Westminster City Council Westminster London Borough Council |
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---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Councillor Nickie Aiken, Conservative
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|
Lord Mayor
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Councillor Steve Summers, Conservative
|
Structure | |
Seats | 60 councillors |
Political groups
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Executive (44)
Opposition (16)
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Elections | |
First past the post | |
Last election
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22 May 2014 |
Next election
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May 2018 |
Meeting place | |
Porchester Hall, Porchester Road W2 5HS | |
Website | |
www |
Executive (44)
Opposition (16)
Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council and is entitled to be known as a city council, which is a rare distinction in the United Kingdom. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 44 Conservative Party members and 15 Labour Party members, plus one Independent (who defected from Labour). The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced three local authorities: Paddington Metropolitan Borough Council, St Marylebone Metropolitan Borough Council and Westminster City Council. The borough council provides some shared services with Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea.
There have previously been a number of local authorities responsible for the Westminster area. The current local authority was first elected in 1964, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the City of Westminster on 1 April 1965. Westminster City Council replaced Paddington Metropolitan Borough Council, St Marylebone Metropolitan Borough Council and the Westminster City Council which had responsibility for the earlier, smaller City of Westminster. All three had been created in 1900, with Paddington and St Marylebone replacing the parish vestries incorporated by the Metropolis Management Act 1855. Westminster itself has a more convoluted history and the metropolitan borough council established in 1900 had replaced the Vestry of the Parish of St George Hanover Square, the Vestry of the Parish of St Martin in the Fields, the Strand District Board of Works, the Westminster District Board of Works and the Vestry of the Parish of Westminster St James.