The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering two former districts which were both abolished at the same time:[3]
These two urban districts had been part of Middlesex prior to 1965, when they had been transferred to Surrey on the creation of Greater London.[4] The new district was named after the medieval hundred of Spelthorne, which had covered the area plus adjoining parts of modern Greater London.[5][6] The district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.[7]
Floods in 2014 caused internal damage to 891 (or 2.2%) of homes in Spelthorne due to record rainfall causing Thames flooding. This compared to internal damage to more than 30% of homes in the neighbouring settlement of Wraysbury in the borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.[11]
In 2014 a campaign group of local business leaders called for the borough – along with others close to the capital – to be transferred from the county of Surrey to Greater London. The proposal was generally opposed by the public and was not pursued.[12]
On 27 February 2024, Spelthorne Borough Council unveiled their Corporate Plan for 2024-2028, highlighting their key priorities for the next few years. [16]
As of 2023, the council had £1.1 billion in borrowing, with the highest borrowing to income ratio of any council in England.[17]
Political control
The council has been under no overall control since 2020.[18] Following the 2023 election, independent councillor Joanne Sexton was appointed leader of the council, with Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Bateson serving as deputy leader.[19]
The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[20][21]
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Spelthorne. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1995 have been:[22]
Five of the independent councillors sit together as the 'Independent Spelthorne Group', the other sits with the Conservatives. The next election is due in 2027.[26]
Since the last boundary changes in 2003 the council has comprised 39 councillors representing 13 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held every four years.[27]
Premises
The council offices are at Knowle Green in Staines. The building was opened in 1972 for the former Staines Urban District Council, shortly before that council was abolished in 1974 to be replaced by Spelthorne Borough Council.[28]
Parks, lakes and the River Thames
The borough council estimates it has 3.0 square kilometres (750 acres) of parks, including, from Shepperton upstream, the Thames Path.[29] Its sixteen main parks with recreational/sports facilities[30] are supplemented by small greens and linear parks, such as those by the River Thames. The largest parks have woodland and flowering meadow. These support diverse and rare grasses, invertebrates and birds on a rich alluvial soil: Laleham Park and Sunbury Park.
The borough has five reservoirs, covering more than 15% of land, which apart from their main use of ensuring a stable and energy-efficient drinking water supply to London, are bird reserves and in the case of the Queen Mary Reservoir, a sailing training centre. A similar percentage of land is covered by other lakes, mostly former gravel pits no longer pumped out of water. The 10-kilometre (6.2mi)River Ash, Surrey starts and ends in the borough.
Of recognised high importance to nature is Staines Moor, which alongside Sheepwalk Lake and wetlands, Shepperton are the sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).[31]
Tourism
Hospitality is widespread in the riverside towns. Sunbury and Staines town hubs are within 6 miles (10km) of top UK attractions such as Windsor Castle, Thorpe Park, Hampton Court, Twickenham Rugby Stadium and Kew Gardens.[citation needed]
A January 2005 enhanced base map study by the Office for National Statistics managed to classify 50.8 square kilometres (19.6sqmi), 99% of land in Spelthorne. The findings of this study showed that the land use in Spelthorne was as follows:[33]
Area
Greenspace
20.954km2 (8.090sqmi)
Water
11.165km2 (4.311sqmi)
Domestic gardens
8.495km2 (3.280sqmi)
Road
3.919km2 (1.513sqmi)
Other land uses
2.491km2 (0.962sqmi)
Domestic buildings
2.403km2 (0.928sqmi)
Non-domestic buildings
1.045km2 (0.403sqmi)
Path
0.209km2 (0.081sqmi)
Rail
0.134km2 (0.052sqmi)
Two Rivers Retail Park and Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines-upon-Thames. In 2016 there were:
5,365 businesses (including retailers) in Spelthorne.
a 10 screen cinema with Dolby Digital Surround Sound.
12 miles of river frontage for picturesque walks.
65% green belt land or water – a green and blue buffer offsetting local major economic contributors Heathrow Airport and the UK motorway network
Spelthorne hosts one of the county's major archery clubs (Spelthorne Archers) and five lawn bowls clubs.
Fishing is open to all, subject to rod licensing,[34] from the Thames Path National Trail and adjoining islands in Laleham and Staines as well as at lakes in Shepperton and Ashford. One rowing club is in the borough, at Laleham, with others nearby including Staines Boat Club across Staines Bridge from the town centre which organises a regatta to Penton Hook in July for racing shells. Sunbury Skiff and Punting Club is the newest of all six which are quite clustered on the Thames, several of which incorporate dongola racing, dragon boat racing and canoeing. It organises an August regatta with fireworks.
In May the Staines 10k charity run takes place organised by two local running/'strolling' clubs and the council. One of the more than 720 nationwide 5,000-metre running competitions of the major organiser is around the rugby union club in its borders, which has a small nature reserve it owns to one end.[35]
Other venues hosting annual events in a range of sports are Kempton Park Racecourse and Staines Lammas Park.
Towns and villages
High Street in Staines-upon-ThamesSpelthorne coat of arms mosaic on Staines High Street
The stated proportion of land that is absorbed by domestic dwellings tends to be housing with gardens forming suburbs to London and otherwise has mid rise urban town centres with exceptional offices (in Staines-upon-Thames) and apartments (in Sunbury-on-Thames) which are high rise, including a minority of the social housing.
The non-urban parts, inclusive of the embanked water retaining reservoirs, are today for the most part Spelthorne's parks and lakes. The bulk of the rest is mostly narrow buffering land being arable farming, horse-grazing meadows and sheep grazing on the reservoir embankments and fringes with Green Belt legal status. Shopping is available in each of the towns and in the village of Shepperton but not in the other small villages which are connected by road and bus to the nearby towns. Kempton Park Racecourse and Shepperton Studios are in Spelthorne. Staines is the largest town and has local government and judicial buildings. Each of the towns has libraries and schools.
In July 2017, Shepperton was named as the UK's most courteous town by the National Campaign for Courtesy.
↑ In Staines upon Thames post town. As with the first four places, these are ancient parishes, manors and were also in local services/improvements civil parishes from 1895 until 1974.[36]
↑ Former hamlet of Stanwell. In Staines upon Thames post town. Its verges, grazing and hay meadow parts have mostly become part of Staines Moor from which they have been indivisible since the 1820s when both were inclosed (privatised) from an area of common land alongside the River Colne and later transferred to the local authority.[37]
1 2 Former hamlet of Sunbury-on-Thames. In Shepperton post town.[38]
↑ Covers a small area as covered most of the Queen Mary Reservoir. Of sporadic use: half-rural, half-suburban streets with trees and verges. The streets adjoin other housing across the Ash in Shepperton Green; within Shepperton post town and this is the home of Shepperton Studios.[36]
1 2 Susan Reynolds, ed. (1962). "Stanwell: Introduction". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around 17 miles west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Staines is close to Heathrow Airport and is linked to the national motorway network by the M25 and M3. The town is part of the Greater London Built-up Area.
Sunbury-on-Thames, known locally as Sunbury, is a town on the north bank of the River Thames in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England, 13 mi (21 km) southwest of central London. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, in 1965 Sunbury and other surrounding towns were initially intended to form part of the newly created county of Greater London, but were instead transferred to Surrey. Sunbury adjoins Feltham to the north, Hampton to the east, Ashford to the northwest and Shepperton to the southwest. Walton-on-Thames is to the south, on the opposite bank of the Thames.
Ashford is a town in Spelthorne, in Surrey, England, including some areas within the London Borough of Hounslow. The town lies 14 mi (23 km) west of central London. Its name derives from a crossing point of the River Ash, a distributary of the River Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town has been part of Surrey since 1965. Ashford consists of relatively low density low- and medium-rise buildings, none of them being high rise. If excluding apartments most houses are semi-detached. In 2011 it had a population of 27,382.
Shepperton is a village in the Spelthorne district, in north Surrey, England, around 15 mi (24 km) south west of central London. The settlement is on the north bank of the River Thames, between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD and in the Domesday Book.
Upper Halliford is a small village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England approximately 24 km (15 mi) west of central London. It is part of the Shepperton post town and is in the Metropolitan Green Belt. The closest settlements are Shepperton, Charlton and Walton on Thames. St Andrew’s Baptist Church is in the southern part of the village and the settlement is in the ecclesiastical Parish of Sunbury on Thames. The conservation area surrounds the village green.
Stanwell is a village in the Spelthorne district, in Surrey, England. It is 16 miles (26 km) west of central London. A small corner of its land is used as industrial land for nearby Heathrow Airport. The rest of the village is made up of residential and recreational land. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it has, like the rest of Spelthorne, been in Surrey since 1965. The village is to the south of the cargo-handling area of Heathrow Airport and to the east of the Staines Reservoirs. Stanwell is the northernmost settlement in Surrey, bordering Berkshire and Greater London.
Spelthorne is a constituency in Surrey, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lincoln Jopp, a Conservative. Its previous MP Kwasi Kwarteng did not stand for re-election in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.
Uxbridge was a seat returning one Member of Parliament (MP) of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 to 2010. Its MPs elected were: Conservative Party candidates for 107 years and Labour Party candidates for 18 years. The closing 40 years of the seat's history saw Conservative victory — in 1997 on a very marginal majority in relative terms.
Staines was a local government district from 1894 to 1974 named after the English town of Staines.
The River Ash is a small, shallow river in Surrey, England. Its course of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) is just outside Greater London. Work has been carried out to re-align, clear and build up a small, Littleton head of water and create two backwaters. One backwater dates to the medieval period; the other to the 1990s. It flows as one of the six distributaries of the River Colne from the south of Staines Moor immediately south of the Staines Bypass eastwards through the rest of the borough of Spelthorne before meeting the River Thames.
Staines Rural District was a rural district of Middlesex in England from 1894 to 1930.
History of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, and historically in the county of Middlesex.
Stanwell Moor is a village and moor in the Borough of Spelthorne, approximately 17 miles (27 km) west of central London. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. West of its generally narrow moor is the M25 London Orbital Motorway and the village is 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.
Spelthorne was a hundred of the historic county of Middlesex, England. It contained these parishes and settlements:
The Queen Mary Reservoir is one of the largest of London's reservoirs supplying fresh water to London and parts of surrounding counties, and is located in the Borough of Spelthorne in Surrey. The reservoir covers 707 acres (2.86 km2) and is 45 ft (14 m) above the surrounding area.
Kempton Park, England formerly an expanded manor known as Kempton, Kenton and other forms, today refers to the land owned by the Jockey Club: Kempton Park nature reserve and Kempton Park Racecourse in the Spelthorne district of Surrey. Today's landholding was the heart of, throughout the Medieval period, a private parkland – and its location along with its being a royal manor rather than ecclesiastic, or high-nobility manor led to some occasional residence by Henry III and three centuries later hunting among a much larger chase by Henry VIII and his short-reigned son, Edward VI.
Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey, England is elected every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2003, 39 councillors are elected from 13 wards.
The 2023 Spelthorne Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England.
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