Ellesmere Port Council Offices
{{Short description|Municipal building in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Ellesmere Port Council Offices
| native_name =
| image = Council Offices - geograph.org.uk - 34846.jpg
| caption= The building in 2005
| locmapin = Cheshire
| map_caption =Shown in Cheshire
| coordinates ={{coord| 53.2768|N| 2.9041|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location = Civic Way, Ellesmere Port
| area =
| built =1969
| architect =
| architecture =Modern style
| website=
}}
Ellesmere Port Council Offices is a municipal building in Civic Way in Ellesmere Port, a town in Cheshire, in England. The building served as the headquarters of Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council but is now disused.
History
File:Ellesmere_Port_Town_Centre_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2724556.jpg
Ellesmere Port historically formed part of the township of Whitby, which was administered as a rural parish until 1902, forming part of the Wirral rural sanitary district from 1872 to 1894 and then the Wirral Rural District from 1894 to 1902.{{cite web |title=Whitby Township / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10158102 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=4 February 2025}} Following significant population growth, largely associated with the shipping industry, the township of Whitby was converted into an urban district called Ellesmere Port and Whitby in 1902.{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Local Government Board |date=1902 |page=293 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Local_Government_Bo/HUswAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover&bsq=Ellesmere%20Port |access-date=4 February 2025}}{{cite web|url= https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10492233 |title= Ellesmere Port and Whitby UD|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=23 March 2024}}
The new urban district council initially established offices at Bank Buildings in Station Street,{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FExOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA241 |title=Stone, materials and stores|publisher=The Builder|page=241|date=23 February 1907}} before opening dedicated offices in 1908.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oD4DAAAAMAAJ |title= Ellesmere Port The Making of an Industrial Borough |first1=P. J. |last1=Aspinall|first2= Daphne M. |last2=Hudson|year=1982 |publisher= Borough Council of Port Ellesmere and Neston, South Wirral|isbn= 978-0950766607 |page=45|quote= In 1908, the year in which new council offices were built, Ellesmere Port…}}{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ToMkAQAAMAAJ |title=Tenders open|publisher=Roads and Road Construction |volume=38 |year=1960|page=44|quote=Contract documents from the borough engineer and surveyor, Queen Street, Ellesmere Port}} The council then moved to the former home of the Grace family, Whitby Hall, in 1931.{{cite web|url= https://www.cheshireimagebank.org.uk/frontend.php?action=zoom&keywords=Ref_No_increment;MATCHES;(%5E%7C%20+)c03723($%7C%20+)&continueUrl=ZnJvbnRlbmQucGhwPyZhY3Rpb249c2VhcmNoJnBhZ2U9MjQ4 |title=Ellesmere Port: Whitby Hall Municipal Offices|publisher=Cheshire Image Bank| access-date=23 March 2024}}
After the Second World War, a memorial, in the form of an irregular monolith of stone bearing by a plaque commemorating the lives of veterans involved in the Normandy landings, was unveiled to the west of the council offices at the corner of Stanney Lane and Whitby Road.{{cite news|url= https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/143117/ |title=Ellesmere Port (Normandy Veterans Stone of Remembrance)|publisher=War Memorials Online| access-date=23 March 2024}}{{cite web|url= https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/9944 |title= Normandy Veterans|publisher=Imperial War Museum| access-date=23 March 2024}}
The Ellesmere Port and Whitby Urban District was enlarged in 1910 and again in 1933, when it was renamed the Ellesmere Port Urban District. It was raised to the status of a municipal borough in 1955.{{cite web |title=Ellesmere Port Urban District / Municipal Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10081610#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Porsmouth |access-date=4 February 2025}} In that context, the council found that the Whitby Hall was inadequate and decided to commission a new civic complex. The site they selected was open land on the north side of Stanney Lane.{{cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15.2&lat=53.2768&lon=-2.9041&layers=219&b=1&o=100&marker=53.2768,-2.9041 |title=Ordnance Survey Map|year=1955| access-date=23 March 2024}} The council offices were the final phase of the development of the new civic complex in the new town centre, following the opening of the Civic Hall in 1955, and a library in 1962.{{cite news |title=Phase two finished |work=Municipal Journal |date=1962}} The new five-storey building was designed under the supervision of the borough engineer and surveyor, Howard Wilson,{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EUsiAQAAMAAJ |title=Appointments| publisher=Municipal Journal |volume=80|year=1972 |page=106|quote=Ellesmere Port BC , has been appointed borough engineer and surveyor in succession to Howard Wilson}} in the modern style, built in concrete, glass and brick and was completed in 1969. The main frontage was faced with alternating bands of concrete cladding and steel-framed glass and there were brick-clad staircase towers at centre and ends of the structure.{{cite news |title=Borough of Ellesmere Port |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=6 September 2022 |work=Cheshire Observer |date=12 December 1969 |location=Chester |page=11 |quote=...at the new Municipal Offices, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port...}}
The building continued to serve as the local administrative headquarters after the area became part of the new Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston in 1974.{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}} However, council meetings continued to be held at Whitby Hall until the early 1990s, when the council offices were extended. The additions including a new hexagonal shaped structure, containing a purpose-built council chamber, and an underground bunker, intended for use in the event of a nuclear attack.{{cite news |title=So that's what it looks like inside... |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=6 September 2022 |work=Ellesmere Port Pioneer |date=29 January 1992 |page=18}} In 2009, the borough became part of Cheshire West and Chester.{{cite web|title=The Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 - Article 4|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/634/article/4/made|website=www.legislation.gov.uk|publisher=Legislation.gov.uk|access-date=15 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103195800/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/634/article/4/made|archive-date=3 January 2011|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}
In 2005, a new civic square was established to the east of the council offices. The centrepiece of the civic square was a new war memorial, in the form of a celtic cross on a cruciform base commemorating the lives of all local service personnel who had died in military conflict, which was unveiled on 11 November 2005.{{cite web|url= http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/eportwarmemorial/warmemorial/warmemorial.htm |title=Ellesmere Port War Memorial Project|publisher=Royden History| access-date=23 March 2024}}{{cite web|url= http://www.carlscam.com/warmem/ellesmerec.htm |title= War Memorial, Ellesmere Port Civic Centre|publisher=Carl's Cam| access-date=23 March 2024}}
The new council continued to use the building to deliver services until May 2022, when it moved to a new building in the town, The Portal.{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Gary |title=New Cheshire West and Chester Council HQ in Ellesmere Port to open in May |url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/new-cheshire-west-chester-council-23598339 |access-date=23 March 2024 |work=Cheshire Live |date=5 April 2022}} Demolition of the building was approved, but was delayed until 2024 due to the need to relocate mobile phone masts from the roof.{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Gary |title=Fresh plans to knock down Ellesmere Port council offices with underground bunker |url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/fresh-plans-knock-down-ellesmere-27570221 |access-date=23 March 2024 |work=Cheshire Live |date=23 August 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Dowling |first1=Mark |title=Bid to level Ellesmere Port ex-CWaC offices and bunker approved |url=https://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/news/24124464.bid-level-ellesmere-port-ex-cwac-offices-bunker-approved/ |access-date=23 March 2024 |work=Chester Standard |date=16 February 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Gary |title=Go-ahead for new plans to bulldoze Ellesmere Port council offices with underground bunker |url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/go-ahead-new-plans-bulldoze-28650768 |access-date=23 March 2024 |work=Cheshire Live |date=18 February 2024}}