next May (and will do so even if councillors vote to change) and 2021 is scheduled as a fallow year, meaning the first opportunity for a new election is 2022.