Warwick District

Warwick is a local government district in Warwickshire, England. It is named after the historic county town of Warwick, which is the district's second largest town; the largest town is Royal Leamington Spa, where the council is based. The district also includes the towns of Kenilworth and Whitnash and surrounding villages and rural areas. Leamington Spa, Warwick and Whitnash form a conurbation which has about two thirds of the district's population.

The neighbouring districts are Rugby, Stratford-on-Avon, Solihull and Coventry.

History
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district was formed through the merger of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time: The new district was named Warwick after the county town.
 * Kenilworth Urban District
 * Royal Leamington Spa Municipal Borough
 * Warwick Municipal Borough
 * Warwick Rural District

Proposals to merge the district with neighbouring Stratford-on-Avon District were put forward in 2021 and provisionally agreed, before eventually being abandoned in April 2022.

Governance
Warwick District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Warwickshire County Council. The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

Political control
The council has been under no overall control since 2019. Following the 2023 election a coalition of the Greens and Labour formed to run the council, led by Green councillor Ian Davison.

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 and a change of allegiance in April 2024, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 44 councillors representing 17 wards with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Premises
Council meetings are usually held at Leamington Spa Town Hall on The Parade, which had been built in 1884 for the old Leamington Borough Council. The council has its main offices at Riverside House on Milverton Hill in Leamington, close to the River Leam. That building was completed in 1984 as the headquarters of the Leamington Spa Building Society, and was subsequently bought by the council in the late 1990s. Plans are being considered to move the council's main offices nearer to the town centre of Leamington Spa; various schemes have been proposed since 2016, but none has yet to come to fruition.

The environment
On 27 June 2019 the elected members at the Full Council meeting declared a "climate emergency" in response to ongoing global climate change. The council aims to become carbon neutral by 2025, whilst trying to make the whole district carbon neutral by 2030. On 20 January 2020 it was announced that electric cars would be given free parking in council car parks. On 4 February of that year it was proposed by the council group leaders to increase council tax by around £1 a week on Band D properties to create £3 million per year. This would be ring-fenced for environmental purposes. If this proposal was accepted by the other councillors then a district wide referendum would have been held on 7 May to decide if the public accept it. On 26 February the full council unanimously agreed the proposal, triggering the 7 May referendum, – which was put back to 6 May 2021, due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. the referendum has not yet occurred and no date has been set.

Travel, education and healthcare
The district has six railway stations – Warwick, Warwick Parkway, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth, Hatton and Lapworth. Regular bus services run between Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth and onwards to Coventry, Stratford upon Avon and the University of Warwick. The Grand Union Canal flows through the district and the M40 motorway also passes through. Right on the edge of the district is Coventry Airport.

National Health Service general healthcare is provided by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and mental health care by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust. Local hospitals include Warwick Hospital, the Leamington Spa Hospital, St Michael's Hospital and the Warwickshire Nuffield Hospital (non-NHS, part of the Nuffield Health group) Social services is pro On 13 July 2021 a coronavirus "mega lab" was opened in the town. Named after English chemist Rosalind Franklin. The site is expected to be capable of processing "hundreds of thousands of samples a day". The largest laboratory of its kind in the UK, and it is hoped it will create up to 1,500 jobs. It will also play a "key role in responding to new variants of the virus". Historic hospitals included St Michael's Leper Hospital, Warneford Hospital and Central Hospital. Social services and fostering are dealt with on a countywide basis by Warwickshire County Council.

Freedom of district

 * MoD Kineton: 4 April 2013.
 * On 26 November 2013 the freedom of the district was bestowed on the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers following a parade through Royal Leamington Spa.

Towns and parishes
The district is divided into 32 civil parishes, which cover the whole area. The parish councils for Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwick and Whitnash have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". The small parish of Bushwood has a parish meeting rather than a parish council. The parishes are:


 * Ashow
 * Baddesley Clinton, Baginton, Barford, Beausale, Haseley, Honiley and Wroxall, Bishops Tachbrook, Blackdown, Bubbenhall, Budbrooke, Burton Green, Bushwood
 * Cubbington
 * Eathorpe
 * Hatton, Hunningham
 * Kenilworth
 * Lapworth, Leek Wootton and Guy's Cliffe
 * Norton Lindsey
 * Offchurch, Old Milverton
 * Radford Semele, Rowington, Royal Leamington Spa
 * Sherbourne, Shrewley, Stoneleigh
 * Wappenbury, Warwick, Wasperton, Weston Under Wetherley, Whitnash