Bromsgrove District

Bromsgrove is a local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England. It is named after its only town, Bromsgrove, where its council is based, but also includes several villages and surrounding rural areas. It borders the built-up area of Birmingham to the north. Other places in the district include Alvechurch, Aston Fields, Belbroughton, Catshill, Clent, Hagley, Rubery, Stoke Prior and Wythall. The population at the 2021 census was 99,475.

The neighbouring districts are Redditch, Wychavon, Wyre Forest, South Staffordshire, Dudley, Birmingham, Solihull and Stratford-on-Avon.

History
The town of Bromsgrove had been governed by improvement commissioners from 1846, who were replaced by an elected local board in 1859, which in turn was converted into an urban district council in 1894.

The modern district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the area of two former districts, which were both abolished at the same time: The new district was named Bromsgrove after its largest settlement.
 * Bromsgrove Urban District
 * Bromsgrove Rural District

Governance
Bromsgrove District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Worcestershire County Council. Much of the district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government for their areas.

Bromsgrove forms part of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership. Since 2008 the council has developed shared working arrangements with neighbouring Redditch Borough Council, with the two organisations sharing a chief executive, management team and other staff.



Political control
The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election, being run by an administration comprising the Conservatives and independents, led by Conservative councillor Karen May.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing councils before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Since 1974 political control of the council has been as follows:

Leadership
The leaders of the council since 1995 have been:

Composition
Following the 2023 election the composition of the council was:

Five of the independent councillors sit together as the "2023 Independents" group, which forms the council's administration with the Conservatives. The next election is due in 2027.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2015 the council has comprised 31 councillors representing 30 wards, with each ward electing one councillor except Belbroughton and Romsley ward which elects two. Elections are held every four years.

Premises
The council is based at Parkside, at the corner of Market Street and Stourbridge Road. The building was formerly the Parkside School, built in 1912. The school moved to a new building in 2008. The old building was subsequently converted and extended to become the council's headquarters, as well as an area office for Worcestershire County Council and new library for the town, opening in 2015.

When first created in 1974 the council had inherited offices at St John's Court (then known as the Council House) from Bromsgrove Urban District Council and at 94 Birmingham Road from Bromsgrove Rural District Council. The council subsequently moved to a modern office building on Burcot Lane, also called the Council House, which was formally opened in 1986. It remained there until the move to Parkside in 2015. The Burcot Lane building has since been demolished.



Transport
Bromsgrove railway station is the local station for the district's centre, but there are several others within the district. Road travel, especially to Birmingham, is also important in the district.

Barnt Green railway station and Alvechurch railway station are on the line to Redditch.

Hagley railway station and Wythall railway station are also on lines leading into Birmingham, which pass through the edges of the district. Bromsgrove is situated on Route 5 and 46 of the National Cycle Network. This gives cyclists easy access to Droitwich, Redditch, Birmingham and beyond.

Parishes
Most of the district's area is covered by civil parishes, the exceptions being two separate parts of the pre-1974 Bromsgrove Urban District which have not since been added to parishes: one covering the main part of the Bromsgrove built-up area, and another around Rubery on the northern edge of the district adjoining Birmingham. At the 2021 census, nearly half the district's population lived in the unparished areas. The most populous parishes are Wythall (which also contains the large village of Hollywood) and Hagley. Each parish has a parish council.

Population
The following table illustrates the change in the population of the area that makes up the modern district between 1801 and 2011.