Congleton (borough)

For the principal settlement of this borough, see Congleton.

Borough of Congleton
Shown within Cheshire
Geography
Status	Non-metropolitan district
HQ	Westfields, Sandbach
ONS code	13UC
History
Origin	Congleton Municipal Borough Alsager Urban District Middlewich Urban District Sandbach Urban District Congleton Rural District.
Created	1 April 1974
Abolished	31 March 2009
Succeeded by	Cheshire East

Congleton was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It included the towns of Congleton, Alsager, Holmes Chapel, Middlewich and Sandbach. The headquarters of the borough council were located in Sandbach.

Creation

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the former borough of Congleton, the urban districts of Alsager, Middlewich and Sandbach, and the Congleton Rural District.

Civil Parishes

Congleton was divided into 23 civil parishes and included no unparished areas. Of the 23 civil parishes, four were administered at this level of local government by town councils: Alsager, Middlewich, Sandbach, and Congleton; with the remainder having parish councils.^[1] There are two pairs of civil parishes that are grouped together so that they share a parish council. These are Hulme Walfield and Somerford Booths, whose single parish council is called "Hulme Walfield and Somerford Booths Parish Council", and Newbold Astbury and Moreton cum Alcumlow, whose single parish council is called "Newbold Astbury-cum-Moreton Parish Council".^[1]

The following civil parishes were included in the borough:

• Alsager (town)
• Arclid
• Betchton
• Bradwall
• Brereton
• Church Lawton
• Congleton (town)
• Cranage
• Goostrey
• Hassall
• Holmes Chapel
• Hulme Walfield
• Middlewich (town)
• Moreton cum Alcumlow
• Moston
• Newbold Astbury
• Odd Rode
• Sandbach (town)
• Smallwood
• Somerford
• Somerford Booths
• Swettenham
• Twemlow

Demographics

The resident population of the borough, as measured in the 2001 Census, was 90,655, of which 49 per cent were male and 51 per cent were female.

Religion

The percentage of people of each religion in the borough (trom the Census 2001):^[2]

Stated religion	Percentage
Christian	81.46%
Buddhist	0.12%
Hindu	0.11%
Jewish	0.06%
Muslim	0.17%
Sikh	0.04%
Other religions	0.16%
No religion	11.46%
Religion not stated	6.43%

Elections and political control

Congleton was divided into 20 borough wards which elected a total of 48 councillors to the borough council. The following tables provide the names of these wards and show the composition of the council by political party at 31 March 2009.^[3]

Ward	Number of Councillors	Ward	Number of Councillors
Alsager Central	2	Alsager East	2
Alsager West	2	Astbury	1
Brereton	1	Buglawton	2
Congleton Central	2	Congleton North	2
Congleton North West	2	Congleton South	3
Congleton West	3	Dane Valley	2
Holmes Chapel	3	Lawton	2
Middlewich Cledford	3	Middlewich Kinderton	3
Odd Rode	3	Sandbach East	3
Sandbach North	3	Sandbach West	3

The office of mayor was filled by one of the councillors after a ballot amongst all the councillors, and the last holder of the position was a member of the Liberal Democrat party.

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	25
	Liberal Democrat	13
	Middlewich First	6
	Independent	4

Education in the Borough of Congleton

Main article: Education in Congleton Borough

Abolition

In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Cheshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The decision to merge the boroughs of Congleton, Macclesfield, and Crewe and Nantwich to create a single unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007, following a consultation period in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.^[4]

The Borough of Congleton was abolished on 1 April 2009, when the new Cheshire East unitary authority was formed.^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Parish Councils". Congleton Borough Council. http://www.congleton.gov.uk/?t=1393. Retrieved 1 December 2008. 
2. ^ "Key Figures for 2001 Census: Census Area Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=276897&c=congleton&d=13&e=16&g=428012&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1216206646992&enc=1. Retrieved 2008-06-28. 
3. ^ "Your Councillors". Congleton Borough Council. http://www.congleton.gov.uk/?t=1351&task=modern&modern.url=http%3A%2F%2Fonlineservices.congleton.gov.uk%2Fminutes/mgMemberIndex.asp%3FFN%3DWARD%26VW%3DLIST%26PIC%3D0. Retrieved 27 November 2008. 
4. ^ BBC News, 25 July 2007 - County split into two authorities. Retrieval Date: 25 July 2007.
5. ^ Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008

Coordinates: 53°9′N 2°18′W / 53.15°N 2.3°W / 53.15; -2.3