City of Wolverhampton Council


City of Wolverhampton Council is the governing body of the City of Wolverhampton, England. The Council is still legally called Wolverhampton City Council but uses City of Wolverhampton Council as its corporate brand.

Organisation

The council offices are at the imposing Civic Centre, which is located in St. Peter's Square in the City centre.
The Labour Party currently control the council and have been in majority on the council since 1974, with the exceptions of 1978–1979, 1987, 1992–1994 and 2008–2010. The Leader of the Council is Councillor Ian Brookfield. The Deputy Leader is Councillor Louise Miles. The Council has a Leader and Cabinet model of executive arrangements, with each Cabinet Member having political responsibility for assigned service areas. The Council has a total of 60 Councillors.
Councillor Claire Darke of the Labour Party is the City's Mayor 2019-20 municipal year, with her Deputy who will take on the role for 2020-21 being Councillor Greg Brackenridge of Labour Party. Councillor Sandra Samuels MBE, will become Deputy Mayor for 2020-21, when Mr Brackenbridge becomes Mayor.
Tim Johnson, serves as the Council's Chief Executive Officer and chairs the Authority's Strategic Executive Board of Directors comprising Mark Taylor ; David Pattison, Emma Bennett and Claire Nye.
The Council swept the board at Local Government's prestigious Municipal Journal National Awards in 2017, winning Local Authority of the Year, Most Improved Local Authority of the Year, Leadership Team of the Year and Governance & Scrutiny Team of the Year. Other key achievements in 2017 included the Council's Children's Services being rated as "Good" following an OFSTED inspection, the Council has been accredited with "Achieving" status for its commitment to equality & diversity following a Local Government Association peer assessment and the Council's Mayoralty team was awarded "Civic Team of the Year" by the National Association of Civic Officers.
The Council's housing stock is managed by Wolverhampton Homes.

Council affiliation

Wards

There are 20 wards of City of Wolverhampton Council:
Ward nameArea /mi2Population
Population
Population change
Bilston East13,36310,741+24.41%
Bilston North12,21313,527−9.71%
Blakenhall12,02211,301+6.38%
Bushbury North11,93612,021−0.71%
Bushbury South and Low Hill14,98314,103+6.24%
East Park12,49710,452+19.57%
Ettingshall13,48210,839+24.38%
Fallings Park12,41010,996+12.86%
Graiseley12,28411,691+5.07%
Heath Town13,96510,876+28.40%
Merry Hill12,18911,893+2.49%
Oxley12,79712,848−0.39%
Park12,29412,844−4.28%
Penn12,71812,392+2.63%
St Peter's12,64514,472−12.62%
Spring Vale12,24312,588−2.74%
Tettenhall Regis11,91112,000−0.74%
Tettenhall Wightwick10,87210,832+0.37%
Wednesfield North11,23510,978+2.34%
Wednesfield South11,41111,195+1.93%
Wolverhampton City Council area249,470236,582+5.45%

A map showing the ward boundaries is available.

City council election results

Elections happen in 1/3rd's, with 20 seats - 1 per each of the 20 wards, elected each year for three years consecutively, before a fallow year which resumes the electoral cycle. Each elected Councillor, serves a 4 year term.

History

Wolverhampton gained the beginnings of modern local government in 1777, when the Wolverhampton Improvement Act was passed by Parliament. This allowed for the establishment of 125 Town Commissioners who undertook a variety of local improvement work such as punishing bear baiting, improving drainage, widening streets and by the end of the century street lighting had been provided at every street corner and over the doorway of every inn, and water supply had been improved by the sinking of ten new wells and the provision of a great water tank in the market place. Policing had been improved with the appointment of ten watchmen and attempts were also made to regulate the markets and inspect hazardous food.
Wolverhampton was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1849 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The town was then made a County Borough in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888.
In 1933, the boundaries of the borough expanded, taking in areas from Cannock Rural District and Seisdon Rural District, with very little of the surrounding urban area being affected, with only Heath Town Urban District being abolished.
The bulk of the urban districts of Bilston, Tettenhall and Wednesfield were added to the borough in 1966, along with the northern section of the urban district of Coseley and parts from the north of Sedgley and the west of Willenhall. The vast majority of these areas were traditionally part of the Parish of Wolverhampton, and were part of the original Parliamentary Borough.
Wolverhampton was one of only two County Boroughs to have no changes made to the boundary during the 1974 reorganisation of local government, the borough already having a population larger than the 250,000 required for education authorities. This contrasted with both the Redcliffe-Maud Report, and the initial White Paper for the 1974 reforms where large areas of the present South Staffordshire district were to be added to the borough. During the 1974 reforms it was placed within the West Midlands Metropolitan County.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of City of Wolverhampton Council was granted on 31 December 1898, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the council.
The various symbols within the arms are representative of the history of the city. The book represents the education within the city, specifically the 16th century Wolverhampton Grammar School; the woolpack represents the mediaeval woollen trade within the city; the column is a representation of the Saxon pillar that can be found within the churchyard of St. Peter's Collegiate Church in the city centre; whilst the keys are representative of the church itself and its dedication to St. Peter. The padlock represents one of the major industries of the area at the time of the granting of the arms – that of lock-making; whilst the brazier at the top is indicative of the general metal-working industries in the area. The cross is ascribed to King Edgar.
The motto on the coat of arms is 'Out of Darkness Cometh Light'.
Prior to 1898 there was a former coat of arms that had been in use since 1848, though these arms were never officially granted.