Wisbech Town Council

Wisbech Town Council is a parish council covering the town of Wisbech in England. It is the successor to the Wisbech Municipal Borough. The Council is based at 1 North Brink, Wisbech where its committee meetings and full council meetings are usually held.

From May 2023 the town's eighteen councillors are elected in ten wards (with numbers of councillors in each): Claremont (1), Clarence (1), Clarkson (2), Medworth (2), North (2), Octavia Hill (4), Peckover East (1), Peckover West (1), Staithe and Kirkgate (3) and Waterlees (1). Each year they meet to elect a Town Mayor and deputy mayor. Four staff administer and organise the council's activities.

A number of sites around the town are available for rent.

The council organises the erection of Christmas trees and lighting along the River Nene and around the town. The lights are usually switched on in late November. The council obtained a controversial^{[clarification needed]} Christmas tree from Peterborough; this was erected at the opposite end of the Market Place from the traditional Christmas tree, and attracted media coverage on TV news.^[1]

The council makes grants available to charities and voluntary groups.

The council formed a working party and set aside £35,000 to oppose the proposed "mega-incinerator" to be constructed in the town.^[2]

The Town Council operates a market on the Market Place seven days a week. Well-established and locally well-known stalls offer local produce, others a range of goods. There are a variety of stalls, some trading during the week, others on a regular basis on a set day. Speciality stalls provide goods and services.^[3] In 2022 the Market Place was relandscaped: the existing surface was removed and a new surface laid down, at the centre of which was a representation of the town's coat of arms.^[4]

The annual Wisbech Rock Concert organised by the council is held in Wisbech Park each summer.^[5]

This annual two-week fair, held in March, still occupies the Market Place and attracts large crowds, although there are no longer the menageries of animals and theatrical performances seen in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[6]

Both the Mayor^[7] and the council^[8] use social media to promote the town and council.

This annual one-week fair held in September occupies the Chapel Road car park and attracts large numbers of visitors to the town.

The Castle, a regency villa built by Joseph Medworth, is leased from Cambridgeshire County Council and run as a community resource. A business plan was drawn up and presented by Cllr Hoy.^[9] It hosts educational events, community activities and private functions.^[10]

The council chamber is in a listed building and contains historic items connected with the town's civic heritage. An online guide to the chamber has been created.^[11][12] The chamber contains a number of portraits and other paintings. One is that of the Rev Abraham Jobson DD painted in 1824 by Jacob George Strutt.^[13] In March 2021 it was alleged that the chamber was being used as the location for a police surveillance camera, this was refuted by the clerk.^[14]

Granted 1929. Officially described as:

• Arms: Azure representation of St Peter and St Paul or standing within a double canopy or (Arms of the Borough of Wisbech).^[15]
• Crest: On a wreath of the colours, A 16th Century ship with three masts Or on each mast a square sail Azure the centre one charged with two keys in saltire wards upwards and the other two charged with a castle Or (Crest of the Borough of Wisbech).

These were transferred from the Borough of Wisbech to the Town Council.^[16]

The minimum age to be a councillor was lowered from 21 to 18 by the Electoral Administration Act 2006. The Wisbech Standard reported that twenty-two year old Samantha Hoy was the youngest ever member when she was co-opted onto the council in 2009.^[17] This was incorrect as Cllr Bennett had won an election to the council 30 years earlier in 1979 as a twenty-one year old.^[18] Cllr W Retchless was also elected as a twenty-one year old in 1987.^[19]

Elections were held for all the wards of the Town Council on 4 May 2023, the same day as elections to Fenland District Council. The Local Government Boundary Commission proposed new wards.^[20]

A number of former councillors have later become parliamentary candidates and MPs. Malcolm Moss's political career started as a Wisbech Town councillor in 1979.

The council may confer the freedom of the town on individuals or organisations, including the following:

• 1996 No.1 Company, Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force.
• 2001 James Gee Pascoe Crowden, LL, KStJ, JP
• 2010 Jody Alan Cundy CBE
• 2013 Richard Symond Gyles Barnwell, DL
• 2015 Malcolm Douglas Moss^[33]
• 2015 Royal British Legion riders involved in the Cambs876 Remembered project^[34]
• 2017 Gerald Fleming^[35]
• 2017 John McIntosh^[36]
• 2017 Ronald Sanderson^[37]
• 2019 Wisbech In Bloom^[38]
• 2019 The Vivien Fire Engine Trust^[39]

• Wisbech Annual Guide and Map (produced and distributed to local households each year).^[40]
• Wisbech Town Council Civic Handbook (2011)^[41]
• Code of Conduct (2012)^[42]
• Standing Orders (2019)^[43]
• A brief guide to Wisbech Town Council's Council Chamber^[44]

At its inception the newly formed Town Council resolved that the Chairman be styled Town Mayor. Mayor's role is largely ambassadorial, attending community events, opening shops and businesses and acting as a representative of the town in neighbouring areas. The Mayor also hosts a number of fundraising events throughout the year raising money for chosen charities.

'It is custom and practice on this Council for the Mayor to be selected on seniority and long service, whilst being mindful to select, where possible, a member who has not served as Mayor before. It is also custom and practice for this Town Council to select a Mayor Elect prior to the Annual Meeting who will then go forward to be considered by Full Council at the Annual Meeting. At the same time as a Mayor Elect, it is also custom and practice to select a Deputy Mayor Elect, who will then also be considered and elected by Full Council at the Annual Council Meeting.'^[45]

Each year the councillors at the Annual Council Meeting in May elect members to be the town mayor and deputy mayor. The fur trimmed robes used for mayor-making were created for local shipping magnate Richard Young five years consecutively Mayor of the Borough of Wisbech. It is now unusual to be mayor in consecutive years. The event usually takes place in the council chamber, exceptionally in 2020 this took place online.^[46] In May 2021 Wisbech Castle hosted the Mayor-making for the first time.^[47]

This election was contested with new boundaries. Councillors Hill, J Oliver and Rackley lost their seats and the Conservatives with 14 seats, lost one seat overall to Independents (4).

Previous election 2015.