Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Tameside Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside 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 Labour majority control since 1979. It is based at Tameside One in Ashton-under-Lyne.

History
The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside 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 nine outgoing authorities, being the borough councils of Ashton-under-Lyne, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge, and the urban district councils of Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden and Longdendale. 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.

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 Tameside, 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 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.

The council was documented in the 2014 BBC Television series Call the Council, which showed its workers carrying out their duties.

Governance
The council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the leader of Tameside Council sits on the combined authority as Tameside's representative. There is one civil parish in the borough at Mossley, which forms an additional tier of local government for that area; the rest of the borough is unparished.

Political control
The council has been under Labour majority control since 1979.

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

Leadership
The council splits the functions usually exercised by a mayor into two roles: a 'civic mayor' who acts as a ceremonial figurehead and represents the council at civic functions, and a 'chair of council business' who presides at council meetings. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have been:

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

The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2023, the council has comprised 57 councillors representing 19 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.

Wards and councillors
Each ward is represented by three councillors. [[File:Tameside Council Wards Numbered.png|thumbnail|Council Wards

1 Ashton Hurst

2 Ashton St. Michael's

3 Ashton Waterloo

4 Droylsden East

5 Droylsden West

6 St. Peters

7 Audenshaw

8 Denton North East

9 Denton South

10 Denton West

11 Dukinfield

12 Dukinfield / Stalybridge

13 Hyde Godley

14 Hyde Newton

15 Hyde Werneth

16 Longdendale

17 Mossley

18 Stalybridge North

19 Stalybridge South]]

Premises
The council has its headquarters at Tameside One, which also includes a library and part of Tameside College. The building was completed in 2019. The council's former offices, known as the Tameside Administrative Centre, had been built on the same site in 1981. That building was demolished in 2016 to make way for Tameside One. The site is immediately behind Ashton Town Hall, one of the buildings inherited from the council's predecessors.

The annual council meeting when new civic mayors are appointed is usually held at Dukinfield Town Hall.