Anne Western

Anne Western, CBE (born 27 December 1955) is a Labour Party politician and former Leader of Derbyshire County Council.

She was born Anne Checklin in Chesterfield. She grew up in the north Derbyshire area. She is the daughter of Bernard Checklin and Jean Coxhead of Mansfield. She has a younger sister (born 1959).

She represents the Barlborough and Clowne ward on Derbyshire County Council. Barlborough is in Bolsover District, a traditionally Labour-voting area. She was first elected to Derbyshire County Council in 1997. She was Deputy Leader of the council from 2004-09. In the 2005 elections, her seat was uncontested. Previously, when Labour were in power, she had responsibility for Children's Services (previously Health and Social Care). She has also sat on Barlborough Parish Council. After the Derbyshire County Council election, 2009 on 4 June 2009, when Labour lost 16 seats to retain 22, she became the Leader of the Labour group. In the 2009 elections, nearly all of Labour's seats were in either the districts of Bolsover, Chesterfield or North East Derbyshire.

She became the first female leader of Derbyshire County Council in May 2013. In the Derbyshire County Council election, 2013, Labour took 43 seats, the Conservatives 18 and the Liberal Democrats 3. In her ward, she won 1519 votes with UKIP coming second with 526 votes. The previous leader of the Labour group, and the former council leader before 2009 was John Williams of nearby Inkersall and who represented Staveley South, a short distance along the A619 towards Chesterfield from Barlborough.

She lives in Barlborough, near junction 30 of the M1. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Birthday Honours. She had a daughter in 1983, and a son in October 1985. She married Peter Western in 1980 in Mansfield. She has previously lived near Rochdale.

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