West Berkshire Council

West Berkshire Council
West Berkshire Council
	File:West Berkshire Council logo.svg
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Chair of the Council	Rick Jones, Conservative ; since 10 May 2022
Leader of the Council	Lynne Doherty, Conservative ; since 24 May 2019
Deputy Leader of the Council	Graham Bridgman, Conservative
Leader of the Opposition	Lee Dillon, Liberal Democrat
Chief Executive	Nigel Lynn ; since 18 October 2021
Structure
Seats	43 councillors
Political groups	Administration (24) Conservative (24); Other parties (19) Liberal Democrat (16); Green (3);
Committees	10 Overview and Scrutiny Management; Health Scrutiny; Resource Management Working Group; Licensing; District Planning; Eastern Area Planning; Western Area Planning; Governance and Audit; Personnel; Standards;
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	Plurality-at-large
Last election	2 May 2019
Next election	2023
Meeting place
	Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury
Website
	West Berkshire Council

West Berkshire Council is the local authority of West Berkshire in Berkshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. West Berkshire is divided into 30 wards, electing 52 councillors.^[2] The council was created by the Local Government Act 1972 as the Newbury District Council and replaced five local authorities: Bradfield Rural District Council, Hungerford Rural District Council, Newbury Borough Council, Newbury Rural District Council and Wantage Rural District Council. On 1 April 1998 it was renamed West Berkshire Council and since then has been a unitary authority, assuming the powers and functions of Berkshire County Council within the district. In the 2015 election the Conservatives won 48 out of 52 seats. In 2019, they won 24 out of 43 seats, losing half of their councillors.

History

The council was formed by the Local Government Act 1972 as the Newbury District Council. It replaced Bradfield Rural District Council, Hungerford Rural District Council, Newbury Borough Council, Newbury Rural District Council and Wantage Rural District Council. The current local authority was first elected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the District of Newbury on 1 April 1974.

It was envisaged through the Local Government Act 1972 that Newbury as a non-metropolitan district council would share power with Berkshire County Council. This arrangement lasted until 1998 when Berkshire County Council was abolished and the renamed Newbury District Council, now West Berkshire Council, gained responsibility for services that had been provided by the county council.

Politics

West Berkshire Council is elected every four years, with, currently, 43 councillors being elected at each election. From the first election to the unitary authority in 1997 to the 2003 election the Liberal Democrats had a majority and they then kept control with the chairman's casting vote until 2005.

In 2005 the Conservative party gained a majority, which they have held since.

In the 2019 United Kingdom local elections the Conservatives lost councillors, though retaining their majority, whilst the Liberal Democrats made significant gains and the Green Party also made gains.

Composition

The council composition is:

Political group		Councillors
Political group		2011	2015	2019	Current
	Conservative	39	48	24	24
	Liberal Democrat	13	4	16	16
	Green Party	0	0	3	3
Total		52	52	43	43

Executive

Post		Ward
Leader of the Council Portfolio Holder for District Strategy and Communications	Lynne Doherty	Newbury Speen
Deputy Leader of the Council Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing	Graham Bridgman	Burghfield & Mortimer
Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care	Joanne Stewart	Tilehurst Birch Copse
Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Education	Dominic Boeck	Aldermaston
Portfolio Holder for Environment and Transformation	Steve Ardagh-Walter	Thatcham Colthrop & Crookham
Portfolio Holder for Finance and Economic Development	Ross Mackinnon	Bradfield
Portfolio Holder for Internal Governance and Strategic Partnerships	Thomas Marino	Tilehurst & Purley
Portfolio Holder for Housing, Leisure and Culture	Howard Woollaston	Lambourn
Portfolio Holder for Planning, Transport and Countryside	Richard Somner	Tilehurst South & Holybrook

References

^ West Berkshire Council – Your Councillors. Westberks.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
^ "West Berkshire Council – Your Councillors". Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.

[1] West Berkshire Council – Your Councillors. Westberks.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.

[2] "West Berkshire Council – Your Councillors". Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.

[1]

[2]

v t e Unitary authorities of England
Districts	Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Buckinghamshire Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Durham Darlington Derby Dorset East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Isles of Scilly Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York
Councils	Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Buckinghamshire Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall Derby Dorset Durham Darlington East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Isles of Scilly Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York
Local elections	Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Durham Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Isles of Scilly Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York