Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.
The district had a population of about 81,800 (2006 estimate).[1] The main towns were Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the village of Parkgate. It also included a number of villages such as Great Sutton and Willaston.
History
The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the borough of Ellesmere Port and the urban district of Neston.[2] The district was originally called just Ellesmere Port, with the council changing the name in 1976.[3][4][5] The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chairman of the council to take the title of mayor.[6]
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 Ellesmere Port and Neston with the districts of Chester and Vale Royal 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.[7]
The entire borough was initially unparished. A civil parish of Ince was created in 1987,[9] and a Neston parish was created in 2008.[10]
Political control
The town of Ellesmere Port had been a municipal borough from 1955 to 1974 with a borough council.[11] The first elections to the new Ellesmere Port Borough Council 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 the council from 1974 until its abolition in 2009 was always held by the Labour Party:[12]
Party in control
Years
Labour
1974–2009
Leadership
The first leader of the council, Fred Venables, had been the leader of the old Ellesmere Port Borough Council since 1970.[13] The leaders of Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council were:
The political composition of the council at its abolition in 2009 was:
Party
Councillors
Labour
23
Conservative
17
Liberal Democrat
2
Premises
Council Offices (centre and left) with 1955 Civic Hall to right
The council was based at the Ellesmere Port Council Offices at 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port, which had been built for the old borough council in 1969.[16] Council meetings were held at nearby Whitby Hall until 1992 when an extension containing a council chamber was opened at the Municipal Buildings.[17] Following the abolition of the council the Council Offices were used by its successor, Cheshire West and Chester Council, until 2022 when they were replaced by a new building called "The Portal" on Wellington Road.[18]
Council elections
1973 Ellesmere Port Borough Council election
1976 Ellesmere Port Borough Council election (New ward boundaries)[19]
1979 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1980 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1982 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1983 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1984 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1986 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1987 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1988 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1990 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1991 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1992 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1994 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election (Borough boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same)[20]
1995 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
1996 Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council election
^"County split into two authorities", BBC News, 25 July 2007, retrieved 27 July 2007
^Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008, Office of Public Sector Information, archived from the original on 17 May 2009, retrieved 4 April 2009
^"The Ellesmere Port and Neston (Parishes) Order 1987 (S.I. 1987/195)" (PDF). Database of Local Government Orders. Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^"The Ellesmere Port and Neston (Parish) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/3578)" (PDF). Database of Local Government Orders. Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^"Ellesmere Port Urban District / Municipal Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^"Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
^ ab"End of an era as Fred steps down". Cheshire Live. 5 October 2005. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^Porter, Gary (14 September 2021). "Tributes to former Ellesmere Port and Neston councillor Reg Chrimes". Chester Standard. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^"Leader to retire with name in record book". North Wales Live. 25 April 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^"Borough of Ellesmere Port". Cheshire Observer. Chester. 12 December 1969. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2022. ...at the new Municipal Offices, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port...
^"So that's what it looks like inside..." Ellesmere Port Pioneer. 29 January 1992. p. 18. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^Porter, Gary (5 April 2022). "New Cheshire West and Chester Council HQ in Ellesmere Port to open in May". Cheshire Live. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^legislation.gov.uk - The Borough of Ellesmere Port (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976. Retrieved on 19 November 2015.
^legislation.gov.uk - The Cheshire and Merseyside (County Boundaries) Order 1992. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
^legislation.gov.uk - The Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston (Electoral Changes) Order 1998. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.