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Plurality voting system>First past the post2021 Staffordshire County Council election>6 May 2021| next_election1 = 1 May 2025| session_room = County Buildings Stafford Guy Cockin.JPG| session_res = County Buildings, Stafford>County Buildings, Martin Street, Stafford, ST16{{nbsp}}2LHweblink}}| footnotes = }} Staffordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. The non-metropolitan county differs from the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Stoke-on-Trent.62 councillors sit on Staffordshire County Council. Staffordshire operates a cabinet-style council. The full council elects a cabinet of 10 councillors, including the council leader, from the majority party. Each cabinet member has their own portfolio about which they make the "day to day" decisions.WEB,weblink Role of County Council, Staffordshire County Council, 2010-05-05, WEB,weblink Role of the Cabinet, Staffordshire County Council, 2010-05-05,

History

Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. The four boroughs of Hanley, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs, independent from the new county council. Conversely the city of Lichfield, which had been a self-governing county corporate since 1553 with its own sheriffs and quarter sessions, was not considered large enough to be a county borough and so it was included in the county council's area. The county council was elected by and provided services to the part of the county outside the county boroughs, which area was termed the administrative county.LEGISLATION UK, act, Local Government Act 1888, 1888, 41, 27 August 2023, The 1888 Act also said that urban sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries were to be placed entirely in the county which had the majority of their population, and so Staffordshire gained the parts of Burton upon Trent which had been in Derbyshire and the parts of Tamworth which had been in Warwickshire, but lost the parts of Dudley which had been in Staffordshire to Worcestershire.BOOK, Youngs, Frederic, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 2, 1991, Royal Historical Socity, London, 0861931270, 744, The first elections to the county council were held in January 1889. The council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at the Shire Hall in Stafford. The first chairman of the council was Dudley Ryder, 3rd Earl of Harrowby, a Conservative peer and former member of parliament.NEWS, Staffordshire County Council: First meeting today,weblink 26 December 2023, Evening Express and Star, 1 April 1889, Wolverhampton, 3, Additional county boroughs were later created at Burton upon Trent in 1901 and Smethwick in 1907, removing them from the administrative county.WEB, Smethwick Urban District / Municipal Borough / County Borough,weblink A Vision of Britain through Time, GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, 26 December 2023, In 1910 the administrative county ceded Burslem, Fenton, Longton, Stoke-upon-Trent and Tunstall to the new County Borough of Stoke on Trent, which also took in the previous county borough of Hanley. Territory was also transferred on a number of occasions from Staffordshire to the neighbouring county borough of Birmingham, which gained Harborne in 1891,WEB, Harborne Ancient Parish / Civil Parish,weblink A Vision of Britain through Time, GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, 26 December 2023, Handsworth in 1911,WEB, Handsworth Urban District,weblink A Vision of Britain through Time, GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, 26 December 2023, and Perry Barr in 1928.BOOK, Youngs, Frederic, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 2, 1991, Royal Historical Society, London, 0861931270, 419, In 1966 the administrative county ceded eleven urban districts and one municipal borough in the Black Country area at the southern end of the county to become parts of county boroughs.West Midlands Order 1965Staffordshire was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan county in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The county council regained authority over Burton and Stoke, but lost the Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District to the new West Midlands county (which also covered the county boroughs in the area that were already outside the administrative county).LEGISLATION UK, act, Local Government Act 1972, 1972, 70, 26 December 2023, Stoke-on-Trent regained its independence from the county council in 1997, becoming a unitary authority.LEGISLATION UK, si, The Staffordshire (City of Stoke-on-Trent) (Structural and Boundary Changes) Order 1995, 1995, 1779, 26 December 2023,

Governance

Staffordshire County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the area's eight district councils:LEGISLATION UK, act, Local Government Act 1972, 1972, 70, 31 May 2023,

• Cannock Chase District Council
• East Staffordshire Borough Council
• Lichfield District Council
• Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
• South Staffordshire District Council
• Stafford Borough Council
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
• Tamworth Borough Council

Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.WEB, Election Maps,weblink Ordnance Survey, 18 November 2023,

Political control

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2009.Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:WEB, Compositions calculator,weblink The Elections Centre, 10 August 2022, {| class="wikitable"! colspan=2|Party in control || YearsLabour Party (UK)}} 1974–1977Conservative Party (UK)}} 1977–1981Labour Party (UK)}} 1981–2009Conservative Party (UK)}} 2009–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1974 have been:WEB, Council minutes,weblink Staffordshire County Council, 14 September 2022, {| class=wikitable! Councillor !! colspan=2|Party !! From !! ToACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=21 APRIL 1973 ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=14 MAY 1977 Labour Party (UK)}} align=right8 May 1977ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=21 MAY 1977 ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=9 MAY 1981 Conservative Party (UK)}} align=rightMay 1981ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=15 MAY 1981 Labour Party (UK)}} align=rightMay 1996ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=17 MAY 1996 ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=18 APRIL 2007, {{party name with colourMay 1996 align=right|17 May 2007Labour Party (UK)}} align=right7 Jun 2009ACCESS-DATE=14 SEPTEMBER 2022 DATE=20 JULY 2020, {{party name with colour18 Jun 2009 align=right|23 Jul 2020Conservative Party (UK)}} align=right

Composition

Following the 2021 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to December 2023, the composition of the council was:WEB, Your County Councillors by Party,weblink Staffordshire County Council, 26 December 2023, {| class="wikitable"! colspan=2| Party! CouncillorsConservative Party (UK)}}55Labour Party (UK)}}5Independent politician}}2! colspan=2|Total! align=center|62The next election is due in 2025.

Elections

{{also|Staffordshire County Council elections}}Since the last boundary changes in 2013 the council has comprised 62 councillors representing 60 electoral divisions, with each division electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years.LEGISLATION UK, si, The Staffordshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2012, 2012, 875, 26 December 2023,

Premises

(File:Staffordshire Place - geograph.org.uk - 5948833.jpg|thumb|Staffordshire Place: Council's main offices since 2011)The council has its main offices at Staffordshire Place, a modern office building on Tipping Street in Stafford.WEB, Contact us,weblink Staffordshire County Council, 26 December 2023, The building was purpose-built for the council in 2011.WEB,weblink Wraps off £38m Staffordshire County Council HQ, Express and Star, 21 December 2011, 23 August 2019, WEB,weblink Men at work again after duchess officially opens beleaguered council HQ, 12 May 2013, Express and Star, 14 November 2020, File:Staffordshire Shire Hall.jpg|thumb|left|(Shire Hall, Stafford|Shire Hall]]: Council's first meeting place)When the county council was first created in 1889 it met at the Shire Hall in the Market Place in Stafford, which had been completed in 1798 as a courthouse and had been the meeting place of the quarter sessions which preceded the county council.{{NHLE|num=1298177|desc=Shire Hall and Attached Railings, Gates and Lamp Standards, Stafford |grade=II*|accessdate=26 December 2023}} Shortly after the council's creation it built itself a new meeting place and offices at County Buildings on Martin Street, adjoining the side of Shire Hall, with the new building opening in 1895.{{NHLE|desc=County Buildings and Judges House, Martin Street|num=1298178|grade=II*|access-date=26 December 2023}} The council later outgrew County Buildings, and by the early 21st century its offices were spread across seventeen different buildings. The construction of Staffordshire Place in 2011 allowed for the consolidation of most of the council's offices at the one site, although the nearby County Buildings was retained by the council, with the council chamber there continuing to serve as the council's meeting place.WEB, Council minutes, 14 December 2023,weblink Staffordshire County Council, 26 December 2023,

References

{{reflist}}{{County councils of England}}{{Local authorities in Staffordshire}}