Richard Cook is Cabinet Member for Environment and Regeneration and Leader of Gloucester City Council.

After being elected for the first time in 2016, he quickly entered Cabinet with the primary job to ensure the fractured relationship between the Council and its contractor for waste, recycling and street scene was repaired. This was eventually achieved with accruing benefits of garden waste subscribers increasing from 16,000 to 21,000, whilst increases in recycling volumes and values have realized improvements up from £350k to £850k per annum.

With a passion for environmental issues, it is no surprise that he joined Key Cities Executive as Member responsible for climate change issues.

He became Leader in 2019. Under his watch Gloucester City Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and joined UK100 and EU Covenant of Mayors.

He is currently Chair of Gloucester Docks Estate Co Ltd, Chair of the Gloucestershire Airport Shareholder Forum, a board member on GFirst LEP and a member of the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee and past Chair and current member of the Gloucestershire Waste and Resources Partnership.