Swindon - Governance

Governance

The local council was created in 1974 as the Borough of Thamesdown, out of Swindon Borough and Highworth Rural Councils. It was not initially called Swindon, because the borough covers a larger area than the town and encompasses villages and land. It was eventually renamed to Borough of Swindon in 1997, however. The borough became a unitary authority on 1 April 1997, following a review by Local Government Commission for England. The town is therefore no longer under the auspices of Wiltshire Council.

The borough consists of parished and non-parished areas. Parished areas include Bishopstone and Hinton Parva, Blunsdon St Andrew, Castle Eaton, Chiseldon, Covingham, Hannington, Haydon Wick, Highworth, Inglesham, Liddington, South Marston, Stanton Fitzwarren, Stratton St Margaret, Wanborough and Wroughton.

The executive comprises a leader and a cabinet made up from the Conservative Group. The council as of the 2011 election has a majority of Conservative councillors.

Swindon is represented in the national parliament by two MPs. Robert Buckland (Conservative) was elected for the South Swindon seat in May 2010 with a 5.5% swing from Labour and Justin Tomlinson, also Conservative, represents North Swindon after a 10.1% swing at the same election. Prior to 1997, there was a single seat for Swindon, although much of what is now in Swindon was then in the Devizes seat.