Wiltshire County Council

Wiltshire County Council Armorial Banner

The 4th Marquess of Bath, first Chairman of Wiltshire County Council (caricature by Carlo Pellegrini)

Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county.

As a result of the 2009 restructuring of local government in some parts of England, the council was merged into a new unitary authority for Wiltshire with effect from 1 April 2009. However, it was then treated as a "continuing authority", and its successor authority covers exactly the same area and is still a county council, although renamed "Wiltshire Council". Almost all departments of the old county council remained intact under the new arrangements.

History

Main Council building in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge

County Councils were first introduced in England and Wales with full powers from 22 September 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions until then carried out by the unelected Quarter Sessions.^[1] The areas they covered were termed administrative counties and were not in all cases identical to the traditional shire counties, but in Wiltshire the whole 'ceremonial county' came under the authority of the new council.

The first elections to the new county council were held on 23 January 1889, with sixty seats available, but only thirty-two of them were contested. Among those elected unopposed were the 4th Marquess of Bath, the 13th Earl of Pembroke, the 18th Earl of Suffolk, Sir Thomas Grove, 1st Baronet, M. P., Sir Charles Hobhouse, 4th Baronet, and Sir R. H. Pollen, Bart.^[2]

The first provisional meeting of the council was held at Devizes on 31 January 1889, with all of the members present, when Lord Bath was elected as chairman. Several aldermen were elected, all from outside the members of the council.^[3]

The new system of local democracy was a significant development and reflected the increasing range of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain.

Schools (both primary and secondary) were added to the County Council's responsibilities in 1902, and until the 1990s it was also responsible for operating Colleges of Further Education.

In 1930, the members of the county council decided by 45 votes to 27 to build a new county hall in Devizes, which is near the geographical centre of Wiltshire, and not at Trowbridge, very near its western edge. However, construction was delayed, and in 1933 the decision was reversed in favour of Trowbridge, on the grounds that it was better served by rail services.^[4] A site of several acres was bought in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, not far from the railway station, for £1,650, and a new building designed by P. D. Hepworth, perhaps inspired by a building in Amsterdam, was begun in 1938 and finished in 1940 at a cost of £150,000. Between 1940 and 1943, the new county hall, built in a pale stone, was seen as a potential landmark for German aircraft, so was disguised by covering it with camouflage nets.^[5][6] In 1937, Wiltshire County Council was granted a coat of arms.^[7]

Throughout its existence, Wiltshire County Council was responsible for the more strategic local services of Wiltshire, with a changing pattern of lower-tier authorities existing alongside it within its area and responsible for other more local services, such as waste collection. Until 1974, Wiltshire had a large number of urban district and rural district councils. In 1974, local government was reorganised in England and Wales generally, and in Wiltshire dozens of former urban and rural districts were amalgamated into five district councils: Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, West Wiltshire and Thamesdown.

The council was controlled by the Conservatives from 2000 until 2009 and from 2005 was led by Jane Scott. She became the first leader of the new Wiltshire Council.

Position of Swindon

The Borough of Swindon, previously known as Thamesdown, remains part of the ceremonial county of Wiltshire. It was part of the county council's area from 1889 until 1997, when it was reorganised into a new single-tier unitary authority. This had the effect of taking almost one third of Wiltshire's population out of the administrative county. After 1997, Swindon was still treated as being part of Wiltshire for ceremonial purposes (for instance, it still shares a Lord Lieutenant), but the County Council no longer provided any local services in Swindon, so members were no longer elected to it from there.

Functions

By the time it was merged into the new authority, Wiltshire County Council provided a wide range of services, including education (schools, libraries and youth services), social services, highway maintenance, waste disposal, emergency planning, consumer protection and town and country planning for matters to do with minerals, waste, highways and education. This made it one of the largest employers in Wiltshire, with an annual budget of some £300 million.

The working capital still employed by the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust originated in a single grant made by the County Council at the time of the Trust's foundation in 1967, funding which has been described by the Trust's President Lord Lansdowne as "a revolving capital sum".^[8]

Elections

Since 1889, members were elected for a term of office, with elections held all together (initially every three years, later every four years) on the "first past the post" system. Until the 1970s, the elected members chose aldermen, whose term of office was for six years, and who once appointed were also voting members of the council. This form of membership was ended by the Local Government Act 1972, so that after 1974 only honorary (that is, non-voting) aldermen could be appointed.

Until 2005, all of the county's electoral divisions elected a single member, but following a boundary review in 2004 three divisions (Salisbury South, Salisbury East, and Trowbridge East) elected two members each. The final size of the council was forty-nine members. The successor authority, Wiltshire Council, was established in 2009 with a total of ninety-eight members.

• Wiltshire County Council election, 1981
• Wiltshire County Council election, 1985
• Wiltshire County Council election, 1989
• Wiltshire County Council election, 1993
• Wiltshire County Council election, 1997
• Wiltshire County Council election, 2001
• Wiltshire County Council election, 2005

Political control

Wiltshire, shown red within England

At its end in 2009, the council consisted of thirty Conservatives, fourteen Liberal Democrats, three Labour Party members and two Independents. The Conservatives held most of the more rural areas while the Liberal Democrats held several towns, including Trowbridge, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon. The divisions of Westbury Ham & Dilton Marsh and Holt & Paxcroft (both mixed urban and rural areas) elected the two Independents, while the three Labour members held their seats in the city of Salisbury and the towns of Melksham and Devizes.^[9]

History of political control

• May 1981 to May 1985: Conservative^[10]
• May 1985 to May 1989: No overall control, with Liberal/SDP minority administration, with tacit Labour support^[10]
• May 1993 to April 1997: No overall control, with Liberal Democrat and Labour administration
• April 1997 to May 1997: Liberal Democrat
• May 1997 to May 1998: No overall control, with Liberal Democrat and Labour administration
• May 1998 to January 2000: No overall control, with Conservative and Independent administration
• January 2000 to 2009: Conservative

2009 changes

Wiltshire's previous "two tier" system of local government was typical of English shire counties, with the area it covered being sub-divided (since the separation of Swindon) into four local government districts. However, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced on 25 July 2007 that with effect from 1 April 2009 Wiltshire would be served by a new unitary authority, replacing the county council and the four district councils.^[11]

As Wiltshire County Council was designated as a "continuing authority", its 48 outgoing county councillors remained in office until the 4 June 2009 elections, whereas district councillors ceased to hold office on 31 March 2009.

List of notable members

See also List of chairmen of Wiltshire County Council.

• Jack Ainslie 1964–1993 (chairman, 1986–1990)^[12]
• Nigel Anderson 1953–1983 (chairman, 1980–1985)^[13]
• John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (chairman, 1889–1896)^[2]
• Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath (chairman, 1906–1946)
• Brigadier Robert Baddeley 1989–2001 (chairman, 1999–2000)
• John Lindow Calderwood (chairman, 1949–1960)^[14]
• Sir Henry Langton, later Calley 1955–1973 (chairman, 1969–1974)
• Fleur de Rhé-Philipe 1997–2009^[9]
• John Manningham-Buller, 2nd Viscount Dilhorne 1967–1970
• Edmond Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice (chairman, 1896–1906)
• George Fuller 19th century (also member of parliament for Westbury)
• Sir Thomas Grove, 1st Baronet (el. 1889)^[2]
• Brigadier Robert Hall (chairman, 2008–2009)
• Sir Charles Hobhouse, 4th Baronet (el. 1889), also member of parliament for Devizes)^[2]
• Sir Charles Morrison 1958–1964 (later member of parliament for Devizes)^[15]
• Levi Lapper Morse (Alderman to 1913, also member of parliament for Wilton)
• William Ewart Morse (also briefly member of parliament for Bridgwater)
• Christopher Newbury 1997–2009 (also member of Council of Europe)
• George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke (el. 1889)^[2]
• Sidney Herbert, 16th Earl of Pembroke (alderman, 1954–1967)^[16]
• Charles Nicholas Paul Phipps (to 1913, previously member of parliament for Westbury)^[14]
• Sir Richard Hungerford Pollen, 4th Baronet (el. 1889)^[2]
• Myles Ponsonby CBE (1988–1993), previously British Ambassador to Mongolia.^[17]
• Francis Edward Newman Rogers 1894–1911 (also member of parliament for Devizes 1906–1910)
• Mary Salisbury 1963–2001 (not continuous) (chairman, 1990–1993)^[18]
• Jane Scott 1997–2009 (leader, 2003–2009)^[19]
• Earl of Shelburne, later 9th Marquess of Lansdowne (1970–1985)
• Nevil Story Maskelyne 1889–1904 (also member of parliament for Cricklade 1880–1892)
• Henry Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk (el. 1889)^[2]
• Robert Syms 1985–1997 (member of parliament for Poole since 1997)
• Group Captain Frank Willan 1961–1981 (chairman, 1973–1979)
• R. S. A. Williams 1945–1952 (previously member of parliament for Sevenoaks)
• Percy Wyndham (early 20th century, also a member of parliament)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wiltshire.

• Wiltshire Council
• Wiltshire local elections
• Wiltshire Council election, 2009

References

Bibliography

• K. H. Rogers. Wiltshire County Council: The First Hundred Years (Trowbridge: WCC, 1989)

External links

• Wiltshire.gov.uk (official web site)

v t e 2009 structural changes to local government in England   Bedfordshire Abolished Bedford Mid Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire New Bedford Central Bedfordshire Existing (1990s) Luton   Cheshire Abolished Chester Congleton Crewe and Nantwich Ellesmere Port and Neston Macclesfield Vale Royal New Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire East Existing (1990s) Warrington Halton   Cornwall Abolished Caradon Carrick Kerrier North Cornwall Penwith Restormel New Cornwall Existing (1890s) Isles of Scilly   County Durham Abolished Chester-le-Street Derwentside Durham Easington Sedgefield Teesdale Wear Valley New Durham Existing (1990s) Hartlepool Darlington Stockton-on-Tees   Northumberland Abolished Alnwick Berwick-upon-Tweed Blyth Valley Castle Morpeth Tynedale Wansbeck New Northumberland Existing (1990s) None   Shropshire Abolished Bridgnorth North Shropshire Oswestry Shrewsbury and Atcham South Shropshire New Shropshire Existing (1990s) Telford and Wrekin   Wiltshire Abolished Salisbury West Wiltshire Kennet North Wiltshire New Wiltshire Existing (1990s) Swindon