Salisbury City Council
| Salisbury City Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | Parish councils in England |
| Leadership | |
| Leader | Andrew Roberts |
| Mayor | Cllr. Penny Brown[1] |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 23 |
| Political groups |
Conservative Party Labour Party Liberal Democrats Independents Green Party |
| Elections | |
| Voting system | Plurality-at-large voting |
| Last election | 4 June 2009 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Guildhall, Salisbury | |
| Website | |
| salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk | |
Salisbury City Council is a parish council, currently led by the Conservatives.
It came into existence in April 2009 to serve the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, although its first elections were not held until June 2009. The city council is based in the city's historic Guildhall, following the adaptation of the building. In the interim it had its offices and meetings at 22 Bedwin Street, Salisbury. The estimated population of the area in June 2010 was 117,500.[2]
City status
Salisbury has been ranked as a city since "time immemorial", and the status was preserved after 1974 by the Charter Trustees of the City of New Sarum, a body which was dissolved at the time of the new grant.[3] The parish was once again granted city status by letters patent dated 1 April 2009.[4]
Coat of arms
On 23 March 2010, the city council was granted a royal licence, transferring to it the armorial bearings of the previous City of New Sarum. The arms and supporters were originally recorded at the heraldic visitations of Wiltshire in 1565 and 1623.[5] The blazon of the arms is:
Barry of eight Azure and Or. Supporters: On either side an eagle displayed with two heads Or, ducally gorged Azure.[6][7]
There do not appear to be any meanings attached to the design.[8] The traditional explanation that the blue stripes represent the rivers that meet in the city is now discounted.[8][9] It has also been suggested that the eagles derive from the arms of the Bouverie family, Earls of Radnor, benefactors of the city. However, this also can be discounted, as the arms of the city were recorded before the family was connected with it.[8][9]
Membership
The council consists of twenty-three councillors, elected in eight wards, seven of which have three councillors each, while one (St Mark's and Bishopdown) has only two. Elections to the city council took place on Thursday, 2 May 2013. Soon after them Jo Broom, who had been elected in Fisherton & Bemerton Village as a Liberal Democrat, joined the Conservatives. Following the resignation of a Conservative, there was a by-election in the St Martin's & Cathedral ward on 9 January 2014, won by Patricia Fagan for Labour. The city councillors are now as follows:
| Bemerton (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Caroline Corbin | 559 | |||
| Labour | Thomas Corbin | 544 | |||
| Labour | Mike Osment | 489 | |||
| Fisherton & Bemerton Village (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | John Walsh | 429 | |||
| Independent | Margaret Ann Wilmott | 409 | |||
| Conservative | Vanessa Jo Broom[10] | 385 | |||
| Harnham (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Brian Edward Dalton | 855 | |||
| Conservative | John Malcolm Collier | 612 | |||
| Liberal Democrat | Grahame William Henry Alexander | 495 | |||
| St Edmund & Milford (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | James Robertson | 620 | |||
| Green | Michael Robert Pope | 467 | |||
| Labour | Mark Frank Timbrell | 427 | |||
| St Francis & Stratford (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Derek William Brown | 857 | |||
| Conservative | Atikul Hoque | 764 | |||
| Conservative | Charles Rogers | 667 | |||
| St Mark's & Bishopdown (2 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Penelope Brown | 460 | |||
| Conservative | Colin Froude | 437 | |||
| St Martin's & Cathedral (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Ian Robert Tomes | 870 | |||
| Conservative | Sven Hocking | 622 | |||
| Labour | Patricia Ann Fagan | 538 (By-election Jan 2014) |
|||
| St Paul's (3 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Matthew Jonathan Anthony Dean | 418 | |||
| Independent | Andrew Charles Righton Roberts | 395 | |||
| Conservative | John Lindley | 376 | |||
Functions
The council is initially responsible for the following properties and services:
- Parks and associated public conveniences
- Car parks
- Cemeteries
- Play areas
- Sports pitches
- Open spaces
- Guildhall
- Allotments
- Salisbury Crematorium
- Charter market etc.
- Charter fair
- Bemerton Heath Neighbourhood centre
- General fund shops and garages owned by the city prior to 1974
- Events: Christmas Lights, St George's Day, Salisbury Food Festival, Music in the Parks, Britain in Bloom
- City Centre management
- General Community Fund
See also
- Salisbury Cathedral
- City Council
- Parish councils in England
References
- ↑ "Mayor of Salisbury". Salisbury City Council. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
- ↑ Salisbury at swenvo.org.uk
- ↑ "Civic History Its Charters and Silver". The Guildhall Salisbury. Salisbury City Council. 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 59250. p. 20329. 24 November 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 59398. p. 7045. 21 April 2010.
- ↑ Briggs, Geoffrey (1971). Civic and Corporate Heraldry: A Dictionary of Impersonal Arms of England, Wales and N. Ireland. London: Heraldry Today. p. 346. ISBN 0-900455-21-7.
- ↑ Fox-Davies, A C (1915). The Book of Public Arms, 2nd edition. London: T C & E C Jack. p. 690.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "What is the symbolism behind Salisbury’s coat of arms?". Wiltshire History Questions. Wiltshire Council. 19 November 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Scott-Giles, C Wilfrid (1953). Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, 2nd edition. London: J M Dent & Sons. p. 384.
- ↑ Broom was elected as a Liberal Democrat and became leader of the council's Liberal Democrats, but she joined the Conservatives at the first council meeting. This followed the refusal of the other Liberal Democrats to support her nomination by the Conservatives as Leader of the Council. Subsequently, the Independent Councillor Andrew Roberts was elected Leader with the support of the remaining Liberal Democrats, Labour, Green and one other Independent. The nomination was opposed by the Conservatives. See "Row as councillor switches parties". Salisbury Journal. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.