In the year after the Brexit referendum, more people moved out of Cheltenham for a long-term life abroad than came in the opposite direction.

Some 904 “long-term” international migrants - defined as those who stay for at least a year - arrived there from overseas between mid-2016 and mid-2017, according to estimates published by the Office for National Statistics.

At the same time, 907 people living in Cheltenham moved overseas.

The figures do not reveal how many of those 907 were foreign-born, or the countries they moved to.

Aerial views of Cheltenham

Nonetheless it represents a major change in the 12 months after the Brexit referendum.

In the previous period - between mid-2015 and mid-2016 - some 1,028 long-term international migrants arrived in Cheltenham, while 975 left the area to move abroad.

That represents a net “inflow” from overseas of 53 people.

The Brexit referendum took place in June 2016 - in other words, right at the end of that period.

Between mid-2016 and mid-2017, there was a net “outflow” of three people.

The trend in Cheltenham was, to some extent, replicated in other parts of the region and the country as a whole.

The number of long-term international migrants arriving in Gloucestershire dropped by 335 from 3,433 in the year to mid-2016, to 3,098 in the year to mid-2017.

Nonetheless, Cheltenham was the only place in the region where more people left to go abroad, than arrived from abroad.

The ONS figures are, ultimately, an estimate, since statisticians have no way of measuring the exact number of foreigners arriving in eachtown or city.

The estimates are based on a number of sources including applications for National Insurance Numbers and registrations at GP surgeries.

The figures do not include foreigners moving to Gloucestershire from another part of the UK. That is classed as “internal”, rather than international migration.