Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council | |
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Third of council elected three years out of four | |
Kirklees Council Logo
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Type | |
Type | |
Houses | Unicameral |
Term limits
|
None |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1974 |
Leadership | |
Leader
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David Sheard, Labour
Since 30 June 2016 |
Deputy Leader
|
Shabir Pandor, Labour
Since 30 June 2016 |
Structure | |
Seats | 69 councillors |
Joint committees
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West Yorkshire Combined Authority |
34 / 69
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20 / 69
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9 / 69
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3 / 69
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3 / 69
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Elections | |
Multiple member first-past-the-post | |
Last election
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2016 (one third of councillors) |
Next election
|
2018 (one third of councillors) |
Meeting place | |
Huddersfield Town Hall | |
Website | |
www |
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Constitution | |
Constitution |
Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, also known simply as Kirklees Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of local government services in Kirklees. Since 1 April 2014 it has been a constituent council of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Since the councils inception in 1974 it has been controlled by both the Conservatives and Labour on occasions. However, since 1999 no single political party has had control of the council and as such the council is currently in a state of "No Overall Control".
The council was formed in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973.
Until 1986 the council was a second-tier authority, with West Yorkshire County Council providing many key services. However, the metropolitan county councils were abolished under the Local Government Act 1985 and the council took responsibility for all former County Council functions except policing, fire services and public transport which continue to be run on a joint basis by councillors from the former boroughs of West Yorkshire County Council.
In 2004 the wards of the council were redrawn, and there was therefore a general election of the entire council. The local government election in June 2004 was for all seats of the council. The electorate were given three votes each to fill the three seats of each ward. The candidate with the most votes was elected for the standard four years, the candidate with the second highest number of votes was elected for three years and the candidate with the third highest number of votes was elected for two years; their seat therefore being up for re-election in 2006.
In June 2016 local newspaper The Huddersfield Daily Examiner exposed four serving councillors who had failed to pay their council tax. It was revealed that Labour councillors Jean Calvert, Amanda Pinnock, Mohammed Sarwar and Amanda Stubley had all been issued with court summons for non-payment of council tax after previously receiving several reminders. Initially all councillors denied the allegations.