47-661: Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire , England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes , by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 . It superseded the boroughs of Ellesmere Port and Neston , Vale Royal and the City of Chester . The remainder of the ceremonial county of Cheshire
94-562: A community governance review was undertaken by the borough council in 2014 under section 82 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 . In line with nearly every local government district in England and Wales , the majority of the population describe themselves as 'white'. The exact figure – 95.3% – is comparable with metropolitan counties such as Merseyside , non-metropolitan counties such as Cumbria and principal areas throughout Wales . This would suggest that
141-477: A county council. It thus is not a unitary authority as those are such authorities created under the Local Government Act 1992 . The 36 metropolitan borough councils are also the sole elected local government units in their areas (except for parish councils in a few locations), but share strategic functions with joint boards and arrangements. On the other hand, the City of London Corporation and
188-448: A high degree of autonomy as counties corporate . Some smaller settlements also enjoyed some degree of autonomy from regular administration as boroughs or liberties . The Local Government Act 1972 created areas for local government where large towns and their rural hinterlands were administered together. The concept of unitary units was abandoned with a two-tier arrangement of county and district councils in all areas of England, except
235-579: A local government authority which combines the functions of a county council and a district council. Strictly speaking, the term does not necessarily mean a single level of local government within an area, because in some cases there are also parish councils in the same area. Although the term was not applied to them, county boroughs between 1889 and 1974 were effectively unitary authority areas, that is, single-tier administrative units. Before 1889, local government authorities had different powers and functions, but from medieval times some cities and towns had
282-528: A number of multiple member wards from which councillors are elected in the same way as in two-tier district council elections. The exceptions, which are divided into electoral divisions as in county council elections, are Cornwall, County Durham, the Isle of Wight, Northumberland, Shropshire and Wiltshire. Districts are usually named after a town, city, geographical area or county (historic and or ceremonial). With no effect on powers or functions, districts can have
329-543: A structure based on unitary authorities is called 'restructuring'. The Secretary of State responsible for local government invites proposals from local areas to restructure into unitary authorities, and the Secretary decides whether or not the change should be implemented. The restructuring is carried out by an Order. There are no examples in the UK of councils restructuring back into a two-tier system. Unitary authorities combine
376-560: 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. Unitary authorities are constituted under the Local Government Act 1992 , which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to allow the existence of non-metropolitan counties that do not have multiple districts. Most were established during
423-551: A unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. Full council meetings are held at Wyvern House in Winsford and the council has its main offices at The Portal in Ellesmere Port. The borough is divided into forty-six wards, listed below in alphabetical order. There are ninety-seven parish councils in the borough, despite there being a total of 166 civil parishes before
470-572: Is a country park and SSSI west of the village. Described in the SSSI citation as "one of the best surviving examples of lowland heath in Cheshire", it supports locally uncommon plant species such as heather Calluna vulgaris , bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus and purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea . The Friends of Little Budworth Common, a community group, help maintain the habitat. The site has designated routes for horse-riders and cyclists, and
517-463: Is composed of Cheshire East , Halton and Warrington . Cheshire West and Chester has three key urban areas: Chester , Ellesmere Port and Northwich / Winsford . The decision to create the Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007 following a consultation period, in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected. The council is
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#1732780963513564-638: Is described as a 'waste' with woodland 'one league long and half a league wide' and land enough for two ploughs. Between 1153 and 1160 the manor was granted by the Third Earl of Chester to Robert le Grosvenor whose descendant held the village for Edward the First. Certain lands remained in the ownership of the Grosvenors. In the reign of Henry VIII it passed to the ancestors of the Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1860
611-797: Is routed via the M6, carrying international traffic between Scotland , North West England , the West Midlands and France via Southampton . European route E22 is routed via the A494 and M56, carrying international traffic between Ireland (the route in fact begins at the Port of Holyhead ), North Wales , North West England, Yorkshire and the Netherlands . Both routes meet at Lymm Interchange, which lies in neighbouring Cheshire East. Three Roman roads exist in Cheshire West and Chester: The section of
658-618: Is the Church of England , with the borough being served by the Chester Archdeaconry, with six deaneries and an average of twenty parish churches in each deanery. Roman Catholicism also has a significant presence across the borough, with all its churches located in the Diocese of Shrewsbury . Methodist churches in the borough form groups averaging ten, known as 'circuits' (the four in Cheshire West and Chester are all part of
705-499: The 2024 general election , and in her Autumn budget statement , Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves outlined that a forthcoming English Devolution Bill would include plans for "working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas", suggesting that a new round of local government reorganisation could be likely. The process of changing from a two-tier local government to
752-634: The Isles of Scilly where the small size and distance from the mainland made it impractical. In 1986 a broadly unitary system of local government was introduced in the six metropolitan counties and Greater London , where the upper-tier authorities were abolished and their functions were split between central government, the borough councils and joint boards. A review in the 1990s was initiated to select non-metropolitan areas where new unitary authorities could be created. The resulting structural changes were implemented between 1995 and 1998. Bristol, Herefordshire,
799-797: The M6 , M53 , M56 , A55 , A483 , A494 , A550 and a short section of the A41 in Hooton . Other primary routes which are maintained by the council (principal roads de jure ) include the A41, A49 , A51 , A54 , A56 , A483, A530 , A533 , A534 , A556 , A5115 , A5116 , A5117 and A5268 . Chester and Ellesmere Port – both primary route destinations – form the hub of the road network in Cheshire West and Chester, with routes of national importance carrying traffic in all directions to locations including Flintshire , Halton , Wirral and Wrexham . European Route E05
846-619: The Mid-Cheshire Line set in rolling English countryside and forest. As the Romans settled in mid-Cheshire they explored Delamere Forest for food and discovered underground salt in the area. The transport of salt led to roads being created in an otherwise wild area. A settlement was founded in this open space by a Viking, Bodeur. The open space was called a 'wirth'. In the Domesday Book the village appeared as 'Bodeaurde' and
893-482: The National Waterways Museum is paved with asphalt; it is a shared-use route between cyclists and pedestrians for a distance of 12.5 miles (20.1 km). In 2009, Chester was awarded the status of Cycling Town by Cycling England . To reflect this, a series of colour-coded signposted routes around the city were devised in 2012. The total length of new signposted routes created by the project
940-415: The 'bigger is better' assumption and highlight that larger councils breed mistrust of councillors and reduction in public engagement and voter turnout. Outside the UK, multi-level local government is the prevailing system, with major towns normally having a local authority. The average size of a local authority in England is 170,000, three times that of Europe. Most unitary authority areas are divided into
987-507: The 1990s , with more created in 2009 and 2019–23 . The size of the areas governed by unitary authorities varies greatly; the authorities created in the 1990s were generally created from single districts and covered a single large town or city, while those created since 2009 often cover entire non-metropolitan counties. The term " unitary authority " was first used in the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969 in its current sense of
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#17327809635131034-464: The 32 London borough councils, although they have a high degree of autonomy, share strategic functions with the directly elected Mayor of London and London Assembly . Unitary authorities should not be confused with another formation in English local government, the combined authority . Little Budworth Little Budworth is a civil parish and village between Winsford and Chester , in
1081-948: The A51 between its western terminus and the B5132 was named as one of the most congested roads in the United Kingdom by INRIX in August 2015. Three local MPs – Graham Evans , Justin Madders and Chris Matheson – raised safety concerns about the M56 between J12 and J14 in parliament after more than 160 incidents were recorded since 2011. In response, Andrew Jones , the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, confirmed that an upgrade to smart motorway will only take place after 2020. Navigable waterways in
1128-767: The Chester and Stoke-on-Trent District). More marginal churches include Assemblies of God , Baptist Union , Elim Pentecostal , United Reformed and the English Presbyterian Church of Wales in Chester . Aside from churches, there are two mosques in Cheshire West and Chester – one each in Chester and Ellesmere Port – which were subjected to property theft and racially aggravated disorder respectively in 2014. Cheshire West and Chester Council maintains six Local Nature Reserves : Burton Mill Wood, Helsby Quarry, Marshall's Arm, Rivacre Valley, Stanney Wood, and Whitby Park. There are no passenger airports in
1175-489: The Isle of Wight and Rutland were established as counties of a single district; the district councils of Berkshire became unitary; the counties of Avon , Humberside and Cleveland were broken up to create several unitary authorities; and a number of districts were split off from their associated counties. The changes caused the ceremonial counties to be defined separately, as they had been before 1974. The review caused 46 unitary authorities to be created. A further review
1222-800: The Mid-Cheshire district leagues who cater for the areas of knutsford, Northwich, Middlewich and Winsford where teams representing neighbourhoods/villages and/or pubs/social clubs ('pub teams') compete. The largest football stadium in Cheshire West and Chester is the Deva Stadium , home to Chester FC, although the ground famously straddles the England-Wales border . Whilst the borough per se does not have any twinning agreements, several of its settlements have agreements predating its creation in 2009, listed below: Unitary authorities of England The unitary authorities of England are
1269-645: The Parish of Over', is mentioned in a charter of 1547 endowing the Bishopric of Chester, when is belonged to the nunnery of St Mary, Chester. In 1798 the church was rebuilt (except for the tower and north wall) by a bequest from Ralph Kirkham (a rich merchant of Chester and the son of a farmer in Little Budworth, educated at Lady Egerton's School). The church was restored by the Colonel of Egerton in 1919 and
1316-489: The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, proposed structural changes to local government in Northamptonshire . These changes would see the existing county council and district councils abolished and two new unitary authorities created in their place. One authority, West Northamptonshire , would consist of the existing districts of Daventry , Northampton and South Northamptonshire and
1363-505: The area are: Chester FC are the highest ranked club in the area and compete in the National League North (the sixth tier of English football . Northwich has four semi-professional teams – Barnton , Northwich Victoria , Witton Albion and 1874 Northwich – all of whom play in regional leagues. Winsford is also represented in the non-league pyramid by Winsford United , and Ellesmere Port by Vauxhall Motors FC –
1410-695: The borough include the Manchester Ship Canal , Shropshire Union Canal , Trent and Mersey Canal and the Weaver Navigation . The latter two are connected together by the Anderton Boat Lift , near Northwich; this is the only caisson lift lock in the United Kingdom. The area is served by BBC North West and ITV Granada with television signals received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter . Radio stations for
1457-557: The borough; only a grass airfield exists in Little Budworth , with the nearest being Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Manchester Airport . National routes which pass through the borough include NCR5 , NCR45 ( Mercian Way ) , NCR56 , NCR562, NCR563, NCR568 and NCR573. Regional routes include 70 ( Cheshire Cycleway ) and 71. Three disused railways in the borough have been converted to off-road cycleways, including: The Shropshire Union Canal towpath between Waverton and
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1504-555: The city's outskirts: Boughton Heath , Sealand Road, Upton and Wrexham Road; they run on two lines which intersect at Chester Bus Interchange. A fifth site is proposed near Hoole Village . Hooton station is designated as a park and ride facility for railway services on the Wirral Line; it contains a 418-space car park. Chester railway station is the hub of the railway network in the borough, with around 4.7 million passengers annually. Passenger numbers doubled to this figure in
1551-554: The figure is not a significant outlier nationwide. The next largest ethnic group in the borough is Asian, who along with other ethnic minorities are supported by the Cheshire Asian & Minority Communities Council, a registered charity headquartered in Chester . The main religion in Cheshire West and Chester is Christianity , with a percentage figure above the average for England (46.3%, 2021 ). The single largest church
1598-606: The former works team of the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port assembly plant . Below level ten of the English pyramid are county-wide amateur leagues, with two covering the geographic area of the borough – the Cheshire Association Football League and West Cheshire Association Football League . Although several clubs are members of the former, many more compete in the latter. Below that is the Chester & Wirral Football League, and also
1645-521: The non-metropolitan districts of Aylesbury Vale , Chiltern , South Bucks , and Wycombe in Buckinghamshire were replaced by a single unitary authority known as Buckinghamshire Council on 1 April 2020. The existing unitary authority of Milton Keynes was not affected; from 1 April 2020, therefore, the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire has been composed of two unitary authority areas. In March 2018, an independent report commissioned by
1692-856: The other authority, North Northamptonshire would consist of Corby , East Northamptonshire , Kettering and Wellingborough districts. This was confirmed in May 2019, with the new councils being created in April 2021. In July 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that in April 2023, the non-metropolitan counties of Cumbria , North Yorkshire and Somerset would be reorganised into unitary authority areas. The new authorities, Cumberland , Westmorland and Furness , North Yorkshire Council and Somerset Council were first elected in May 2022 and formally assumed their powers on 1 April 2023. The Labour Party returned to power following
1739-508: The powers and functions that are normally delivered separately by the councils of non-metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. These functions are housing, waste management, waste collection, council tax collection, education, libraries, social services, transport, planning, consumer protection, licensing, cemeteries and crematoria. The breakdown of these services is as follows: Unitary government has been criticised for damaging local democracy. Opponents to unitary authority criticise
1786-687: The school of Caravaggio . The smaller painting of 'The Good Shepherd' by William Dyce (given by the Stocks family) is on permanent loan to the Walker Art Gallery . There are four pubs in the parish of Little Budworth. The Red Lion is in the heart of the village, opposite the church. The Shrewsbury Arms is on the road to Chester and the Cabbage Hall is on the A49. The Egerton Arms closed down in 2008 but has now re-opened. Little Budworth Common
1833-468: The status of royal borough , borough or city . A district having a charter is dependent on the charter's wording: as a charter trustee to a place in the district; having joint charter to the place and district or to the district itself. Notes The Council of the Isles of Scilly is a sui generis single-tier authority, created in 1890 and since 1930 has held the "powers, duties and liabilities" of
1880-522: The ten years to 2015, making the station the eighth-busiest in North West England . Railway lines, and their associated train operating companies in the borough, include: The sections of railway between Chester– Stockport and Chester– Warrington Bank Quay are proposed for electrification during the period 2019–2024. Motorways and primary routes in the borough which are maintained by National Highways ( trunk roads de jure ) include
1927-499: The unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire , England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 594. It is primarily known as the location of the Oulton Park motor racing circuit. The village is about 3 miles from Winsford and Tarporley , 14 miles to Chester City Centre, 8 miles to Northwich and 17 miles to Warrington with nearby rail connection along
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1974-399: The village was known as Budworth-in-the-Frith. There was a school known as Lady Egerton's School. The first record of a church in Little Budworth dates from 1190 when it was mentioned in conjunction with the parish of Over, Winsford. In 1526 Hugh Starky of Oulton directed that he should be buried in Little Budworth and left money to the church. The 'free chapel of Budworth le Frith, within
2021-464: The window commemorating the Egerton twins killed in the war was placed in the south aisle. Two chests ordered by Queen Elizabeth – the outer for vestments and registers, the inner for the plate – were still there in 1935 but now the smaller has disappeared. There remains one of the two short-handled copper collecting boxes dated 1801, the silver-gilt Egerton chalice and the large painting thought to be of
2068-498: Was "minded to approve the proposals" and a final decision to implement the two unitary authority model was confirmed in February 2018. Statutory instruments for the creation of two unitary authorities, to be named Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Dorset Council , have been made and shadow authorities for the new council areas were formed ahead of their creation on 1 April 2019 . Buckinghamshire County Council and
2115-537: Was 38 miles (61 km), bringing the overall total in the borough to 312.5 miles (502.9 km). The total funding received from the cycling town project, which ended in 2011 when Cycling England was disbanded, was £4.4 million. A similar network of over 30 miles (48 km) of cycle routes branded the Ellesmere Port Grenway has been proposed by the town's development board. Chester has four park and ride sites located adjacent to radial routes on
2162-523: Was initiated in 2007 and was enacted in 2009. The review established Cornwall and Northumberland as counties of a single district; established unitary authorities in County Durham , Shropshire and Wiltshire covering the part of the county that was not already split off in the 1990s review; and divided the remainder of Bedfordshire and Cheshire into two unitary authority areas. The review caused nine unitary authorities to be created. In 2017, it
2209-416: Was proposed that two unitary authority areas be formed to cover the ceremonial county of Dorset . One of the authorities would consist of the existing unitary authorities of Bournemouth , Poole and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch , the other would be composed of the remainder of the county. In November 2017, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid stated that he
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