Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC), also known as Stockport Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority since 2011.
The council has been under no overall control since 2011. Since 2022 it has been led by a Liberal Democrat minority administration. The council meets at Stockport Town Hall and has additional offices in the adjoining Stopford House and Fred Perry House.
The town of Stockport was an ancient borough, having been made a borough during the reign of Henry III (reigned 1216–1272). The original borough was entirely south of the River Mersey in Cheshire.[4][5] The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, at which point the boundaries were enlarged, with some of the gained area being on the north side of the Mersey in Lancashire; after 1836 the borough therefore straddled the two counties. The municipal borough was governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Stockport', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council.[6][7]
When elected county councils were established in 1889, Stockport was considered large enough for its existing council to provide county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, independent from both Cheshire County Council and Lancashire County Council, whilst continuing to straddle the geographical counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. The borough boundaries were enlarged several times.[8][9][10]
The larger Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and its council were created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of ten metropolitan districts within the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. The first election was held in 1973. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's five outgoing authorities, being the borough council of Stockport and the urban district councils of Bredbury and Romiley, Cheadle and Gatley, Hazel Grove and Bramhall, and Marple. The new metropolitan district and its council formally came into being on 1 April 1974, at which point the old districts and their councils were abolished.[11]
The metropolitan district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Stockport's series of mayors.[12]
From 1974 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986, under the Local Government Act 1985, and its functions passed to Greater Manchester's 10 borough councils, including Stockport, with some services provided through joint committees.[13]
Since 2011 the council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. The combined authority provides strategic leadership and co-ordination for certain functions across Greater Manchester, notably regarding transport and town planning, but Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.[14][15]
The council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the leader of Stockport Council sits on the combined authority as Stockport's representative.[16] There are no civil parishes in the borough.[17]
Stockport has been under no overall control since 2011. Following the 2022 election a Liberal Democrat minority administration formed to run the council,[18] remaining in post after both the 2023 and 2024 elections too.
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:[19][20]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–1975 | |
| Conservative | 1975–1983 | |
| No overall control | 1983–1999 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1999–2000 | |
| No overall control | 2000–2002 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 2002–2011 | |
| No overall control | 2011–present | |
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Stockport. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have been:[21]
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Knight[22][23][24] | Conservative | 1 Apr 1974 | 26 Dec 1976 | |
| John Howe[25][26] | Conservative | Jan 1977 | May 1978 | |
| John Lloyd[26][27] | Conservative | May 1978 | May 1984 | |
| (no leader)[27][28][a] | May 1984 | 14 May 1996 | ||
| Fred Ridley[28][33] | Liberal Democrats | 14 May 1996 | May 2002 | |
| Mark Hunter[34][35] | Liberal Democrats | 14 May 2002 | 18 Aug 2005 | |
| Brian Millard[35][36] | Liberal Democrats | 18 Aug 2005 | 22 May 2007 | |
| Dave Goddard[37][38] | Liberal Democrats | 22 May 2007 | May 2012 | |
| Sue Derbyshire[39][40] | Liberal Democrats | 22 May 2012 | May 2016 | |
| Alex Ganotis[41][42] | Labour | 24 May 2016 | 21 May 2019 | |
| Elise Wilson[43][44] | Labour | 21 May 2019 | 19 May 2022 | |
| Mark Hunter[45][46] | Liberal Democrats | 19 May 2022 | 20 May 2025 | |
| Mark Roberts[1] | Liberal Democrats | 20 May 2025 | incumbent | |
Following the 2024 election,[47] and subsequent changes of allegiance up to February 2025 the composition of the council was:[48]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | 30 | |
| Labour | 21 | |
| Edgeley Community Association | 3 | |
| Green | 3 | |
| Conservative | 1 | |
| Independent | 5 | |
| Total | 63 | |
The Edgeley Community Association and two of the independent councillors sit together as the "Stockport Community Group". The other three independent councillors sit together as the 'Independent Ratepayers Group'; those three are all sponsored by the Heald Green Ratepayers, which is not formally registered as a political party.[49][50] The next election is due in May 2026.[48]
Since the last boundary changes in 2023, the council has comprised 63 councillors representing 21 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) elected each time for a four-year term of office.[51]
| Ward | Councillor | Party | Term of office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bramhall North | Mark Jones | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Suzanne Wyatt | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Alex Wynne | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Bramhall South and Woodford | Peter Crossen | Conservative | 2024–27[b] | |
| Dallas Jones | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Jeremy Meal | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Bredbury and Woodley | Joe Barratt | Labour | 2023–27 | |
| Sue Thorpe | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Rosemary Barratt | Labour | 2024–28 | ||
| Bredbury Green and Romiley | Rachel Bresnahan | Liberal Democrats | 2024–27[b] | |
| Angie Clark | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Mark Roberts | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Brinnington and Stockport Central | Christine Carrigan | Labour Co-op | 2023–27 | |
| Kerry Waters | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Karl Wardlaw | Labour | 2024–28 | ||
| Cheadle East and Cheadle Hulme North | David Meller | Labour Co-op | 2023–27 | |
| Jilly Julian | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Mike Newman | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Cheadle Hulme South | Mark Hunter | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Helen Foster-Grime | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Keith Holloway | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Cheadle West and Gatley | Clive Greenhalgh | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Ian Hunter | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Huma Khan | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28[b] | ||
| Davenport and Cale Green | Dickie Davies | Labour | 2023–27 | |
| Wendy Wild | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Paul Wright | Labour | 2024–28 | ||
| Edgeley | Matt Wynne | Community Association | 2023–27 | |
| Leah Taylor | Community Association | 2023–26 | ||
| Asa Caton | Community Association | 2024–28 | ||
| Hazel Grove | Jake Austin | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Wendy Meikle | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Frankie Singleton | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Heald Green | Carole McCann | Heald Green Ratepayers | 2023–27 | |
| Ana Charles-Jones | Heald Green Ratepayers | 2023–26 | ||
| Catherine Stuart | Heald Green Ratepayers | 2024–28 | ||
| Heatons North | David Sedgwick | Labour | 2023–27 | |
| John Taylor | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Dena Ryness | Labour Co-op | 2024–28 | ||
| Heatons South | Colin Foster | Labour | 2023–27 | |
| Dean Fitzpatrick | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Claire Vibert | Labour Co-op | 2024–28 | ||
| Manor | Laura Clingan | Labour | 2023–27 | |
| Sue Glithero | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Jon Byrne | Labour | 2024–28 | ||
| Marple North | Steve Gribbon | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Geoff Abell | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Micheala Meikle | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Marple South and High Lane | Shan Alexander | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Aron Thornley | Labour[c] | 2023–26 | ||
| Colin MacAlister | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Norbury and Woodsmoor | Grace Baynham | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Dominic Hardwick | Liberal Democrats | 2023–26 | ||
| Pete West | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Offerton | Will Dawson | Liberal Democrats | 2023–27 | |
| Helen Hibbert | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Dan Oliver | Liberal Democrats | 2024–28 | ||
| Reddish North | David Wilson | Labour | 2023–27 | |
| Holly McCormack | Labour | 2023–26 | ||
| Rachel Wise | Labour Co-op | 2024–28 | ||
| Reddish South | Liz Crix | Green | 2023–27 | |
| Gary Lawson | Green | 2023–26 | ||
| James Frizzell | Green | 2024–28 | ||
The council uses a leader and cabinet system. There are eight cabinet members, including the leader of the council; each has a separate portfolio containing responsibilities for different services and areas of the council. There are also six scrutiny committees which scrutinise decisions made by the cabinet. The cabinet of the consists of eight councillors:[52]
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Full council meetings are held at Stockport Town Hall on Wellington Road South, which had been completed in 1908 for the old Stockport Borough Council.[53] An additional office block called Stopford House was built on Piccadilly (backing onto the Town Hall) in 1975.[54] Another adjoining office building called Fred Perry House on Edward Street was completed in 2011, named after tennis player Fred Perry (1909–1995) who was from Stockport.[55][56]
