Gosport Borough Council

Gosport Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Gosport, in the county of Hampshire, England. The council consists of 28 councillors, two or three for each of the 14 wards in the town. It is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrats, led by Peter Chegwyn. The borough council is based at Gosport Town Hall.

History
Gosport was historically part of the parish of Alverstoke. Gosport's first form of local government was a body of improvement commissioners known as the "Gosport Town Trustees", established in 1763. In 1874 the town trustees were replaced by a Local Board (also known as the Urban Sanitary Authority) and the local government district was enlarged to cover the whole parish of Alverstoke, and so the new body was called the "Alverstoke Local Board". The loss of the Gosport name from its governing body was a subject of ongoing debate in the area for some years afterwards, and in 1891 the local board was renamed the "Gosport and Alverstoke Local Board".

Under the Local Government Act 1894, such local government districts were reconstituted as urban districts, and so the council became the "Gosport and Alverstoke Urban District Council". On 9 November 1922 the urban district was made a municipal borough and the Alverstoke name was removed from its title. On 1 April 1974 the district became a non-metropolitan district, altering its powers and responsibilities but keeping the same area and name.

Governance
Gosport Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Hampshire County Council. There are no civil parishes in the borough.

Political control
The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 2022.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:

Leadership
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Gosport. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council (formally the chair of the policy and organisation board). The leaders since 2007 have been:

Composition
Following the 2024 election and a subsequent by-election in July 2024, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2022 the council has comprised 28 councillors elected from 14 wards, with each ward electing two councillors. Elections are held in alternate years with half the council being elected each time (one councillor for each ward) for a four year term of office.

Premises
The council is based at Gosport Town Hall on the High Street. The building was purpose-built for the council and was completed in 1964. The previous town hall of 1812 had been destroyed in the Portsmouth Blitz in 1940.