Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

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Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is the local council for the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. This includes the constituencies of Stockport, Hazel Grove, Cheadle and the Reddish area of the Denton and Reddish constituency. It is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrats, who hold 35 of the 63 seats on the council, there are two other parties, the Conservatives and the Labour Party, the Independent Ratepayers are also present.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport for 2006/2007 are Councillor Peter Burns and Mrs Margaret Burns and the Mayor's Charity during his Mayoral year is in aid of the building fund for Wellspring (Stockport).

There are four MPs covering Stockport Metropolitan Bourough, Andrew Stunell (Liberal Democrat), Ann Coffey (Labour), Mark Hunter (Liberal Democrat) and Andrew Gwynne (Labour).

Contents

[edit] Wards and Councillors

There are 21 wards, each represented by three councillors.

  • Brinnington and Central
  • Edgeley and Cheadle Heath

[edit] Executive councillors

The Council Executive is as follows

  • Leader of the Council: Brian Millard
  • Deputy Leader and Adult and Health Portfolio: Maggie Clay
  • Transportation Portfolio: David Goddard
  • Children's Services Portfolio: John Pantall
  • Regeneration Portfolio: Sue Derbyshire
  • Customer Focus Portfolio: Martin Candler
  • Leisure Portfolio: Pam King
  • Communities Portfolio: Mark Weldon
  • Environment Portfolio: Hazel Lees
  • Finance Portfolio: Paul Carter

[edit] Structure

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (Stockport Council) uses an executive system. There are 10 executive councillors, including the leader of the council, each has a separate portfolio containing responsibilities for different services and areas of the council. There are also six scrutiny committees which scrutinize decisions made by the executive.

[edit] Politics

Stockport Council has 63 elected members, belonging to three different parties. The largest party, and the ruling party is the Liberal Democrat party, which has 35 of the 63 seats. The least council elections were on Thursday 4th May 2006, in which one third of the seats were up for re-election. There was no major change in these elections, however there were Liberal Democrat gains in Offerton where ex-LibDem councillor, then independent, Eric Pyle lost his seat in favour of John Smith - a retired police-officer. However, there was a significant loss in Bredbury Green and Romiley, as popular councillor Brendon Jones was defeated by 400 votes, and replaces by the Conservative candidate, Syd Lloyd. It is notable that Ex-Councillor Foulkes, lost his seat and was replaced by the then, Ex-Councillor, now Councillor Tom McGee, standing for the Labour Party. Labour was the only party to make a net change in this election.

[edit] The 'All Out'

The previous election before 2006 was in 2004, when all councillors on the council were put up for election at the same time. This election was conducted exclusivley by Postal Voting. Each elector was given three votes, and asked to pick three candidates - the number of votes each candidate received then determined when they would next stand for election. Elections are scheduled for 2007, 2008 and then 2010.

[edit] Non-mainstream and extremist parties

Stockport Council has seen a number of candidates for non-mainstream parties including the Green Party of England and Wales, United Kingdom Independence Party and even extremist parties such as The British National Party.There have also been independents. However, so far, only independent candidates have been successful as non-mainstream parties to receive seats.

[edit] History

Stockport Council has a long and rich history dating from the 14th Century. It is also notable for its role in the Stockport Air Disaster.

[edit] External links

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