Essex County Council

Essex County Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan county council of Essex
Leadership
Chairman	Cllr John Aldridge, Conservative Since 02 May 2013
Vice chairman	Cllr John Jowers, Conservative Since 02 May 2013
Leader of the Conservative group	Cllr David Malcolm Finch, Conservative
Leader of the Liberal Democrat group	Cllr Michael John Mackrory JP, Liberal Democrat
Structure
Seats	75 (38 needed for a majority)
Political groups	Largest party      Conservative Party (45) Official Opposition      Liberal Democrat (9) Other opposition parties      Labour Party (8)      UKIP (6)      Green Party (2)      Independent (2)      Residents for Uttlesford (1)      Canvey Island Independent (1)      Loughton Residents(1)
Length of term	up to 4 years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	2 May 2013
Next election	4 May 2017
Meeting place
County Hall Chelmsford Essex United Kingdom
Website
www.essex.gov.uk/Pages/Default.aspx

Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall in the centre of Chelmsford. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association.

At the time of the 2011 census it served a population of 1,393,600, which makes it one of the largest local authorities in England. As a non-metropolitan county council, responsibilities are shared between districts (including boroughs) and in many areas also between civil parish (including town) councils. Births, marriages/civil partnerships and death registration, roads, libraries and archives, refuse disposal, most of state education, of social services and of transport are provided at the county level.

The county council was formed in 1889, governing the administrative county of Essex. West Ham, otherwise part of Essex at the time, was a county borough and therefore outside the area of responsibility for the county council. Southend-on-Sea (1914) and East Ham (1915) were also removed. In 1965 Barking, Chingford, Dagenham, Hornchurch, Ilford, Leyton, Romford, Walthamstow, and 'Wanstead and Woodford' were transferred to Greater London. The county council was reconstituted in 1974 as a non-metropolitan county council, regaining jurisdiction in Southend-on-Sea, however the non-metropolitan county was reduced in size in 1998 and the council passed responsibilities to Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Thurrock Council in those districts. For certain services the three authorities co-operate through joint arrangements, such as the Essex fire authority.