Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council is the local authority for the City of Sheffield, a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England. The council consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under no overall control, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party each holding chair positions in a proportionate number of committees.[2]

Sheffield City Council
Coat of arms or logo
Logo
Type
Type
Leadership
Colin Ross,
Liberal Democrat
since 17 May 2023
Tom Hunt,
Labour
since 17 May 2023
Kate Josephs
since January 2021[1]
Structure
Seats84 councillors
Sheffield City Council composition
Political groups
Administration (75)
  Labour (31)
  Liberal Democrats (29)
  Green (14)
Opposition (9)
  Sheffield Community Councillors (8)
  Conservative (1)
  Independent (1)
Joint committees
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
Elections
First past the post
Last election
4 May 2023
Next election
2024
Meeting place
Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield, S1 2HH
Website
www.sheffield.gov.uk

History
See also: History of Sheffield

The town of Sheffield was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1843. The borough was run by the Corporation of Sheffield, also known as the town council. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Sheffield was considered large enough to run its own county-level services and so it was made a county borough, independent from West Riding County Council.[3] The town was awarded city status in 1893.[4]

In 1974 the county borough of Sheffield was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, being replaced by a larger metropolitan borough of Sheffield, covering the area of the former county borough plus the abolished Stocksbridge Urban District and the parishes of Bradfield and Ecclesfield. Sheffield's city status was extended to cover the whole area of the new borough.[5]

From 1974 to 1986 Sheffield was a district-level authority, with county-level services provided by South Yorkshire County Council. In 1986, the abolition of metropolitan county councils saw Sheffield City Council become a unitary authority, the modern equivalent of the county borough it had been before 1974.[6]

Since 2014 the council has been a constituent member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (called the Sheffield City Region until 2021), led by the directly elected Mayor of South Yorkshire since 2018.

In April 2014, the Sheffield City Council voted to recognize the right to self-determination of Somaliland, an autonomous region in northwestern Somalia, the first city council to do so. The gesture is purely ceremonial and carries no legal weight.[7] The UK government and the international community officially recognise Somaliland as a part of Somalia.

In August 2019, a governance petition was submitted to the council, asking for a referendum on changing the council's governance system.[8] The petition, organised by the Sheffield community group It's Our City!, was signed by over 26000 people (approximately 6.6% of the Sheffield City Council electorate). In September 2019 this petition was accepted as valid under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011, forcing the council to hold a referendum on changing the council's executive arrangements from the Leader and Cabinet system to a Committee system.[9] The referendum was postponed from May 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and took place on 6 May 2021, with 65% voting for change to a Committee system.[10]

Governance

Political control

Since 2021 the council has been under no overall control. At the 2021 elections, Labour lost its majority on the council, and its leader, Bob Johnson, lost his seat on the council. A coalition between Labour and the Greens was formed to run the council, with Labour's new leader Terry Fox taking the role of leader of the council.[11] Following the 2022 election, the Liberal Democrats joined Labour and the Greens in the ruling administration.[12] The 'rainbow coalition' of Labour, The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party has continued following the 2023 election.

The first election to the reconstituted city council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[13]

Party in controlYears
Labour1974–1999
Liberal Democrats1999–2002
No overall control2002–2003
Labour2003–2007
No overall control2007–2008
Liberal Democrats2008–2010
No overall control2010–2011
Labour2011–2021
No overall control2021–present

Leadership

The role of Lord Mayor of Sheffield is largely ceremonial and is usually held by a different councillor each year. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1901 have been:[14][15][16]

County Borough

CouncillorPartyFromTo
William Clegg Liberal19011903
Herbert Hughes Conservative19031905
William Clegg Liberal19051907
Herbert Hughes Conservative19071911
William Clegg Liberal19111920
Citizens19201926
Ernest Rowlinson Labour19261932
Arthur Blanchard Municipal Progressive19321933
Ernest Rowlinson Labour19331941
William Asbury Labour19411942
Frank Thraves Labour19421946
John Henry Bingham Labour19461960
Grace Tebbutt Labour19601966
Ron Ironmonger Labour19661968
Harold Hebblethwaite Conservative19681969
Ron Ironmonger Labour19691974

The last leader of the city council before the 1974 reforms, Ron Ironmonger, went on to be the first leader of South Yorkshire County Council.

Metropolitan Borough

CouncillorPartyFromTo
George Wilson Labour19741980
David Blunkett Labour19801987
Clive Betts Labour19871992
Mike Bower Labour19921998
Jan Wilson Labour19981999
Peter Moore Liberal Democrats19992002
Jan Wilson Labour200221 May 2008
Paul Scriven Liberal Democrats21 May 200818 May 2011
Julie Dore Labour18 May 20116 Jan 2021
Bob Johnson Labour6 Jan 20219 May 2021
Terry Fox[17] Labour19 May 20215 May 2022
Tom Hunt Labour17 May 2023

Composition

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was 39 Labour, 29 Liberal Democrat, 14 Green, 1 Conservative and 1 independent.[18]

The day after polling closed, it was announced that council leader Terry Fox would step down as leader at the request of the national Labour Party, after the party failed to regain control of the Council, and controversy around the Council's response to the Sheffield street tree scandal.[19][20]

On 11 September 2023, seven Labour councillors were suspended from the Labour Party, including former Council leader Terry Fox, after voting against the city's draft Local Plan.[21] On 4 October 2023, these councillors announced that they had resigned the Labour whip and would sit as independents.[22] This means that the current composition of the Council is:-

Party Councillors
Labour 32
Liberal Democrats 29
Green 14
Independent 8
Conservative 1
Total 84

The next election is due in 2024.

Premises
Howden House, 1 Union Street

The council meets at Sheffield Town Hall on Pinstone Street in the city centre. The building was purpose-built for the council and was completed in 1897. It is a Grade I listed building.[23] The council also uses a modern office building nearby at Howden House, 1 Union Street, as additional offices and the main customer service centre. There are also smaller offices and area offices across the city.[24]

Elections
See also: Sheffield City Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2016, the council has comprised 84 councillors representing 28 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) being elected each time for a four-year term.[25]

Council as service provider and employer

Sheffield City Council provides approximately 550 services to its citizens. It is also a major employer in the city, with more than 8,000 employees, including all state school staff in its role as Local Education Authority (LEA). In April 2021 the Sheffield Star published a list of seven Council employees earning more than £100k-a-year.[26]

Services and employees are organised into four portfolios:[27]

  • Resources Portfolio – responsible for corporate resources and organisational development.
  • Children, Young People and Families's Portfolio – equivalent to an LEA and responsible for early years, primary, secondary and special schools, children and families' social care, looked-after children and youth offending.
  • Place Portfolio – responsible for planning, housing, maintaining and repairing the social housing stock, environmental regulation, parks and countryside, street maintenance and cleanliness, and cultural activities.
  • Communities Portfolio – responsible for libraries, local governance, community safety and adult social services, including physical disability, learning disability and older people.

The council is responsible for 16 cemeteries across the city.[28]

See also

References
  1. Hargreaves, James (12 August 2020). "Kate Josephs appointed Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council". The Sheffield Guide. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  2. "Labour, Greens and the Liberal Democrats agree collaborative way". Sheffield News. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  3. "Sheffield Municipal Borough / County Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  4. "The City of Sheffield: Arrival of letters patent". Evening Telegraph and Star. Sheffield. 21 February 1893. p. 3. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  5. "No. 46303". The London Gazette. 31 May 1974. p. 6485.
  6. "Local Government Act 1985", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1985 c. 51, retrieved 18 June 2023
  7. "Somaliland Hails British Step Forward in Independence Bid". VOA. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  8. "Sheffield City Council's deputy leader quits over referendum calls".
  9. "Democracy petition forces Sheffield to hold referendum".
  10. "Sheffield City Council Governance Referendum". Sheffield Council. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  11. "Sheffield City Council: Labour and Green coalition to run authority". BBC News. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  12. "Labour, Greens and the Liberal Democrats agree collaborative way forward". SheffNews. Sheffield City Council. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  13. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  14. "Council minutes". Sheffield City Council. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  15. Clyde Binfield et al., The History of the City of Sheffield 1843–1993. Volume I: Politics
  16. Binfield, Clyde; Martin, David; Childs, Richard; Harper, Roger; Hey, David; Tweedale, Geoffrey; Harman, Ruth, eds. (1993). The History of the City of Sheffield. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 9781850754312.
  17. "Sheffield City Council Labour leader Terry Fox resigns before election result". ITV News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  18. "Local elections 2023: full council results for England". The Guardian. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  19. Williams, Molly (5 May 2023). "Terry Fox responds to Labour plans to force him out as leader of Sheffield Council". The Star. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  20. Ford, Gregory (16 March 2023). "Sheffield council leader urged to resign as tree felling row grows more heated". YorkshireLive. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  21. "Sheffield Labour councillors 'disappointed' over suspensions". BBC News. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  22. "Sheffield Labour councillors resign after being suspended by party". BBC News. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  23. Historic England. "Town Hall, Sheffield (1246902)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  24. "Council offices". Sheffield City Council. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  25. "The Sheffield (Electoral Changes) Order 2015", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2015/1861
  26. Bent, Lloyd (7 April 2021). "The seven workers who earn over £100k-a-year at Sheffield city council – full list". Sheffield Star. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  27. "Management Team". Sheffield City Council. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  28. Sheffield City Council, Cemeteries, accessed 21 July 2022
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