Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, also known simply as Kirklees Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of local government services in Kirklees. Since 1 April 2014 it has been a constituent council of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.^[1]

Since the councils inception in 1974 it has been controlled by both the Conservatives and Labour on occasions. However, since 1999 no single political party has had control of the council and as such the council is currently in a state of "No Overall Control". ^[2]

History

The council was formed in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973.

Until 1986 the council was a second-tier authority, with West Yorkshire County Council providing many key services. However, the metropolitan county councils were abolished under the Local Government Act 1985 and the council took responsibility for all former County Council functions except policing, fire services and public transport which continue to be run on a joint basis by councillors from the former boroughs of West Yorkshire County Council.

In 2004 the wards of the council were redrawn, and there was therefore a general election of the entire council.^[3] The local government election in June 2004 was for all seats of the council. The electorate were given three votes each to fill the three seats of each ward. The candidate with the most votes was elected for the standard four years, the candidate with the second highest number of votes was elected for three years and the candidate with the third highest number of votes was elected for two years; their seat therefore being up for re-election in 2006.

Kirklees Council "Ratesgate" Scandal

In June 2016 local newspaper The Huddersfield Daily Examiner exposed four serving councillors who had failed to pay their council tax.^[4] It was revealed that Labour councillors Jean Calvert, Amanda Pinnock, Mohammed Sarwar and Amanda Stubley had all been issued with court summons for non-payment of council tax after previously receiving several reminders. Initially all councillors denied the allegations.^[5]

Councillor Calvert who was deputy leader of the council and a former Mayor and Councillor Amanda Pinnock were soon suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation for "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute".^[6] It was the second time in as many years that Councillor Calvert had failed to pay her council tax on time. Councillor Pinnock meanwhile accused the local newspaper The Huddersfield Daily Examiner of being racist. ^[7]

Councillor Mohammed Sarwar who owed £1,186.16 explained his reasons for his actions. Councillor Amanda Stubley failed to comment. ^[8]

All four councillors subsequently paid their debts before facing the court. ^[9]

2016 Kirklees Council Leadership Coup

Shortly after the 2016 local elections the incumbent leader of the council, David Sheard, was voted out of the position by his own party (Labour).^[10] He lost a vote by 19 votes to 13 in favour of Councillor Shabir Pandor who became Leader of the Kirklees Labour Party and Leader Elect of the council.^[11] This resulted in a bitter social media dispute between the two Labour councillors with Councillor Sheard stating there had been a coup within the Labour Party.^{[12] [13]}

On 25 May 2016 Councillor Pandor was put forward to full council by the Labour Party for election as leader of the council. He lost the vote by 33 votes to 31.^[14] For the first time in over 30 years Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green and Independent councillors voted against the leader elect, whilst four Labour Party councillors abstained.^[15] As such Councillor Pandor became the first ever leader of the largest political party on the council to fail to secure leadership of Kirklees Council.^[16]The leaders of all three opposition parties stated for various reasons that Councillor Pandor could not be "trusted" with the leadership of the council.^[17]

As a result of Councillor Pandor's failed leadership bid the council was run temporarily by the Chief Executive - Adrian Lythgo - between May and June 2016.^[18]

On 30 June 2016 the Kirklees Labour Party re-elected Councillor David Sheard as leader of the Kirklees Labour Party, less than 60 days after the party voted him out of the same position. He was also re-elected Leader of Kirklees Council, with Councillor Pandor standing as deputy leader. ^[19]

Elections

Electoral arrangements

The borough is divided into 23 wards and each is represented on the borough council by three councillors: the council therefore has 69 members. Elections are held by thirds, with one councillor in each ward being elected for a four-year term in three years out of four on first past the post basis. Exceptions to this include by-elections and ward boundary changes.

Political history

All three of the United Kingdom's main political parties: the Labour Party, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have had strong representation on the council. Each of the parties has formed the largest group on the council at some point in the last fifteen years, although none has been able to gain a majority. Each party has a number of "safe" wards, where they have held all or most of the seats at each election since 2004:^[20][21]

• The Conservative Party: Birstall & Birkenshaw, Holme Valley South, Liversedge & Gomersal and Mirfield.
• The Labour Party: Ashbrow, Batley East and Greenhead wards.
• The Liberal Democrats: Almondbury, Cleckheaton and Colne Valley.

Most of the other wards may be seen as "marginal", with different parties capturing them in different years.

The Green Party has been represented on the council since 1996, when they won a seat in the Newsome ward. Since then, the ward has consistently elected Green Party councillors. The ward is centred on Newsome village, but also includes Lowerhouses, Lockwood, Berry Brow, Hall Bower, Taylor Hill, Primrose Hill, Armitage Bridge, Ashenhurst and Salford. Also included in the ward is the majority of Huddersfield town centre, the university campus, halls of residence and other student accommodation.^[22]

The British National Party succeeded in having a councillor elected for Heckmondwike in 2004.^[20] They increased their representation to three councillors at the 2006 elections when they gained a further councillor at Heckmondwike and one at Dewsbury East. The party lost one of their Heckmondwike seats at the 2008 election to Labour.^[20] The Dewsbury councillor subsequently quit the party to become an independent, before resigning the seat which was won by Labour at a by-election in October 2008.^[23][24] The party therefore had a single councillor in 2009 who lost in 2010 and so there are currently no BNP Councillors. All the BNP councillors were in North Kirklees covering the Batley and Dewsbury areas.

In 2006 a "Save Huddersfield NHS" group was formed to campaign against plans to move medical services from Huddersfield Royal Infirmary to Halifax. The group fielded three candidates at the borough elections, and a local general practitioner unseated a sitting Liberal Democrat councillor in the Crosland Moor & Netherton ward.^[25] The group ran candidates in the same ward in 2007 and 2008 but they failed to be elected.

Current political make-up

As of the 2016 elections the council remains in "No Overall Control", with Labour 1 seat short of a majority.

The political make-up of the council is as follows;

Previous election results

2016 election

2015 election

2014 election

2012 election

2011 election

2010 election

Summary of election results 1973 - 2016

The first elections to Kirklees council were held on 10 May 1973, with the councillors serving as a shadow authority until 1 April of the next year. A system of elections by thirds was then introduced from 1975, with polls being held in three years out of four. This continued until 1982 when new ward boundaries were introduced, and an election of the whole council was held.^[29] Elections by thirds continued from that date until 2016.

Mayor's

A list of the previous Mayor's of Kirklees.

Area committees

The borough council has divided its area into twelve areas, made up of groupings of wards. Area committees consist of the metropolitan borough councillors for the local wards, parish councillors and co-opted members of "partner agencies". The committees scrutinise local services, formulate community action plans and liaise with the community.^[62]

The committee areas and their constituent wards are as follows:^[62]

• Batley (Batley East, Batley West)
• Birstall and Birkenshaw (Birstall, Birkenshaw)
• Colne Valley (Colne Valley, Golcar)
• Denby Dale (Denby Dale)
• Dewsbury (Dewsbury East, Dewsbury South, Dewsbury West)
• Holme Valley North (Holme Valley North)
• Holme Valley South (Holme Valley South)
• Huddersfield North (Ashbrow, Greenhead and Lindley)
• Huddersfield South (Almondbury, Crosland Moor & Netherton, Dalton & Newsome)
• Kirkburton (Kirkburton)
• Mirfield (Mirfield)
• Spen Valley (Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Liversedge & Gomersal)

Localities

A number of services in the borough are delivered on a "locality" basis. Examples include West Yorkshire Police, National Health Service Primary Care Trusts, and the Kirklees Children and Young People Service.^[63] The seven localities are:

• Batley, Birstall and Birkenshaw
• Denby Dale and Kirkburton
• Dewsbury and Mirfield
• Huddersfield North
• Huddersfield South
• Spen Valley
• The Valleys (The Colne and Holme Valleys)

References

Metropolitan districts of England
Districts	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Councils	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Local elections	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton