Borough of Charnwood

Charnwood is a local government district with borough status in the north of Leicestershire, England. It is named after Charnwood Forest, much of which lies within the borough. The council is based in Loughborough, the area's largest town. The borough also contains the towns of Shepshed and Syston, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. In the south of the borough it includes parts of the Leicester Urban Area, notably at Birstall and Thurmaston.

The neighbouring districts are Melton, Harborough, Leicester, Blaby, Hinckley and Bosworth, North West Leicestershire and Rushcliffe.

History
The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of three former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:
Barrow upon Soar Rural District
Loughborough Municipal Borough
Shepshed Urban District

Prior to the new district coming into being there was some debate as to what name it should take, with alternatives considered including "Loughborough and Soar Valley", "Greater Loughborough" and "Soar Valley". A committee of the three outgoing councils chose Soar Valley as its preferred option but was overruled by the government, which went instead for the committee's second choice of Charnwood, after the Charnwood Forest which covers the western part of the district. The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.

The symbol of Charnwood Borough Council is the fox, which is also the symbol used by Leicestershire County Council. Charnwood contains the village of Quorn, which gives its name to one of the country's oldest fox hunting packs, the Quorn Hunt, which was established in 1696 and moved to Quorn in 1753.

Governance

Charnwood Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Leicestershire County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

Political control
The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election, being run by a Labour minority administration with support from the Greens.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Since 1974 political control of the council has been as follows:

Leadership
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Charnwood. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2010 have been:

Composition
Following the 2023 election the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 52 councillors, representing 24 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

There are two Parliamentary constituencies covering the district. Charnwood is represented by the Conservative Edward Argar MP. Loughborough is represented by the Conservative Party's Jane Hunt.

Premises

The council is based at the Council Offices on Southfield Road in Loughborough. The older part of the building was an early 19th century house called Southfields. The house was acquired by the old Loughborough Town Council during the Second World War and after the war was converted to be additional offices supplementing those at Loughborough Town Hall. A large extension was added to Southfields in 1990 allowing it to become Charnwood's main offices. Loughborough Town Hall is still used for full council meetings of Charnwood Borough Council.

Geography
To the south it borders the City of Leicester, about 20 km away from Loughborough. There is a moderately urbanised A6 corridor between the two population centres and close to the River Soar, including Quorn, Barrow-on-Soar, Mountsorrel, Birstall, Sileby, Thurmaston, Syston, Queniborough and East Goscote.

To the south of the borough, Birstall, Queniborough, Thurmaston and Syston form part of the Leicester Urban Area, while Quorn and Shepshed (the second-largest town in the district), amongst others, might be considered to be part of a Loughborough urban agglomeration.

The highest point is Beacon Hill (248m/814 ft) to the north of the Charnwood Forest 'area of natural beauty' extending WN-west into the National Forest.

Demography
Charnwood is the largest borough by population in Leicestershire, and has the largest school population as well.

Parishes
Most of the borough is covered by civil parishes. Most of the pre-1974 borough of Loughborough is an unparished area. The parish councils for Shepshed and Syston have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". The parishes of Barkby and Barkby Thorpe share a grouped parish council, as do Burton on the Wolds, Cotes and Prestwold. The small parishes of Beeby, Hamilton Lea, Stonebow Village, Swithland, Ulverscroft and Wanlip have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.

 Anstey
 Barkby
 Barkby Thorpe
 Barrow upon Soar
 Beeby
 Birstall
 Burton on the Wolds
 Cossington
 Cotes
 East Goscote
 Hamilton Lea
 Hathern
 Hoton
 Mountsorrel
 Newtown Linford
 Prestwold
 Queniborough
 Quorn
 Ratcliffe on the Wreake
 Rearsby
 Rothley
 Seagrave
 Shepshed
 Sileby
 South Croxton
 Stonebow Village
 Swithland
 Syston
 Thrussington
 Thurcaston and Cropston
 Thurmaston
 Ulverscroft
 Walton on the Wolds
 Wanlip
 Woodhouse
 Wymeswold

Freedom of the Borough
The following people, military units, and organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the Borough of Charnwood.

Individuals
 Paula Radcliffe: 28 June 2004.
 Michael Jones: 29 September 2008.
 Lez Cope-Newman: 24 June 2019.

Military Units
 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment: 4 September 2006.
 203 (Loughborough) Squadron The 158 (Royal Anglian) Transport Regiment: 15 April 2010.
 The Royal Logistic Corps: April 2010.

Organisations and Groups
 Leicester City Football Club: 14 September 2021.

References

External links
 Charnwood Borough Council YouTube channel

 
Non-metropolitan districts of Leicestershire
Boroughs in England