Type Civil Parish Mayor Cllr. Derek Brown, OBE Conservative 10 / 23 | Leader Andrew Roberts Seats 23 Labour 7 / 23 | |
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Salisbury City Council is an English city council in which the Conservatives currently have the largest number of members but there is no overall control.
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The council came into being in April 2009 to serve the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, although its first elections were not held until June 2009. It is based in the city's historic Guildhall, following the adaptation of the building. Until that was completed it had its offices and meetings at 22, Bedwin Street, Salisbury.
Population
The civil parish of Salisbury - which excludes some of the city's suburbs such as Laverstock, Ford, Britford, Harnham and Odstock - had a population of 40,302 at the 2011 census.
City status
Salisbury has been ranked as a city since "time immemorial", and the status was preserved after 1974 by the Charter Trustees of the City of New Sarum, a body which was dissolved at the time of the new grant. The parish was once again granted city status by letters patent dated 1 April 2009.
Coat of arms
On 23 March 2010, the city council was granted a royal licence, transferring to it the armorial bearings of the previous City of New Sarum. The arms and supporters were originally recorded at the heraldic visitations of Wiltshire in 1565 and 1623. The blazon of the arms is:
Barry of eight Azure and Or. Supporters: On either side an eagle displayed with two heads Or, ducally gorged Azure.
There do not appear to be any meanings attached to the design. The traditional explanation that the blue stripes represent the rivers that meet in the city is now discounted. It has also been suggested that the eagles derive from the arms of the Bouverie family, Earls of Radnor, benefactors of the city. However, this also can be discounted, as the arms of the city were recorded before the family was connected with it.
Membership
The council consists of twenty-three councillors, elected in eight wards, seven of which have three councillors each, while one (St Mark's and Bishopdown) has only two. Elections to the city council took place on Thursday, 2 May 2013. Soon after them Jo Broom, who had been elected in Fisherton & Bemerton Village as a Liberal Democrat, joined the Conservatives. Following the resignation of a Conservative, there was a by-election in the St Martin's & Cathedral ward on 9 January 2014, won by Patricia Fagan for Labour. The city councillors are now as follows:
Functions
The council is initially responsible for the following properties and services: