Crewe and Nantwich

Borough of Crewe and Nantwich
Borough of Crewe and Nantwich
	; Shown within Cheshire;
History
• Origin	Crewe Municipal Borough; Nantwich Urban District; Nantwich Rural District
• Created	1 April 1974
• Abolished	31 March 2009
• Succeeded by	Cheshire East
Status	Non-metropolitan district
ONS code	13UD
• HQ	Crewe

Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007.^{[citation needed]} It contained 69 civil parishes and one unparished area: the town of Crewe. It now forms part of the unitary authority of Cheshire East.

History

The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the borough of Crewe (an industrial town), the urban district of Nantwich (a smaller market town), and Nantwich Rural District.^[1] The new district was proposed to be called just "Crewe", but the shadow authority elected in 1973 to oversee the transition to the new system successfully petitioned the government to change the name to "Crewe and Nantwich" before the district came into being.^[2]^[3]^[4] The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chairman of the council to take the title of mayor.^[5]

In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Cheshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The decision to merge the boroughs of Crewe and Nantwich, Congleton and Macclesfield to create a single unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007, following a consultation period in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.^[6]

The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich was abolished on 1 April 2009, when the new Cheshire East unitary authority was formed.^[7]

Civil parishes

The former Crewe Municipal Borough was unparished, but the rest of the Crewe and Nantwich district included the following civil parishes:

Demographics

From the Census 2001:

Average age: 39.1 (England and Wales: 38.6)
Marital status:
- Never married: 26% (30.1%)
- Married or remarried: 55.2% (50.9%)
- Separated: 2.1% (2.4%)
- Divorced: 8.2% (8.2%)
- Widowed: 8.5% (8.4%).
Ethnicity:
- White: 98.0% (90.9%)
- Mixed: 0.7% (1.3%)
- Asian/Asian British: 0.5% (4.6%)
- Black/Black British: 0.4% (2.1%)
- Chinese or other: 0.4% (0.9%)
Religion:
- Christian: 80.2% (71.8%)
- Buddhist: 0.1% (0.3%)
- Hindu: 0.1% (1.1%)
- Jewish: 0.0% (0.5%)
- Muslim: 0.4% (3.0%)
- Sikh: 0.0% (0.6%)
- Other religion: 0.2% (0.3%)
- No religion: 11.9% (14.8%)
- No religion stated: 6.9% (7.7%).
Economic activity:
- Employed: 62.2% (60.6%)
- Unemployed: 2.8% (3.4%)
- Economically active full-time student: 2.6% (2.6%)
- Retired: 15.0% (13.6%)
- Economically inactive student: 3.6% (4.7%)
- Looking after home/family: 6.1% (6.5%)
- Permanently sick or disabled: 5.1% (5.5%)
- Other economically inactive: 2.6% (3.1%).
Crime levels (per 1000 population)
- Violence against the person: 5.7 (England and Wales: 11.4).
- Sexual offences: 0.2 (0.7).
- Robbery: 0.4 (1.8).
- Burglary from a dwelling: 7.2 (7.6).
- Theft of a motor vehicle: 2.4 (6.4).
- Theft from a motor vehicle: 7.8 (11.9).

According to 2003 figures, Crewe had the lowest crime rate and highest detection levels in Cheshire.

Political control

The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council from 1974 until its abolition in 2009 was held by the following parties:^[8]

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1974–1976
	No overall control	1976–1990
	Labour	1990–2002
	No overall control	2002–2009

Leadership

The leaders of the council from 1974 were:

Councillor		From	To
Donald Holt^[9]	Labour	1974	1976
Anne Blacklay^[10]	Conservative	1976	1979
Donald Holt^[11]	Labour	1979	11 Mar 1983
Anne Blacklay^[12]^[13]	Conservative	18 May 1983	May 1984
Brian Silvester^[14]	Conservative	May 1984	May 1990
Peter Kent^[15]	Labour	May 1990	7 May 2006
Brian Silvester^[16]^[17]^[18]	Conservative	17 May 2006	14 May 2008
John Hammond^[19]^[20]	Conservative	14 May 2008	31 Mar 2009

On 4 May 2006 a referendum was held to decide whether the "Leader and Cabinet" form of local government would be replaced by an elected mayor. The proposal was rejected by 18,768 (60.8%) votes to 11,808 (38.2%) on a 35.3% turnout.

Premises

The council met at the Municipal Buildings in Earle Street, Crewe, which had been completed for the former Crewe Borough Council in 1905.^[21] The main administrative offices were at Delamere House on Delamere Street in Crewe, which was built as a joint facility for both the new Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council and Cheshire County Council, being completed in 1974 just before local government reorganisation took effect.^[22]^[23] Delamere House was later supplemented with additional offices in a large extension to the rear of the Municipal Buildings, completed in 1991.^[24]

Twin towns

Crewe and Nantwich was twinned with:

Mâcon, France^[25]

Council elections

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich.

Individuals

Dario Gradi: 13 August 2003.^[28]
John Bowler : 13 August 2003.[29]

Military Units

The Cheshire Regiment: 1986.^{[citation needed]}
1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment: 5 November 2008.

External links

Crewe and Nantwich Council

References

^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 5 September 2022
^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 5 September 2022
^ "New council asks for change of title". Crewe Chronicle. 6 December 1973. p. 8. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
^ "It's Crewe and Nantwich Council". Crewe Chronicle. 24 January 1974. p. 1. Retrieved 5 September 2022. The Secretary of State for the Environment has consented to the name of Crewe District Council being changed to Crewe and Nantwich District Council...
^ "District Councils and Boroughs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 28 March 1974. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
^ BBC News, 25 July 2007 - County split into two authorities. Retrieval Date: 25 July 2007.
^ Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 Archived May 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
^ "Borough mourns Don". Warrington Guardian. 8 October 1998. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^ "Chronicle's notes were 'misleading'". Nantwich Chronicle. 25 November 1976. p. 3. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Bombshell over rates struggle". Crewe Chronicle. 17 March 1983. p. Front page. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Conservative group elect leaders". Crewe Chronicle. 19 May 1983. p. 5. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Mayor's wildest dreams come true". Nantwich Chronicle. 24 May 1984. p. 5.
^ "Highs and lows of life on council...". Crewe Chronicle. 16 May 1990. p. 10. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Leader of 20 years ousted by 18-vote margin". Cheshire Live. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
^ "Triumphant Tory takes council reins". Crewe Chronicle. 24 May 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
^ "Council minutes, 17 May 2006". Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^ "Board minutes, 21 February 2008". Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^ "Board minutes, 19 June 2008". Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^ Ryan, Belinda (13 November 2018). "Tributes paid to Cheshire East councillor who has died". Cheshire Live. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^ "Historical Venues". Civic Venues Cheshire. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
^ "Cheshire County Council". Crewe Chronicle. 31 January 1974. p. 26. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
^ "No. 46280". The London Gazette. 3 May 1974. p. 5511.
^ "Getting to the top and bottom of things in time for history". Crewe Chronicle. 15 May 1991. p. 15. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
^ "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
^ The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1977
^ legislation.gov.uk - The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich (Electoral Changes) Order 1998. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
^ McGarry, Graham (2 July 2009). "Dario Gradi - Crewe's longest serving manager". BBC News Stoke and Staffordshire. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
^ "Alex stars honoured". The Chester Chronicle. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 24 January 2024.