History of the Council | Knutsford Town Council

A (BRIEF) HISTORY OF KNUTSFORD TOWN COUNCIL

Knutsford Town Council was formed in 1974 as part of a local government reorganisation. Under the new Local Government Act 1972 urban district councils were replaced with new larger districts and where appropriate new parish councils were created for the towns. Knutsford Parish Council was officially formed in 1973 as a shadow council (now powers, and comprising the members of the KUDC). The Knutsford Parish Council resolved to be styled as a Town – and thus Knutsford Town Council was born and the title of Mayor of Knutsford was recreated.

The new Town Council was given little responsibility under this reorganisation, with responsibility for parks, markets, toilets, allotments and much more being placed under the new Macclesfield District Council (later given borough status). In the 1970s the council successfully argued that 60 King Street (then home to La Belle Epoque restaurant) belonged to the Town Council and not Macclesfield BC under a statutory provision that vested ‘parish property’ in the hands of the new town councils. At a similar time, Monkton Properties gifted Wallwood to the town and vested it in the trust to Knutsford Town Council.

Over the next 30 or so years, the Town Council’s role was one of representing the townsfolk with other organisations and delivering few services directly. This began to change in 2011 when a drive from the newly formed Cheshire East Council (unitary authority established in 2009) and the new coalition government pushed for localism – more services to be delivered locally. This also coincided with austerity measures which meant Cheshire East Council had to carefully focus its spending.

Between 2012-2020 the council’s responsibilities grew greatly, taking on responsibility for town centre management, public toilets, markets, allotments and the cemetery. It also recruited a new Town Ranger and began undertaking responsive maintenance across the town as well as generally becoming more directly involved in a wider array of services as Cheshire East Council stepped back.

Annie Jayne Leigh
Chairman
1924-1926 and 1928-1929

KNUTSFORD URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL

Knutsford Urban District Council was created in 1895 in the final part of the major Victorian creation of modern local government. Knutsford was originally going to be governed by parish councils (for Nether Knutsford and Over Knutsford) under a Rural District Council. We hold a copy of the first resolution of the Nether Knutsford Parish Council held in December 1894 where it thanked the chairman of the Parish Meeting which elected the council and and noted it was being replaced with an Urban District Council.

Urban Districts were responsible for a large range of functions, and over its almost 80 years the KUDC oversaw the construction of the cemetery and chapel, a public library and hundreds of council houses. The council purchased land from Lord Egerton to create the Moor and it was also responsible for roads, sewerage, public health, the fire service and many other functions that are now under the jurisdiction of Cheshire East Council. The council was one of the first in the country to run its own cinema when it purchased the Marcliff Cinema in the 1950s.

The Urban District Council initially had offices in King Street in a building where Clare and Illingworth now is, before moving into part of the newly constructed Kings Coffee House (60 King Street) – the building still bears the name of the council and Richard Harding Watt, creator of the Kings Coffee House was a councillor at the time. When the prison closed, the council purchased the Prison Governor’s house for its new office in the 1920s.

The council’s seal was originally an image of King Canute stood fording a river, holding an axe. In 1955 to celebrate the council’s diamond anniversary the Nether Knutsford Freeholders paid for the council to have a coat of arms.

KNUTSFORD URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL CHAIRMEN

Term of Office	Chairman	Term of Office	Chairman	Term of Office	Chairman
1895-98	Robert Longridge	1938/39	Edward Thomas	1958-59	Ken Walley
1898-02	Francis Ashworth	1939-40	Albert Percy	1959-60	William Shaw
1902-09	Lance Bentley	1940-41	William Shaw	1960-61	James Bancroft
1909-20	Joseph Cox	1941-42	Ernest Waldron	1961-63	Marjorie Chorlton
1920-24	Mayson Penn	1942-43	John Norbury	1963-64	John Gledhill
1924-26	Annie Leigh	1943-44	Percy Harwood	1964	John Kendrick
1926-28	Frank Wildgoose	1944-47	Frederick Johnson	1964-65	Ken Walley
1928-30	Annie Leigh	1946-47	Albert Percy	1965-66	Irene Stevenson
1929-31	William Johnson	1947-49	F Floyd	1966-67	Ray Shepherd
1931-32	Harry Darlington	1949-50	Albert Percy	1967-68	George Butler
1932-33	William Fisher	1950-51	Edward Thomas	1968-69	Harry Fish
1933-34	Fred Jennings	1951-52	Harry Darlington	1969-70	Marjorie Chorlton
1934-35	Herbert Stell	1952-54	Alfred Hart	1970-71	George Whalley
1935-36	Thomas Beswick	1954-55	F Floyd	1971-72	Frederick Atkinson
1936-37	S Cake	1955-57	Thomas Meachin	1972-73	Douglas Page
1937-38	Gilbert Mason	1957-58	John Gledhill	1973-74	Hilary Glidewell

TOWN CLERKS

Knutsford has had 11 Town Clerks since the Urban District Council was established in 1895. Our first Town Clerk was appointed on 14th May 1895 with a salary of £40 per year. Our longest serving Town Clerk was Edward Morley, who served as the final Town Clerk under the Urban District Council and the first under the new Town Council.

1895 – 1923

Edward Ashworth

1923- 1929

Harry Culdecutt

1929-1946

John Yates

1947-1977

Edward Morley

1977-1986

Eric Yeomans

1987-1997

Alan Jackson

1997-2003

Gay Martyniuk

2003-2008

Linda Thomas

2008-2011

Matthew Jackson

2011-2013

Steve McQuade

2014 –

Adam Keppel-Green