Christchurch, Dorset - Governance

Governance

Christchurch is a local government district which has borough status. It is the smallest of Dorset County Council's six districts and one of the smallest boroughs in England by population. The district was formed by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Christchurch with part of Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District in 1974. Since then it has been part of the non-metropolitan county of Dorset. It has some large rural areas including Bournemouth International Airport and the parishes of Burton and Hurn. For local elections the borough is divided into 12 wards containing 24 councillors. Elections take place every four years; the last election took place in May 2007 resulting in the Conservatives retaining overall control with 17 seats. The Mayor of Christchurch for 2010–2011 is Conservative councillor Nicholas Geary and the Deputy Mayor is Susan Spittle (Conservative). In existence since at least 1297, Christchurch's Office of Mayor is now mainly a ceremonial role with little power. The Council Leader is Alan Griffiths who has served as a Conservative councillor since 1999.

Christchurch is represented by a single parliamentary constituency in the House of Commons. The seat was created in 1983 from parts of the Christchurch and Lymington, North Dorset and New Forest constituencies. It had been held by Robert Adley (Conservative) since its creation until his death in 1993. At the by-election Diana Maddock (Liberal Democrat) was elected in one of the largest ever swings (35.4%) against the sitting party. The seat was retaken by Conservative candidate Christopher Chope in 1997 and retained in 2001 and 2005. In the 2010 general election, Chope retained his seat with a considerable majority of 15,410 and 56.4% of the vote, making Christchurch one of the safest Conservative constituencies in the country. The Liberal Democrats won 25.3% of the vote, Labour 9.8% and the Independence Party 8.5%. Christchurch is part of the South West England constituency for elections to the European Parliament.