Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

History

The current local authority was first elected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham on 1 April 1974. The council gained borough status, entitling it to be known as Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.

It was envisaged through the Local Government Act 1972 that Rotherham as a metropolitan local authority would share power with the South Yorkshire County Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the South Yorkshire County Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance and waste disposal with the district authorities responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, education and refuse collection. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council gained responsibility for some services that had been provided by the South Yorkshire County Council. The Local Government Act 1985 directed the councils of South Yorkshire to form joint arrangements, which are coordinated by the South Yorkshire Joint Secretariat, in order to deliver these functions.

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Rotherham is within a metropolitan area of England. It and provides the majority of local government services in Rotherham, including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. The council appoints members to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel and it is a constituent council of the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority.

Political control

Councillors are elected from 21 wards. Each ward returns three members, giving a total of 63 councillors.

Commissioners

In February 2015 the elected council was suspended and replaced by commissioners appointed by the government after it was severely criticised by the Casey report into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal. The commissioners were later named as Sir Derek Myers (lead commissioner), Stella Manzie (managing director commissioner), Malcolm Newsam (children's social care commissioner), Mary Ney and Julie Kenny (supporting commissioners). The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, said that they would remain in charge of the council until March 2019, though he expected that there would be a "phased roll back of powers to the authority as and when there can be confidence that the authority could exercise a function in compliance with the best value duty, and in the case of children's social care, to the required standard."