Sheerness - Governance

Governance

Sheerness is in the parliamentary constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey. Since the constituency's creation in 1997 until 2010 the Member of Parliament was Derek Wyatt of the Labour Party. As of 2010, the current Member of Parliament is Gordon Henderson of the Conservative Party. Before 1997, Sheppey and Sittingbourne were part of the constituency of Faversham. Sheerness is in the local government district of Swale. The town is split between the two local government wards of Sheerness East and Sheerness West, which have four of the forty-seven seats on the Swale Borough Council. As of the 2007 local elections, three of those seats were held by the Labour Party and one by the Sheppey First party. Swale Borough Council is responsible for running local services, such as recreation, refuse collection and council housing; Kent County Council is responsible for education, social services and trading standards. Both councils are involved in town planning and road maintenance. From 1894 to 1968, Sheerness formed its own local government district, Sheerness Urban District, and lay within the administrative county of Kent. Over much of the past century, the Labour Party has received the most support in Sheerness, mainly due to the town's industrial nature. As early as 1919, the town had four Labour councillors; Faversham elected its first only in 1948.