Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions which had previously been performed by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. The cities of Birmingham and Coventry were considered large enough for their existing councils to provide county-level services, and so they were made county boroughs, independent from Warwickshire County Council.[a] The 1888 Act also said that any urban sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries were to be placed entirely in the county which had the majority of that district's population, which saw Warwickshire cede its part of Hinckley to Leicestershire, its part of Redditch to Worcestershire, and its part of Tamworth to Staffordshire. Warwickshire County Council was elected by and provided services to the parts of the county (as thus adjusted) outside the county boroughs of Birmingham and Coventry. The county council's area was termed the administrative county.[4]
The first elections to the county council were held in January 1889 and it formally came into being on 1 April 1889. On that day it held its first official meeting at the Shire Hall in Warwick, the courthouse (built 1758) which had served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. John Dugdale, the ConservativeMP for Nuneaton, was appointed the first chairman of the council.[5]
The council became the centre of a national controversy following comments made by three Conservative councillors during a committee meeting in January 2024 discussing spending on Special Educational Needs (SEND).[11][12] Following media attention, the council published a statement and apologies from the three councillors.[13] A subsequent investigation cleared all three councillors of having breached the council's code of conduct, but found that some of the language used by two of the councillors had not been respectful. The investigation recommended further training for councillors on how to "engage fully in debate at scrutiny and other committee meetings whilst ensuring that the language used is respectful, courteous, and sensitive to the matter concerned."[14]
Governance
Warwickshire County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the five district councils:
Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[15]
Political control
The council has been under no overall control since the 2025 election.[16] Reform UK was the largest party following that election, and they subsequently formed a minority administration to run the council.[17]
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[18][19]
Following the 2025 election (taking into account one councillor who found after the ballot papers had been printed but before the election that his employment rules prevented him from standing under a party banner, and so sits as an independent) the composition of the council was:[39][16][40]
Since the last boundary changes in 2017 the council has been divided into 57 electoral divisions, each electing one councillor. Elections are held every four years.[42]
Premises
The county council is based at the Shire Hall in Market Place, Warwick, a complex of buildings built over many years. The oldest part was a courthouse built in 1758 facing Northgate Street.[43] As the county council's functions grew it built new offices in 1929–32 on the adjoining site of the former county jail, retaining the jail's 1783 façade to Northgate Street. A large extension completed in 1958 included a new council chamber, and a further extension in 1966 created a new frontage and main entrance for the building facing Market Place.[44]
Notes
↑ Coventry had previously been a similar county corporate, having its own sheriffs from 1451 until 1842, when it had been brought back under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff of Warwickshire.
↑ "Compositions Calculator". The Elections Centre. University of Exeter. Retrieved 21 May 2025. (Put "Warwickshire" in search box to see specific results.)
↑ "Warwickshire". BBC News Online. BBC. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
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