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Cheshire West and Chester Council

Cheshire West and Chester Council
Whole council elected every four years
Cheshire West and Chester (logo).jpg
Emblem
Type
Type
Houses 1 (Unicameral)
Term limits
None
History
Founded 1 April 2009
New session started
19 May 2016 (Municipal year)
Leadership
Leader
Samantha Dixon, Labour
Since 21 May 2015
Chairman
Bob Rudd, Labour
Since 21 May 2015
Chief Executive
Gerald Meehan
Since July 2016
Structure
Seats 75
Committees 13 (excluding the cabinet)
Joint committees
Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership
Cheshire Fire Authority
Cheshire Police and Crime Panel
Shared Services Joint Committee (with Cheshire East Council)
38 / 75
36 / 75
1 / 75
Elections
First past the post (single-member wards)
Plurality-at-large (multi-member wards)
Last election
2015
Next election
2019
Meeting place
Chester Town Hall, Chester
HQ, Chester
Wyvern House, Winsford
Website
www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Cheshire West and Chester Council is the local authority of Cheshire West and Chester. It is a unitary authority, 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. The council was first elected on 1 May 2008 a year before coming into its legal powers on 1 April 2009.

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. It has a 'general power of competence' as described in the Localism Act 2011, i.e. it is permitted to act in any manner whatsoever which is not unlawful. For the purposes of local government, Cheshire West and Chester is one of the fifty-five unitary authorities in England. This means that is the only principal authority in its territorial jurisdiction, and it has the statutory powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and a non-metropolitan district council. The only exceptions to this are the fire and police services, which are still provided on a Cheshire-wide basis by joint boards composed of elected councillors and are funded by a Council Tax precept. Conversely, it is unnecessary for Cheshire West and Chester Council to set a precept for itself as it is also a billing authority.

Since the first election of the council in 2008, political control has been held by the following parties:

Colour key (for political parties):   Conservative   Labour


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