Sovereign state United Kingdom Region South East England Admin HQ Woking Area 63.6 km² Capital Woking | Constituent country England Non-metropolitan county Surrey Founded 1974 Population 92,400 (2009) Administrative center Woking | |
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Status Non-metropolitan district Clubs and Teams Woking F.C., Westfield L.F.C. Points of interest Shah Jahan Mosque, Wey and Godalming Navigations, Woking Palace, Mr Mulligan's Pirate Gol | ||
The Borough of Woking is a local government district with borough status in the west of Surrey, England.
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Map of Woking District, UK
It was formed in 1895 as an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894. The present-day borough was established in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and is one of two districts in Surrey to retain the boundaries of a single former urban district (the other being Epsom and Ewell). It is also the only district of Surrey not to have a boundary with a district of any other county.
Woking Borough Council's head offices are located in the town of Woking, just outside the town square in the Civic Offices.
At the 2001 Census, the population of the borough was 88,125, over 70% of whom (62,796) lived in the town of Woking. The rest of the borough is divided into five areas located around a village. These villages are:
Byfleet is the only civil parish in the borough.
Elections
Elections to the council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 36 seats on the council being elected at each election. The elections are normally battled out between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. From the 1998 election to 2007 no party had a majority on the council, but in the 2007 election the Conservative party won a majority. Since then until 2009, the Conservatives had 19 seats on the council compared to 17 for the Liberal Democrats. Following the resignation of councillor Peter Ankers from the Conservatives to sit as an independent in 2009 the Conservatives continued in administration as the largest Party with 18 seats but with no overall control. At the 2011 election 20 Conservative and 16 Liberal Democrats were elected giving the Conservatives an overall majority once again. In the 2012 elections the Conservatives took a further seat from the Liberal Democrats, giving them 21 seats to the Liberal Democrats 15.