Wiltshire County Council - History

History

County Councils were first introduced in England and Wales with full powers from 22 September 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions until then carried out by the unelected Quarter Sessions. The areas they covered were termed administrative counties and were not in all cases identical to the traditional shire counties, but in Wiltshire the whole 'ceremonial county' came under the authority of the new council.

The first elections to the new county council were held on 23 January 1889, with sixty seats available, but only thirty-two of them were contested. Among those elected unopposed were the 4th Marquess of Bath, the 13th Earl of Pembroke, the 18th Earl of Suffolk, Sir Thomas Grove, 1st Baronet, M. P., Sir Charles Hobhouse, 4th Baronet, and Sir R. H. Pollen, Bart.

The first provisional meeting of the council was held at Devizes on 31 January 1889, with all of the members present, when Lord Bath was elected as chairman. Several aldermen were elected, all from outside the members of the council.

The new system of local democracy was a significant development and reflected the increasing range of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain.

Schools (both primary and secondary) were added to the County Council's responsibilities in 1902, and until the 1990s it was also responsible for operating Colleges of Further Education.

In 1930, the members of the county council decided by 45 votes to 27 to build a new county hall in Devizes, which is near the geographical centre of Wiltshire, and not at Trowbridge, very near its western edge. However, construction was delayed, and in 1933 the decision was reversed in favour of Trowbridge, on the grounds that it was better served by rail services. A site of several acres was bought in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, not far from the railway station, for £1,650, and a new building designed by P. D. Hepworth, perhaps inspired by a building in Amsterdam, was begun in 1938 and finished in 1940 at a cost of £150,000. Between 1940 and 1943, the new county hall, built in a pale stone, was seen as a potential landmark for German aircraft, so was disguised by covering it with camouflage nets. In 1937, Wiltshire County Council was granted a coat of arms.

Throughout its existence, Wiltshire County Council was responsible for the more strategic local services of Wiltshire, with a changing pattern of lower-tier authorities existing alongside it within its area and responsible for other more local services, such as waste collection. Until 1974, Wiltshire had a large number of urban district and rural district councils. In 1974, local government was reorganised in England and Wales generally, and in Wiltshire dozens of former urban and rural districts were amalgamated into five district councils: Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, West Wiltshire and Thamesdown.

The council was controlled by the Conservatives from 2000 until 2009 and from 2005 was led by Jane Scott. She became the first leader of the new Wiltshire Council.