Ellesmere Port and Neston

For the parliamentary constituency, see Ellesmere Port and Neston (UK Parliament constituency).

Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston
Shown within Cheshire
History
• Origin	Ellesmere Port Municipal Borough Neston Urban District
• Created	1 April 1974
• Abolished	31 March 2009
• Succeeded by	Cheshire West and Chester
Status	Non-metropolitan district
ONS code	13UE
• HQ	Ellesmere Port

Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.

The district had a population of about 81,800 (2006 estimate). Its main town was Ellesmere Port, an industrial town on the Manchester Ship Canal, which connects at Eastham locks to the River Mersey. The rest of the district was partly rural and partly residential including small towns such as Neston and Parkgate, both on the River Dee. It also included a number of villages such as Great Sutton and Willaston.

Creation

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the borough of Ellesmere Port and the urban district of Neston. The district was known simply as Ellesmere Port until the name was changed by the council effective 21 June 1976.

Civil parishes

The borough contained just one parish – Ince – with the remaining area of the borough remaining unparished.

Elections and political control

The political composition of the council at its abolition in 2009 was:

Party		Councillors
	Labour	23
	Conservative	17
	Liberal Democrat	2

Abolition

In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Cheshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The decision to merge Ellesmere Port and Neston with the districts of Chester and Vale Royal to create a single unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007, following a consultation period in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.

Ellesmere Port and Neston was abolished on 1 April 2009, when the new Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority was formed.