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Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 9 min

Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council
Coat of arms
Council logo
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 1974
Leadership
Simon Bond,
Liberal Democrat
since 23 May 2024[1]
Simon Werner,
Liberal Democrat
since 23 May 2023
Stephen Evans
since April 2023
Structure
Seats41 councillors
Political groups
Administration (29)
Opposition (12)
Length of term
4 years
SalaryNo salary, but an annual taxable basic allowance of £9,075
Elections
Plurality-at-large
Last election
4 May 2023
Next election
6 May 2027
Meeting place
Town Hall at Maidenhead
Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1RF
Website
www.rbwm.gov.uk

Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council is the local authority for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, a local government district in Berkshire, England. Since 1998, the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council.

The council has had a Liberal Democrat majority since 2023. It is based at Maidenhead Town Hall.

History

[edit]

The non-metropolitan district of Windsor and Maidenhead and its council were created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the whole area of five former districts and part of a sixth, which were all abolished at the same time:[2]

The two Eton districts had been in Buckinghamshire prior to the reforms. The new district was named 'Windsor and Maidenhead' after its two largest towns.[3]

The district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.[4] The district was also given the additional honorific title of royal borough, which had previously been held by the municipal borough of New Windsor.[5] The council uses the term 'Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead' to refer to both the geographical district and the council as the administrative body.[6][7]

The first elections to the council were held in 1973. It then acted as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until 1 April 1974 when it formally came into being and the old districts and their councils were abolished. From 1974 until 1998 the council was a lower-tier authority, with Berkshire County Council providing county-level services. The county council was abolished in 1998 and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead took on county-level services, making it a unitary authority. Berkshire continues to legally exist as a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county, albeit without a county council.[8]

Governance

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As a unitary authority, the council provides both district-level and county-level functions. Much of the borough is covered by civil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas, although the two largest towns of Maidenhead and Windsor are unparished.[9]

Political control

[edit]

The council has had a Liberal Democrat majority since the 2023 election, Two Independent Councillors serve in Cabinet but the Independent group do not form part of the Administration. [10][11]

Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[12][13]

Lower-tier non-metropolitan district council

Party in control Years
Conservative 1974–1991
No overall control 1991–1995
Liberal Democrats 1995–1997
No overall control 1997–1998

Unitary authority

Party in control Years
No overall control 1998–1999
Liberal Democrats 1999–2000
No overall control 2000–2003
Liberal Democrats 2003–2007
Conservative 2007–2023
Liberal Democrats 2023–present

Leadership

[edit]

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Windsor and Maidenhead, with political leadership instead being provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2007 have been:[14]

Councillor Party From To
Mary Rose Gliksten Liberal Democrats 2003 6 May 2007
David Burbage[15] Conservative 22 May 2007 24 May 2016
Simon Dudley[16] Conservative 24 May 2016 12 Sep 2019
Andrew Johnson[17] Conservative 24 Sep 2019 7 May 2023
Simon Werner[18] Liberal Democrats 23 May 2023

Composition

[edit]

Following the 2023 election and changes of allegiance up to August 2024, the composition of the council was:[19][20]

Party Councillors
Liberal Democrats 21
Conservative 7
Borough First 6
OWRA 2
WWRA 2
Flood Prevention 1
Independent 1
Labour 1
Total 41

The Borough First, Old Windsor Residents' Association and other Independents sit together as the 'Local Independents' group, which, although two of its members sit in Cabinet, do not form part of the administration with the Liberal Democrats.[21] The next election is due in 2027.[10]

Elections

[edit]
Main article: Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council elections

Elections are held every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2019 there have been 41 councillors elected from 19 wards.[22]

Premises

[edit]

The council is based at Maidenhead Town Hall, on St Ives Road in Maidenhead, which had been completed in 1962 for the former Maidenhead Borough Council.[23][24]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Councillor Simon Bond is elected the New Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead". 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  2. ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 26 July 2024
  3. ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 26 July 2024
  4. ^ "District Councils and Boroughs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 28 March 1974. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  5. ^ "The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Electoral Changes) Order 2002", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2002/2372, retrieved 26 July 2024
  6. ^ "The Council's Constitution". Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Surrey County Council v Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead [2016] EWHC 2901 (Admin) (16 November 2016)". England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions. British and Irish Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  8. ^ "The Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1996/1879, retrieved 9 May 2024
  9. ^ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Windsor and Maidenhead". Local Councils. Thorncliffe. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  11. ^ Moules, James (31 October 2023). "Lib Dem candidate discusses campaign to be Windsor's next MP". Slough and South Bucks Observer. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Windsor & Maidenhead Royal". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  14. ^ "Council minutes". Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  15. ^ Batt, Francis (2 May 2016). "Council leader David Burbage says goodbye". The Royal Borough Observer. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  16. ^ Preston, James; Taylor, Will (12 September 2019). "Council leader Simon Dudley resigns". Maidenhead Advetiser. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  17. ^ Almroth-Wright, Indy; O'Hagan, Patrick (5 May 2023). "Local elections 2023: Leader ousted by 22-year-old as Tories lose control". BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  18. ^ Waites, Daisy (24 May 2023). "Windsor and Maidenhead council appoint new appoint new leader and cabinet". The Royal Borough Observer. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  19. ^ "Local elections 2023: live council results for England". The Guardian.
  20. ^ "Political Composition of the Council | Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead". www.rbwm.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  21. ^ "Your Councillors". The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  22. ^ "The Windsor and Maidenhead (Electoral Changes) Order 2018", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2018/1272, retrieved 5 May 2023
  23. ^ "Contact us". Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  24. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (2010). Berkshire. Yale University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0300126624.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_and_Maidenhead_Borough_Council
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