Dorset County Council (DCC) was the

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

for the county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected councillors and was based at County Hall in Dorchester. The council was abolished on 31 March 2019 as part of structural changes to local government in Dorset.

Responsibilities for services

Dorset County Council's responsibilities included schools, social care for the elderly and vulnerable, road maintenance, libraries and trading standards. The county council's area was also administered by six smaller authorities that have their own

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

councils. The responsibilities of these councils included local planning, council housing, refuse collection, sports and leisure facilities, and street cleaning. The district areas are further divided into

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

, which have " parish councils" or "

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

s"; the latter of which often use a

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. Typical activities undertaken by a parish council included maintaining allotments, footpaths, playing fields and the local community or village hall. On some matters, the county council shared responsibilities with the district and parish councils. These included economic development and regeneration, emergency planning, tourism promotion and coastal protection.

Dorset Waste Partnership

In 2011 Dorset County Council became "host authority" for the newly-formed Dorset Waste Partnership, whereby, in theory, the six borough and district councils within Dorset worked together to collect and dispose of the county's waste. As host authority, Dorset County Council employed the waste partnership's staff and provided support facilities, such as IT, customer services and procurement."About the Dorset Waste Partnership and Recycle for Dorset"
Dorset Council website. Retrieved 3 November 2019. A new system of kerbside collections was rolled out across the county in five stages, beginning with Christchurch in October 2012."New Christchurch refuse collection scheme a 'load of rubbish"

Bournemouth Echo The ''Bournemouth Daily Echo'', commonly known as the ''Daily Echo'' (a.k.a. the ''Bournemouth Echo''), is a local newspaper that covers the area of southeast Dorset, England, including the towns Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch. Published b ...

, 5 November 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2019. The new service attracted criticism from the start and came under particularly heavy censure from October 2014, when it was rolled out across Weymouth and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

: by the end of the month the Council was receiving 1,100 calls a day relating to the new service,"'Urgent' call for review of waste service as rubbish builds up in streets"

Dorset Echo The ''Dorset Echo'' is a daily newspaper published in the county of Dorset, England. The title publishes Monday to Saturday from editorial offices in Weymouth, and covers issues concerning south, central and west Dorset. The Saturday edition ...

, 30 October 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2019. while a "spokesman" admitted that 300 bins had still not been delivered to Weymouth and Portland's residents. Bags of waste meanwhile mounted up on Weymouth's streets: the partnership refused to collect them on the grounds that the waste was not in authorised "blue sacks","Waste partnership is standing firm on rubbish bags despite vermin fears"

, 16 December 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2019. but residents claimed that they had never been issued with these sacks in the first place. Complaints, mainly involving missed collections, continued into 2015 and 2016. In February 2015 it was revealed that the partnership was £2.76 million over budget, and Steve Burdis, director of the Dorset Waste Partnership, was suspended from his post as three separate investigations into the overspend got underway. A report by Dorset County Council's monitoring officer found that unlawful activity had contributed to the overspend,"Unlawful arrangements in summary"
Part 2 of Monitoring Officer Report put before Dorset Waste Partnership Joint Committee, 11 March 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2019. including the awarding of two vehicle hire contracts worth £765,000 and £808,000 without following compliant tendering processes:indeed, in the case of the £765,000 contract, "it seems that no tendering process was followed at all". In addition, a three-year consultancy contract worth £270,000 "also amounted to an unlawful direct award". Steve Burdis was dismissed in March 2016. As for the Dorset Waste Partnership, it effectively ceased to exist in April 2019 with the dissolution of Dorset County Council and the various borough and district councils; waste became the responsibility of the two new unitary authorities in Dorset,

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is a unitary local authority for the district of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England that came into being on 1 April 2019. It was created from the areas that were previously administered by ...

and Dorset Council, with most of the partnership's staff and assets being transferred to the latter.

2015-19 local government reorganisation

In September 2015, the ''

'' reported plans to merge the borough and district councils of Poole, Bournemouth, East Dorset and Christchurch, creating one breakaway "super-council" across the south-eastern part of the county. A meeting of leaders and chief executives of all nine of Dorset's local authorities followed on 12 October 2015, "to discuss options for the future of local government in the area". That was followed by a series of public consultations and, ultimately, by statutory instruments for the reform of local government across Dorset, drawn up in May 2018. Under these proposals, dubbed "Future Dorset", all existing councils within the county would be abolished and replaced by two new unitary authorities. The first would be formed from the existing unitary authorities of

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

which merged with the non-metropolitan district of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

to create a unitary authority to be known as

. The other was created from the merger of the existing non-metropolitan districts of

Weymouth and Portland Weymouth and Portland was a local government district and borough in Dorset, England. It consisted of the resort of Weymouth and the Isle of Portland, and includes the areas of Wyke Regis, Preston, Melcombe Regis, Upwey, Broadwey, Southill, ...

West Dorset West Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. Its council was based in Dorchester. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester and ...

North Dorset North Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. It was largely rural, but included the towns of Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset was in the River Stour vall ...

, Purbeck and

East Dorset East Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. Its council met in Wimborne Minster between 2016 and 2019. The district (as Wimborne) was formed on 1 April 1974 by merging Wimborne Minster Urban District with Wimborne and Cran ...

and was to be known as Dorset Council. The two new authorities came into being on 1 April 2019.

References

External links

Dorset for You

Shadow Dorset Council
{{Coord, 50, 42, 58, N, 2, 26, 26, W, display=title, dim:200_region:GB-DOR_type:adm3rd, name=County Hall

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

Former county councils of England 1889 establishments in England Local authorities in Dorset Major precepting authorities in England Leader and cabinet executives 2019 disestablishments in England

Responsibilities for services

Dorset Waste Partnership

2015-19 local government reorganisation

See also

References

External links