Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Coat of arms
Corporate logo
Type
Type	Metropolitan borough council
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Civic Mayor	Betty Affleck, Labour since 21 May 2024[1]
Leader	Eleanor Wills since 24 October 2024[2]
Chief Executive	Harry Catherall (interim) since 29 October 2024
Structure
Seats	57 councillors
Political groups	Administration   Labour (48) Other parties   Conservative (7)   Independent (2)
Joint committees	Greater Manchester Combined Authority Greater Manchester Police, Fire and Crime Panel Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board Bee Network Committee
Elections
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Meeting place
Tameside One, Market Square, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 6BH
Website
www.tameside.gov.uk

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Tameside Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside 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 Labour majority control since 1979. It is based at Tameside One in Ashton-under-Lyne.

The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside 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 nine outgoing authorities, being the borough councils of Ashton-under-Lyne, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge, and the urban district councils of Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden and Longdendale. 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.^[3]

The metropolitan district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[4]

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 and its functions passed to Greater Manchester's ten borough councils, including Tameside, with some services provided through joint committees.^[5]

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 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.^[6][7]

The council was documented in the 2014 BBC Television series Call the Council, which showed its workers carrying out their duties.^[8]

The council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the leader of Tameside Council sits on the combined authority as Tameside's representative.^[9] There is one civil parish in the borough at Mossley, which forms an additional tier of local government for that area; the rest of the borough is unparished.^[10]

The council has been under Labour majority control since 1979.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:^[11][12]

The council splits the functions usually exercised by a mayor into two roles: a 'civic mayor' who acts as a ceremonial figurehead and represents the council at civic functions, and a 'chair of council business' who presides at council meetings.^[13] Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have been:^[14]

Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:^[21]

The next election is due in May 2026.

Since the last boundary changes in 2023, the council has comprised 57 councillors representing 19 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.^[22]

Each ward is represented by three councillors.^[23]

The council has its headquarters at Tameside One, which also includes a library and part of Tameside College. The building was completed in 2019.^[24][25]

The council's former offices, known as the Tameside Administrative Centre, had been built on the same site in 1981. That building was demolished in 2016 to make way for Tameside One.^[26] The site is immediately behind Ashton Town Hall, one of the buildings inherited from the council's predecessors.

The annual council meeting when new civic mayors are appointed is usually held at Dukinfield Town Hall.^[27]

Coat of arms of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Crest Out of a mural crown Gules a demi-lion guardant Or resting the sinister forepaw on an escutcheon of the arms, mantled Gules doubled Or. Escutcheon Per bend Or and Vert a bend barry wavy Argent and Azure between in chief a rose Gules barbed and seeded Proper and in base a Garb Or. Supporters On the dexter a lion Or gorged with a chain pendent therefrom a mullet pierced Sable and on the sinister a male griffin Gules armed, beaked, irradiated and gorged with a chain pendent therefrom a cogwheel Or. Motto 'Industry And Integrity'[28]

• Official website