Warrington Borough Council is the local authority of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, England. It is a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. Within Warrington Borough are parts of the historic counties of both

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

and Cheshire.

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Warrington is within a non-metropolitan area of England. As a

, Warrington Borough Council has the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether ...

, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a

local education authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were local councils in England that are responsible for education within their jurisdiction. The term was used to identify which council (district or county) is locally responsible for education in a system wit ...

, responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal.

Political control

The Labour Party has held a majority of the seats on the council since 2011. The

leader of the council In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...

since December 2018 has been Russ Bowden of Labour. The next election is due in 2024.

Investments

Elected members have approved a number of significant commercial investments by the local authority. In September 2016, Warrington Borough Council became one of the first local councils in the UK to buy clean-tech bonds in Swindon Solar Park through its owner, specialist investment management firm Rockfire Capital. In September 2019, the council acquired a 50% shareholding in Clydebank-based energy retailer

Together Energy ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi P ...

for £18m. In September 2020,

Bristol Energy Bristol Energy was a municipally owned energy supply company, founded in September 2015 by Bristol City Council. Its business accounts were sold to Yü Energy in August 2020, and in the following month its residential accounts were sold to Toget ...

's brand and residential accounts – 155,000 meter points – were sold by

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 ward ...

to Together Energy for £14 million. In August 2021, Warrington Council's total financial exposure to Together Energy was reported to be £41.2m. In October 2021, Ofgem issued a provisional order to several suppliers, including Together Energy, who had not made

Renewables Obligation The Renewables Obligation (RO) is designed to encourage generation of electricity from eligible renewable sources in the United Kingdom. It was introduced in England and Wales and in a different form (the Renewables Obligation (Scotland)) in Scot ...

payments; Together Energy's obligation was over £12m. Following sharp increases in wholesale gas and electricity prices which began in autumn 2021, Together Energy Retail Ltd announced on 18 January 2022 that it was ceasing to trade. Other loans and investments include almost £30 million paid in stages between 2017 and 2019 for a 33% stake in Redwood Bank, a " challenger bank" which has a Warrington office. In 2021 a £202m loan facility, secured against commercial property, was provided to

Matt Moulding Matthew John Moulding (born February 1972) is a British businessman, founder and CEO of THG plc. As of May 2022, he has an estimated net worth of £700 million, down from £1.4 billion in 2021. Early life Moulding was born in Burnley, Lanc ...

, founder of Cheshire-based e-commerce business The Hut Group. In September 2021, the council confirmed that its borrowing had reached £1.7 billion, but that the current value of its investment assets were £2.173 billion.

References

{{Authority control Unitary authority councils of England Local education authorities in England Local authorities in Cheshire Leader and cabinet executives Billing authorities in England Warrington