Gloucestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in England. The council was created in 1889. The council's principal functions are county roads and rights of way, social services, education and libraries, but it also provides many other local government services in the area it covers. The council's administrative area does not include South Gloucestershire, which is a unitary authority with all the functions of a county and a non-metropolitan district. The council is based at Shire Hall in Gloucester.
Gloucestershire County Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Pete Bungard since May 2007 | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 53 councillors[2] |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 4 years |
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
Last election | 6 May 2021 |
Next election | 1 May 2025 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Shire Hall, Westgate Street, Gloucester, GL1 2TG | |
| Website | |
| www | |
The area administered by the county council comprises 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi).[3]
History edit
Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by unelected magistrates at the Quarter Sessions. The cities of Bristol and Gloucester were both considered large enough to provide their own county-level services, so they became county boroughs, independent from the county council. The county council was elected by and provided services to the remainder of the county outside those two boroughs, which area was termed the administrative county.[4]
The first elections were held in January 1889, and the council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at Shire Hall in Gloucester. The first chairman of the council was John Dorington, a Conservative, who was also the Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury at the time.[5]
Local government was reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, which made Gloucestershire a non-metropolitan county. As part of the 1974 reforms it ceded an area in the south of the county to the new county of Avon, but gained the former county borough of Gloucester. The lower tier of local government was rearranged at the same time, with the county being divided into six non-metropolitan districts.[6]
Avon was abolished in 1996 and a new unitary authority called South Gloucestershire created covering the area which had been ceded from the old administrative county of Gloucestershire to Avon in 1974.[7] As a unitary authority South Gloucestershire is independent from Gloucestershire County Council, although it is classed as part of the wider ceremonial county of Gloucestershire for the purposes of lieutenancy.[8]
Political control edit
The council has been under no overall control since May 2023, prior to which it had a Conservative majority.
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[9][10]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–2005 | |
| Conservative | 2005–2013 | |
| No overall control | 2013–2017 | |
| Conservative | 2017–2023 | |
| No overall control | 2023–present | |
Leadership edit
The leaders of the council since 2001 have been:[11]
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Clarke | Labour | 3 Sep 2001 | 8 May 2005 | |
| Barry Dare | Conservative | 18 May 2005 | 19 May 2010 | |
| Mark Hawthorne | Conservative | 19 May 2010 | ||
Composition edit
Following the 2021 election and changes of allegiance in February 2022 and May 2023, the composition of the council was:[12][13]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 26 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 16 | |
| Labour | 5 | |
| Green | 4 | |
| Independent | 2 | |
| Total | 53 | |
The two independent councillors describe themselves as "independent Conservatives", both having been elected in 2021 as Conservatives.[14] The next election is due in 2025.
Premises edit
The county council has its headquarters at Shire Hall on Westgate Street in Gloucester.[15] The building had originally been built in 1816 as a courthouse and had served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. The county council then used the Shire Hall as its meeting place and built various extensions to accommodate its offices. Most of the building was demolished and rebuilt in the 1960s behind the retained façade of the 1816 building, with the reconstructed building being completed in 1970.[16]
Elections edit
Since the last boundary changes in 2013 the council has comprised 53 councillors, each representing an electoral division. Elections are held every four years.[17]
Notable members edit
- Thomas Davies, later member of parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury[18]
- David Drew (born 1952), later member of parliament for Stroud
- Sir Henry Elwes (born 1935), later Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire[19]
- Julie Girling (born 1956), later a Member of the European Parliament for South West England[20]
- Margaret Hills (born 1882) first female councillor on Stroud Urban District Council and a suffragist.[21]
- Nigel Jones (born 1948), later member of parliament for Cheltenham and a life peer[22]
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ "Council minutes, 24 May 2023". Gloucestershire County Council. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections".
- ^ "Land Area of Gloucestershire" (PDF).
- ^ "Local Government Act 1888", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1888 c. 41, retrieved 27 August 2023
- ^ "Gloucestershire County Council: First general meeting of the council". Gloucestershire Echo. Cheltenham. 2 April 1889. p. 3. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 31 May 2023
- ^ "The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1995/493, retrieved 27 August 2023
- ^ "Lieutenancies Act 1997", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1997 c. 23, retrieved 27 August 2023
- ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- ^ "Cotswold". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ "Council minutes". Gloucestershire County Council. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
- ^ Horton, Kim (3 February 2022). "Gloucestershire councillor to appear in court accused of breaching Animal Welfare Act regulation". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Gloucestershire councillor accused of assault steps down from cabinet". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Your Councillors by Party". Gloucestershire County Council. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "Our address". Gloucestershire County Council. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ Historic England. "Shire Hall (Grade II) (1245084)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ "The Gloucestershire (Electoral Changes) Order 2012", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2012/877, retrieved 27 August 2023
- ^ F. W. S. Craig, British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services, 1983 edition), p. 359
- ^ 'ELWES, Sir Henry (William George)' in Who's Who 2013 (London: A & C Black, 2012)
- ^ 'GIRLING, Julie McCulloch', in Who's Who 2014 (London: A. & C. Black, 2014); online edition by Oxford University Press, December 2013, accessed 17 January 2014
- ^ Watson, Sarah Phaedre (24 January 2018). "Can you help uncover the history of a 'dangerous woman' of Stroud?". Stroud Journal. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- ^ "No. 57683". The London Gazette. 23 June 2005. p. 8169.
