Congleton_Rural_District
Congleton (borough)
Local government district in Cheshire, England
Congleton was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It included the towns of Congleton, Alsager, Middlewich and Sandbach. The headquarters of the borough council were located in Sandbach.
| Borough of Congleton | |
|---|---|
Shown within Cheshire | |
| History | |
| • Origin | Congleton Municipal Borough Alsager Urban District Middlewich Urban District Sandbach Urban District Congleton Rural District. |
| • Created | 1 April 1974 |
| • Abolished | 31 March 2009 |
| • Succeeded by | Cheshire East |
| Status | Non-metropolitan district |
| ONS code | 13UC |
| • HQ | Westfields, Sandbach |
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The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the former borough of Congleton, the urban districts of Alsager, Middlewich and Sandbach, and the Congleton Rural District. The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chairman of the council to take the title of mayor.[1]
In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Cheshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The decision to merge the boroughs of Congleton, Macclesfield, and Crewe and Nantwich to create a single unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007, following a consultation period in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.[2]
The Borough of Congleton was abolished on 31 March 2009, with the area becoming part of the unitary authority of Cheshire East on 1 April 2009.[3][4]
Congleton was divided into 23 civil parishes and included no unparished areas. Of the 23 civil parishes, four were administered at this level of local government by town councils: Alsager, Middlewich, Sandbach, and Congleton; with the remainder having parish councils.[5] There are two pairs of civil parishes that are grouped together so that they share a parish council. These are Hulme Walfield and Somerford Booths, whose single parish council is called "Hulme Walfield and Somerford Booths Parish Council", and Newbold Astbury and Moreton cum Alcumlow, whose single parish council is called "Newbold Astbury-cum-Moreton Parish Council".[5]
The following civil parishes were included in the borough:
The resident population of the borough, as measured in the 2001 Census, was 90,655, of which 49 per cent were male and 51 per cent were female.
Religion
The percentage of people of each religion in the borough (trom the Census 2001):[6]
| Stated religion | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Christian | 81.46% |
| Buddhist | 0.12% |
| Hindu | 0.11% |
| Jewish | 0.06% |
| Muslim | 0.17% |
| Sikh | 0.04% |
| Other religions | 0.16% |
| No religion | 11.46% |
| Religion not stated | 6.43% |
The town of Congleton had been a municipal borough from 1836 to 1974 with a borough council.[7] The first elections to the new Congleton Borough created under the Local Government Act 1972 were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council from 1974 until its abolition in 2009 was held by the following parties:[8]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–1976 | |
| Conservative | 1976–1982 | |
| No overall control | 1982–1983 | |
| Conservative | 1983–1986 | |
| No overall control | 1986–1991 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1991–1992 | |
| No overall control | 1992–1994 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1994–2002 | |
| No overall control | 2002–2003 | |
| Conservative | 2003–2009 | |
Leadership
The leaders of the council from 1987 were:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Round[9] | Liberal | 1987 | 14 July 1987 | |
| Linda Short[10][11] | Liberal Democrats | 1987 | 14 December 2000 | |
| Rod Fletcher | Liberal Democrats | 2001 | 2002 | |
| Roland Domleo[12][13] | Conservative | 2002 | 31 March 2009 | |
Composition
The political composition of the council at its abolition in 2009 was:[14]
| Party | Councillors | |
| Conservative | 25 | |
| Liberal Democrat | 13 | |
| Middlewich First | 6 | |
| Independent | 4 | |
The council was based at Westfields on Middlewich Road in Sandbach. This was a large nineteenth century house which had been bought in 1960 by the Congleton Rural District Council, one of the council's predecessors.[15] In 2005–2007 a replacement headquarters building, also called Westfields, was built in front of the old house, which was then demolished.[16] The new building was formally opened on 25 January 2008.[17] After Congleton Borough Council's abolition, Westfields became the headquarters for the new Cheshire East Council.[18]
The following people and military units received the Freedom of the Borough of Congleton or were an Alderman of the Borough of Congleton.
Individuals
- C. W. Harrison (Alderman 4 October 1984)[nb 1]
- A. G. Smith (Alderman 4 October 1984)[nb 1]
- C. H. Kelly (Alderman 25 September 1986)[nb 1]
- L. Yarwood (Alderman 29 September 1988)[nb 1]
- J. M. Telfer (Alderman 28 September 1989)[nb 1]
- F. Bowers (Alderman 5 November 1992)[nb 1]
- W. Vickers Q.P.M. (Alderman 5 November 1992)[nb 1]
- E. Henshall MBE. BA. Dip. Ed.(Alderman 22 September 1994)[nb 1]
- R. Tomlinson (Alderman 29 October 1998)[nb 1]
- R. C. Parry (Alderman 29 January 2004)[nb 1]
- K. A. Hemsley (Alderman 29 January 2004)[nb 1]
- K. A. Thompson (Alderman 29 January 2004)[nb 1]
- M. J. Cooper (Alderman 2009)[19]
- T. Farrell (Alderman 2009)[19]
- R. A. Giltrap (Alderman 2009)[19]
- L. Morris (Alderman 2009)[19]
- F. Walton (Alderman 2009)[19]
- D. Brown (Alderman 2009)[19]
- R. M. Domleo (Alderman 2009)[19]
- P. J. Edwards (Alderman 2009)[19]
- R. I. Fletcher (Alderman 2009)[19]
- D. I. Hough (Alderman 2009)[19]
- G. Chambers (Freeman 2009)[19]
Military Units
- The Cheshire Yeomanry: 1906.[20]
- The Cheshire Regiment: 1969.[20]
- First Battalion of the Mercian Regiment:???[19]
- First Battalion of the Mercian Regiment (Freeman ???)[19]
- 1973 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1976 Congleton Borough Council election (New ward boundaries)[21]
- 1979 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1980 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1982 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1983 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1984 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1986 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1987 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1988 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1990 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1991 Congleton Borough Council election (Borough boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same)[22][23]
- 1992 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1994 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1995 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1996 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1998 Congleton Borough Council election
- 1999 Congleton Borough Council election (New ward boundaries)[24]
- 2000 Congleton Borough Council election
- 2002 Congleton Borough Council election
- 2003 Congleton Borough Council election
- 2004 Congleton Borough Council election
- 2006 Congleton Borough Council election
- 2007 Congleton Borough Council election
By-election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | David Atkin | 303 | 50.9 | +9.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 156 | 26.2 | -24.9 | ||
| Conservative | 136 | 22.9 | +15.3 | ||
| Majority | 147 | 24.7 | |||
| Turnout | 595 | 21.6 | |||
| Labour gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Sue Appleton | 275 | 37.2 | +11.3 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 251 | 34.0 | -8.3 | ||
| Labour | 213 | 28.8 | -3.0 | ||
| Majority | 24 | 3.2 | |||
| Turnout | 739 | 24.6 | |||
| Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 191 | ||||
| Conservative | 174 | ||||
| Labour | 142 | ||||
| Labour | 133 | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Davey | 111 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Paul Jones | 108 | |||
| Turnout | 859 | 15.6 | |||
| Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
| Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 491 | 53.7 | -1.5 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Davey | 275 | 30.1 | +6.2 | |
| Labour | 148 | 16.2 | -4.8 | ||
| Majority | 261 | 23.6 | |||
| Turnout | 914 | 20.5 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Julian Burgess | 532 | 56.1 | -14.2 | |
| Conservative | Warwick Till | 365 | 38.5 | +8.8 | |
| Labour | William Howell | 52 | 5.5 | +5.5 | |
| Majority | 167 | 17.6 | |||
| Turnout | 949 | 34.5 | |||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Davey | 341 | 54.8 | +54.8 | |
| Conservative | Matthew Carey | 191 | 30.7 | -13.3 | |
| Labour | Lisa Bossons | 90 | 14.5 | -9.2 | |
| Majority | 150 | 24.1 | |||
| Turnout | 622 | 21.0 | |||
| Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Stella Furlong | 445 | 45.1 | +3.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Patrick Darnes | 382 | 38.7 | -3.1 | |
| Labour | Keith Haines | 160 | 16.2 | -0.5 | |
| Majority | 63 | 6.4 | |||
| Turnout | 987 | 19.2 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
- Source Borough of Congleton roll of honorary Alderman plaque photo
- "District Councils and Boroughs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 28 March 1974. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
- BBC News, 25 July 2007 – County split into two authorities. Retrieval Date: 25 July 2007.
- Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 Archived 17 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- "Home". Congleton.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- "Parish Councils". Congleton Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 November 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
- "Key Figures for 2001 Census: Census Area Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
- "Congleton Municipal Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- "Sad council mourns chief, 42". Crewe Chronicle. 22 July 1987. p. 2. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The end of an era in local politics". Warrington Guardian. 10 April 2003. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "Leader steps aside". Congleton Borough Council. 15 December 2000. Archived from the original on 24 April 2001. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "List of council membership". Congleton Borough Council. Archived from the original on 12 August 2002. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- Jackson, Matt (19 September 2019). "'He was the best friend I had...' – Tributes paid to 'dedicated' Roland, 73, who served as council leader for years". Stoke on Trent Live. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "Your Councillors". Congleton Borough Council. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
- "£12,000 conversion of Westfields". Crewe Chronicle. 16 July 1960. p. 18. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Fight to save historic home". Cheshire Live. 10 November 2004. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "New council HQ formally opened". North Wales Live. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "Westfields Council HQ". Cheshire East Council. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "CIVIC SUB COMMITTEE ITEM 6 HONORARY ALDERMEN AND FREEMAN" (PDF). cheshireeast.gov. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- Alcock, Joan P (15 March 2014). Congleton Though Time. Stroud: Amberley Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 1445609762.
- legislation.gov.uk – The Borough of Congleton (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1975. Retrieved on 19 November 2015.
- legislation.gov.uk – The Cheshire, Derbyshire, Hereford and Worcester and Staffordshire (County Boundaries) Order 1991. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
- legislation.gov.uk – The Cheshire, Derbyshire, Hereford and Worcester and Staffordshire (County Boundaries) (Variation) Order 1992. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
- legislation.gov.uk – The Borough of Congleton (Electoral Changes) Order 1998. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.