Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Stockport Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority since 2011.

The council has been under no overall control since 2011. Since 2022 it has been led by a Liberal Democrat minority administration. The council meets at Stockport Town Hall and has additional offices in the adjoining Stopford House and Fred Perry House.

History
The town of Stockport was an ancient borough, having been made a borough during the reign of Henry III (reigned 1216–1272). The original borough was entirely south of the River Mersey in Cheshire. The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, at which point the boundaries were enlarged, with some of the gained area being on the north side of the Mersey in Lancashire; after 1836 the borough therefore straddled the two counties. The municipal borough was governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Stockport', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council.

When elected county councils were established in 1889, Stockport was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, independent from both Cheshire County Council and Lancashire County Council, whilst continuing to straddle the geographical counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. The borough boundaries were enlarged several times.

The larger Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and its council were created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of ten metropolitan districts within the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. The first election was held in 1973. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's five outgoing authorities, being the borough council of Stockport and the urban district councils of Bredbury and Romiley, Cheadle and Gatley, Hazel Grove and Bramhall, and Marple. The new metropolitan district and its council formally came into being on 1 April 1974, at which point the old districts and their councils were abolished.

The metropolitan district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Stockport's series of mayors.

From 1974 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to Greater Manchester's ten borough councils, including Stockport, with some services provided through joint committees.

Since 2011 the council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. The combined authority provides strategic leadership and co-ordination for certain functions across Greater Manchester, notably regarding transport and town planning, but Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.

Governance
The council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the leader of Stockport Council sits on the combined authority as Stockport's representative. There are no civil parishes in the borough.

Political control
Stockport has been under no overall control since 2011. Following the 2022 election a Liberal Democrat minority administration formed to run the council, remaining in post after both the 2023 and 2024 elections too.

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

Leadership
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Stockport. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have included:

Composition
Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:

Three of the four independent councillors sit together as the 'Independent Ratepayers Group'; those three are all sponsored by the Heald Green Ratepayers, which is not formally registered as a political party. The other independent does not belong to a group. The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2023, the council has comprised 63 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office.

Structure
The council uses a leader and cabinet system. There are eight cabinet members, including the leader of the council; each has a separate portfolio containing responsibilities for different services and areas of the council. There are also six scrutiny committees which scrutinise decisions made by the cabinet. The cabinet of the consists of eight councillors:


 * Leader of the Council: Mark Hunter
 * Children, Families and Education: Wendy Meikle
 * Finance and Resources: Jilly Julian
 * Climate Change and Environment: Mark Roberts (Deputy Cabinet Leader)
 * Highways, Parks and Leisure Services: Grace Baynham
 * Economy, Regeneration and Housing: Colin MacAlister
 * Communities, Culture and Sport: Frankie Singleton
 * Health and Adult Social Care: Keith Holloway

Premises
Full council meetings are held at Stockport Town Hall on Wellington Road South, which had been completed in 1908 for the old Stockport Borough Council. An additional office block called Stopford House was built on Piccadilly (backing onto the Town Hall) in 1975. Another adjoining office building called Fred Perry House on Edward Street was completed in 2011, named after tennis player Fred Perry (1909–1995) who was from Stockport.