Congleton was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It included the towns of

Congleton Congleton is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 28,497 and the built-up area ha ...

Alsager Alsager ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north-west of Stoke-on-Trent and east of Crewe. At the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 cen ...

Middlewich Middlewich is a town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is located east of Chester, east of Winsford, south-east of Northwich and north-west of Sandbach. The population of the parish at the United Kingdom 2021 census, ...

and

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East borough of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock, Cheshire, Wheelock. At the 2021 United Kingd ...

. The headquarters of the borough council were located in

History

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

by the merger of the former Corporation of Congleton, the urban districts of

and

, 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. 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 On 1 April 2009 structural changes to local government in England took place which reformed the local government of seven Non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties: Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, County Durham, Shropshire, Northumber ...

. The decision to merge the boroughs of Congleton,

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

, and

Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007. It contained 69 ci ...

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. The Borough of Congleton was abolished on 31 March 2009, with the area becoming part of the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

of Cheshire East on 1 April 2009.

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. 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". The following civil parishes were included in the borough: *

''(town)'' * Arclid * Betchton * Bradwall * Brereton * Church Lawton *

''(town)'' * Cranage * Goostrey * Hassall *

Holmes Chapel Holmes Chapel is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, north of Crewe and south of Manchester; Swettenham Meadows Nature Reserve lies east of the village and Goostrey lies to the north. The population of the village was 6,700 a ...

* Hulme Walfield *

''(town)'' * Moreton cum Alcumlow * Moston * Newbold Astbury * Odd Rode *

''(town)'' * Smallwood * Somerford * Somerford Booths * Swettenham * Twemlow

Demographics

The resident

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of the borough, as measured in the 2001

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, 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):

Political control

The town of

had been a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

from 1836 to 1974 with a borough council. 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:

Leadership

The leaders of the council from 1987 were:

Composition

The political composition of the council at its abolition in 2009 was:

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. In 2005–2007 a replacement headquarters building, also called Westfields, was built in front of the old house, which was then demolished. The new building was formally opened on 25 January 2008. After Congleton Borough Council's abolition, Westfields became the headquarters for the new

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority for Cheshire East, a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs th ...

Alderman and Freeman of the Borough

Borough of Congleton Roll of Honorary Alderman

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) *A. G. Smith (Alderman 4 October 1984) *C. H. Kelly (Alderman 25 September 1986) *L. Yarwood (Alderman 29 September 1988) *J. M. Telfer (Alderman 28 September 1989) *F. Bowers (Alderman 5 November 1992) * W. Vickers (Alderman 5 November 1992) * E. Henshall (Alderman 22 September 1994) *R. Tomlinson (Alderman 29 October 1998) *R. C. Parry (Alderman 29 January 2004) *K. A. Hemsley (Alderman 29 January 2004) * K. A. Thompson (Alderman 29 January 2004) *M. J. Cooper (Alderman 2009) *T. Farrell (Alderman 2009) *R. A. Giltrap (Alderman 2009) *L. Morris (Alderman 2009) *F. Walton (Alderman 2009) *D. Brown (Alderman 2009) *R. M. Domleo (Alderman 2009) *P. J. Edwards (Alderman 2009) *R. I. Fletcher (Alderman 2009) *D. I. Hough (Alderman 2009) *G. Chambers (Freeman 2009)

Military Units

* The Cheshire Yeomanry: 1906. * The Cheshire Regiment: 1969. *First Battalion of the Mercian Regiment:??? *First Battalion of the Mercian Regiment (Freeman ???)

Council elections

*1973 Congleton Borough Council election *1976 Congleton Borough Council election (New ward boundaries) *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) *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)legislation.gov.uk �
The Borough of Congleton (Electoral Changes) Order 1998
Retrieved on 4 October 2015. *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

Results maps

File:Congleton UK ward map 2002.svg, 2002 results map File:Congleton UK ward map 2003.svg, 2003 results map File:Congleton UK ward map 2004.svg, 2004 results map File:Congleton UK ward map 2006.svg, 2006 results map File:Congleton UK ward map 2007.svg, 2007 results map

By-election results

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Congleton (Borough) English districts abolished in 2009 Districts of England established in 1974 Former non-metropolitan districts of Cheshire Former boroughs in England Borough of Council elections in Cheshire Borough of Cheshire East District council elections in England