Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council was the upper-tier local authority for the administrative county and later the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom established in 1889 following the Local Government Act 1888. The county council's offices were in Aylesbury.
Buckinghamshire County Council H | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | Non-metropolitan council |
| History | |
| Established | 1 April 1889 |
| Disbanded | 31 March 2020 |
| Preceded by | Court of Quarter Sessions |
| Succeeded by | Buckinghamshire Council |
| Structure | |
Length of term | 4 years |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 4 May 2017 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| County Hall Aylesbury Buckinghamshire United Kingdom | |
| Website | |
| Www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk | |
The county council borders changed several times, most notably in 1974 when the council lost the territory of Colnbrook, Datchet, Eton, Horton, Slough and Wraysbury. In 1997 it lost Milton Keynes.
The council consisted of 49 councillors. It had been controlled by the Conservatives since the reorganisation of local government in 1974. For the 2013 elections, the number of seats was reduced from 57 to 49 following the 2012 changes in division boundaries.[1]
In March 2018 Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary at the time, backed proposals[2] to replace the county council and the four district councils (Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks, and Wycombe) with a single unitary authority, named Buckinghamshire Council.[3] As of January 2019, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe district councils had launched legal action against the "undemocratic" plans for how the unitary authority was to be set-up.[4] Nevertheless, the Buckinghamshire Structural Changes Order 2019 was enacted,[5] which as of 1 April 2020 abolished the County Council and the four district councils and created a single district council as a unitary authority, called 'Buckinghamshire Council'.
Composition
Elections were held every four years, interspersed by three years of elections to the four district councils in the county.
| Party | Councillors | Change (vs. 2013) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 41 | +5 | |
| UKIP | 0 | -6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 4 | -1 | |
| Independent | 3 | +2 | |
| Labour | 1 | - | |
| Source: Buckinghamshire County Council summary of election results May 2017 | |||
Conservative councillors represented most of the county, both in terms of number of seats and geographic area. Four seats in Aylesbury were held by the Liberal Democrats, and the sole Labour member was elected in Booker, Cressex & Castlefield, in the suburbs of High Wycombe. Independents held the divisions of Ryemead & Micklefield, Totteridge & Bowerdean, and West Wycombe, also in the High Wycombe area.[6]
History
The last meeting of the County Council was 12 March 2020 when the meeting celebrated 131 years.[7]
County architect Fred Pooley designed the Council's 12-storey tower block at Aylesbury built in 1966[8] which became known as "Fred's Fort"[9] and less flatteringly as "Pooley's Folly".
Notable members
- Frederick Verney (1846–1913), member from 1889 to 1907
- Tonman Mosley, 1st Baron Anslow (1850–1933), Chairman from 1904 to 1921
- Sir William Carlile, 1st Baronet (1862–1950)
- William Joseph Ashby (1885–1953)
- Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887–1969)
- Sir Aubrey Ernest Ward (1899–1987), Chairman from 1963 to 1974
- Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe (1908–1984), Vice-Chairman 1974 to 1978
- John Darling Young (1910–1988)
- Sir Ralph Verney, 5th Baronet (1915–2001)
- Guthrie Moir (1917-1993), member from 1949 to 1975
- Brian White (1957–2016), later member of parliament for Milton Keynes
References
- "The Buckinghamshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2012". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- "Unitary plan for Buckinghamshire backed". 12 March 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- "Cabinet gives green light to Government blueprint for new unitary Council for Buckinghamshire | Buckinghamshire County Council". www.buckscc.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- Rapson, Jasmine (25 January 2019). "District council joins plans to take legal action over 'undemocratic' unitary authority". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2019/9780111183717 The Buckinghamshire (Structural Changes Order 2019
- Election results by electoral divisions County Council Election - Thursday 4 May 2017 at democracy.buckscc.gov.uk
- "Bucks County Council takes final curtain call after 131 years". Bucks Herald. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- Aylesbury Town Council history
- The Guardian dated 24 March 1998, p. 14