Congleton (borough)

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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.

History

File:Chairmen of Congleton Rural District Council (1894-1974).jpg

Chairmen of Congleton Rural District Council (1894-1974)

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the former Corporation 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]

Civil parishes

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: Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Demographics

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%

Political control

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
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1974–1976
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1976–1982
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1982–1983
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1983–1986
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1986–1991
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1991–1992
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1992–1994
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 1994–2002
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 2002–2003
REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| 2003–2009

Leadership

The leaders of the council from 1987 were:

Councillor	Party		From
Dennis Round^[9]	REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell	1987	14 July 1987
Linda Short^[10]^[11]	REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| align=right\|1987 \|\| align=right\|14 December 2000
Rod Fletcher	REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| align=right\|2001 \|\| align=right\|2002
Roland Domleo^[12]^[13]	REDIRECT Template:Party name with color Template:Redirect category shell \|\| align=right\|2002 \|\| align=right\|31 March 2009

Composition

The political composition of the council at its abolition in 2009 was:^[14]

Party		Councillors
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"\|	Conservative	25
style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color"\|	Liberal Democrat	13
	Middlewich First	6
	Independent	4

Premises

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]

Alderman and Freeman of the Borough

File:Borough of Congleton Roll of Honorary Alderman.jpg

Borough of Congleton roll of honorary Alderman plaque

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)Template:Refn
A. G. Smith (Alderman 4 October 1984)Template:Refn
C. H. Kelly (Alderman 25 September 1986)Template:Refn
L. Yarwood (Alderman 29 September 1988)Template:Refn
J. M. Telfer (Alderman 28 September 1989)Template:Refn
F. Bowers (Alderman 5 November 1992)Template:Refn
W. Vickers (Alderman 5 November 1992)Template:Refn
E. Henshall (Alderman 22 September 1994)Template:Refn
R. Tomlinson (Alderman 29 October 1998)Template:Refn
R. C. Parry (Alderman 29 January 2004)Template:Refn
K. A. Hemsley (Alderman 29 January 2004)Template:Refn
K. A. Thompson (Alderman 29 January 2004)Template:Refn
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]

Council elections

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