Dorset Council | |
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Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 2019 |
Preceded by | Weymouth and Portland West Dorset North Dorset Purbeck East Dorset Dorset County Council |
Leadership | |
Matt Prosser since 1 April 2019 [2] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 82 councillors |
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Political groups |
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Elections | |
First past the post | |
Last election | 2 May 2024 |
Next election | 3 May 2029 |
Meeting place | |
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County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, DT1 1XJ | |
Website | |
www |
Dorset Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Dorset in England. It is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of Dorset, which also includes Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The council was created in 2019 when local government across Dorset was reorganised.
The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since the 2024 election. It is based at County Hall in Dorchester.
Prior to 2019, the non-metropolitan county of Dorset had a two-tier structure of local government, with Dorset County Council serving as the upper-tier authority, and the six district councils of Christchurch, East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, and Weymouth and Portland serving as lower-tier authorities. The boroughs of Bournemouth and Poole had both been removed from the non-metropolitan county in 1997 to become unitary authorities, but remained part of the ceremonial county. [3]
Following consultation on proposals described as 'Future Dorset', which concluded in 2018, local government across the whole ceremonial county of Dorset was reorganised with effect from 1 April 2019. The nine previous councils (Dorset County Council, the six lower-tier district councils and the two unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole) were all abolished. They were replaced by two unitary authorities: Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. [4]
The way the changes were implemented was to redefine the non-metropolitan county of Dorset to remove the borough of Christchurch, which was merged with Bournemouth and Poole to create Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The redefined non-metropolitan county therefore covered the combined area of the former districts of East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, and Weymouth and Portland. A non-metropolitan district of Dorset was created matching the new version of the non-metropolitan county. Dorset Council is legally the district council, and there is no separate county council; the district council also performs county council functions, making it a unitary authority. [5]
A shadow authority was established in May 2018 to oversee the transition, comprising all elected councillors from the five districts in the new Dorset Council area, plus all councillors on Dorset County Council except the five who represented divisions in Christchurch. [6] Rebecca Knox, the Conservative leader of Dorset County Council, was appointed leader of the shadow authority. [7]
The new district and council formally came into being on 1 April 2019, at which point the old councils were abolished. The shadow authority continued to run the council until the inaugural election in May 2019. [8]
As a unitary authority, the council provides both district-level and county-level services. The whole area is divided into civil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government. [9]
Following the 2024 election, the Liberal Democrats had a two-seat majority on the council. [10] They therefore could have formed an majority administration alone, but opted instead to form an administration with the Green Party. [11] [12]
Political control of the council since its formation in 2019 has been as follows: [13]
Party in Control | Years | |
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Conservative | 2019–2024 | |
Liberal Democrats | 2024–present |
During the shadow period 2018–2019, Rebecca Knox, Conservative leader of the outgoing Dorset County Council, served as leader of the shadow authority. [14] At the first formal meeting of the new Dorset Council after its first elections in 2019, Spencer Flower was appointed leader of the council. He had been the last leader of the former East Dorset District Council. [15]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spencer Flower | Conservative | 16 May 2019 | 16 May 2024 | |
Nick Ireland [16] | Liberal Democrats | 16 May 2024 |
Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was: [17]
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | 42 | |
Conservative | 30 | |
Green | 4 | |
Independents for Dorset | 3 | |
Labour | 2 | |
Independent | 1 | |
Total | 82 |
The independent councillor sits in a group with the local party Independents for Dorset. [18] [19] The next election is due in May 2029.
Since the first election in 2019 the council has comprised 82 councillors representing 52 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. [20] [21] [22] As part of the reforms creating the new council, it was specified that the first two elections in 2019 and 2024 should each be for a five year term of office, reverting to the normal four year terms used by other English local authorities from 2029 onwards. [23] [24]
The council has its headquarters at County Hall at Colliton Park in Dorchester, which was completed for Dorset County Council in 1955. [25] [26]
On 14 May 2024, the new cabinet was announced, including Green Party councillor from Rodwell and Wyke, Clare Sutton. [27] 'Lead councillors' (deputy portfolio holders) were scrapped to save money. [28] [29] Four councillors representing wards in Weymouth were appointed, which was significant as the previous Conservative cabinet had no members from Weymouth, despite it being the largest town in the council's area. [30]
Councillor | Party | Portfolio | Ward | |
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Nick Ireland | Liberal Democrats | Council leader, performance, communications, the environment, climate change and safeguarding | Crossways | |
Richard Biggs | Liberal Democrats | Deputy leader portfolio holder for property and assets, economic growth and levelling up, Dorchester councillor | Dorchester Poundbury | |
Simon Clifford | Liberal Democrats | Finance, corporate assets and strategy | Chickerell | |
Ryan Holloway | Liberal Democrats | Corporate development, transformation, digital and change | Wareham | |
Jon Andrews | Liberal Democrats | Commissioned services, highways, waste and travel | Sherborne East | |
Steve Robinson | Liberal Democrats | Adult social services | Lytchett Matravers and Upton | |
Gill Taylor | Liberal Democrats | Public health, environmental health and housing | Chickerell | |
Shane Bartlett | Liberal Democrats | Emergency planning | Wimborne Minster | |
Ryan Hope | Liberal Democrats | Customer, culture and community engagement | Westham | |
Clare Sutton | Green Party | Children’s services, education and skills | Rodwell and Wyke |
Other posts, including council chair, committee chairs and vice-chairs were elected at the council’s annual meeting in Dorchester on 16 May 2024. [31]
Committee chairs: [32]
Dorset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south-east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The largest settlement is Bournemouth, and the county town is Dorchester.
Weymouth and Portland was a local government district with borough status in Dorset, England from 1974 to 2019. It consisted of the resort of Weymouth and the Isle of Portland, and includes the areas of Wyke Regis, Preston, Melcombe Regis, Upwey, Broadwey, Southill, Nottington, Westham, Radipole, Chiswell, Castletown, Fortuneswell, Weston, Southwell and Easton; the latter six being on the Isle of Portland.
New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Lyndhurst, although the largest town is Totton. The district also includes the towns of Fordingbridge, Lymington, New Milton and Ringwood. The district is named after and covers most of the New Forest National Park, which occupies much of the central part of the district. The main urban areas are around the periphery of the forest. The district has a coastline onto the Solent to the south and Southampton Water to the east.
Bournemouth Borough Council was the local authority for Bournemouth in Dorset, England between 1974 and 2019. Prior to 1974 Bournemouth had been a county borough within Hampshire. Under the Local Government Act 1972 Bournemouth became a non-metropolitan district within Dorset on 1 April 1974, with the same boundaries as the former county borough. On 1 April 1997 it became a unitary authority, taking over the functions previously provided for the area by Dorset County Council. In 2019 the council was abolished, merging with Christchurch and Poole to form Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
The unitary authorities of England are a type of local authority responsible for all local government services in an area. They combine the functions of a non-metropolitan county council and a non-metropolitan district council, which elsewhere in England provide two tiers of local government.
Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected councillors and was based at County Hall in Dorchester. The council was abolished on 31 March 2019 as part of structural changes to local government in Dorset.
Poole was a unitary authority in Dorset, England from 1997 to 2019. From 1974 until 1 April 1997 it was a non-metropolitan district. In 2019 it was abolished and subsumed into Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.
The county of Dorset is divided into eight districts. The districts of Dorset are Weymouth and Portland, West Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, East Dorset, Christchurch, and the unitary authorities Bournemouth and Poole.
The 2015 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 2015, the same day as the general election for the House of Commons.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Its council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The district was created on 1 April 2019 by the merger of the areas that were previously administered by the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole, and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch. The authority covers much of the area of the South Dorset conurbation.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which styles itself BCP Council, is the local authority for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. It is independent from Dorset Council, the unitary authority which administers the rest of the county.
The Party for Poole People is a movement and local political party in Poole, Dorset, England. Defining itself as neither left or right wing, the party has stood in elections for the former Poole Borough Council and the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council which replaced it. On the council it is part of the Poole Independents Group, which includes all three Poole People Councillors, one Alliance for Local Living (ALL) Councillor and one independent Councillor. It was previously part of the "Unity Alliance" administration on Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council from 2019 until a vote of no confidence in 2020, after which the party has been in opposition. It was founded in 2010 by Mark Howell, and has contested three local elections, as well as the Poole constituency in the 2015 UK general election.
Structural changes to local government in England took place between 2019 and 2023. Some of these changes continue the trend of new unitary authorities being created from other types of local government districts, which was a policy of Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick from 2019.
Dorset is a unitary authority area, existing since 1 April 2019, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It covers all of the ceremonial county except for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The council of the district is Dorset Council, which is in effect Dorset County Council re-constituted so as to be vested with the powers and duties of five district councils which were abolished, and shedding its partial responsibility for and powers in Christchurch.
The 2019 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect the inaugural members of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council in England, formed from the former unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole, and borough of Christchurch. At the same time an election for the new Christchurch Town Council was held.
The 2019 Dorset Council election was held on Thursday 2 May 2019 to elect councillors to the new Dorset Council in England. It took place on the same day as other district council elections in the United Kingdom.
The Alliance for Local Living (ALL) was a minor localist party and political group based in Dorset, with separate branches in the two authorities, ALL for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and ALL for Dorset. The BCP office was based in Poole, whilst the Dorset office was based in Weymouth. The party was deregistered in November 2023, at which point it had four councillors on Dorset Council, who continued to sit together as an informal grouping. The group became Independents for Dorset in 2024.
The Christchurch Independents (CI) are a political party and group in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council, formed by journalist Andy Martin and (former) Conservative and Independent Councillors after the reorganisation of local government in Dorset, with new candidates joining to stand in Christchurch wards for the inaugural 2019 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council Election. Originally not forming a registered political party, CI was initially the joint-third largest alongside the Poole People and ALL group. In 2020, Christchurch Independents councillor Colin Bungey died, leading to a by-election being held the next year in the Commons Ward, for which the Christchurch Independents were registered as a political party.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is a unitary authority in Dorset, England. It was formed in April 2019, with the inaugural elections held in May of that year. The council is made up of 76 councillors from 33 wards, elected for a four-year term, with the next elections due take place in 2027.
Dorset Council is the local authority for the unitary authority of Dorset in England. There are 82 councillors, elected every five years until 2029, after which elections will be held every four years.