Chippenham - Governance

Governance

The offices of North Wiltshire District Council were based in the town until 2009, when the council was merged with four other Wiltshire local authorities. The offices in Monkton Park were adopted by the replacement unitary Wiltshire Council, which is based in Trowbridge.

The office of Town Mayor was established in 1835: prior to that Chippenham was governed by a Bailiff supported by Burgesses. The Mayor is nowadays elected annually by the Town Council The Mayor is generally appointed to office in May of each year (at the "Mayor Making" ceremony) and acts as the first citizen of the town acting in a promotional way representing Chippenham. At the beginning of a Mayor's term of office he/she names a charity that they will support throughout the year. The Mayor also undertakes many specific tasks throughout the year such as presiding over Town council meetings and acting as the President of a variety of local organisations such as the Twinning Association and the Sea Cadets. The current Mayor is Mr David Powell (Liberal Democrat).

Until 2010, the town of Chippenham was within the parliamentary constituency of North Wiltshire. North Wiltshire, which was also known as Chippenham, is a traditionally Conservative seat although in the 19th century, Liberal members were also elected. In 1812 Sir Robert Peel became the MP for Chippenham.

Boundary changes for the 2010 general election created a new Chippenham constituency from parts of three neighbouring constituencies. Duncan Hames (Liberal Democrat) became the new Member of Parliament for Chippenham, and James Gray (Conservative) was re-elected in his North Wiltshire constituency,