Hinckley and Bosworth

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of two former districts, which were both abolished at the same time:{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|accessdate=22 August 2022}}

• Hinckley Urban District
• Market Bosworth Rural District (except parish of Ibstock, which went to North West Leicestershire)

The government initially named the new district "Bosworth".{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|accessdate=22 August 2022}} The shadow council elected to oversee the transition to the new system requested a change to "Hinckley and Bosworth", which was agreed by the government on 20 November 1973, before the new district formally came into being.{{cite web |title=Historical information from 1973 onwards |url=https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ordnancesurvey.co.uk%2Fdocuments%2Fboundary-legislation-changes-from-1973.xls&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |website=Boundary-Line support |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=17 February 2023}} The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1974/mar/28/district-councils-and-boroughs#S5CV0871P0_19740328_CWA_145|title=District Councils and Boroughs|date=28 March 1974|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|access-date=30 October 2023}}

{{Infobox legislature

|name=Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council

|logo_pic = Logo of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.png

|logo_res = 150px

|foundation = 1 April 1974

|house_type = Non-metropolitan district

|leader1_type = Mayor

|leader1 = Robin Webber-Jones

|party1=
Liberal Democrat

|election1= 14 May 2024{{cite web |title=Agenda for Council on Tuesday, 14 May 2024, 6.30 pm |url=https://moderngov.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=119&MId=2381 |website=Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council | date=14 May 2024 |access-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515150333/https://moderngov.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=119&MId=2381 |archive-date=15 May 2024}}

|leader2_type = Leader

|leader2 = Stuart Bray

|party2=
Liberal Democrat

|election2= 21 May 2019

|leader3_type = Chief Executive

|leader3 = Bill Cullen

|party3=

|election3= 1 January 2017{{cite news |last1=Hambridge |first1=Karen |title=New Hinckley and Bosworth boss is keen to grow town |url=https://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/new-hinckley-bosworth-boss-keen-11884845 |access-date=30 October 2023 |work=Hinckley Times |date=16 September 2016}}

|political_groups1 =

;Administration (23)

:{{nowrap|{{Color box |{{party color|Liberal Democrats (UK)}} |border=darkgray}} Liberal Democrat (23)}}

;Other parties (11)

:{{Color box |{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}} |border=darkgray}} Conservative (9)

:{{Color box |{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}} |border=darkgray}} Labour (1)

:{{Color box |{{party color|Independent politician}} |border=darkgray}} Independent (1)

|seats= 34 councillors

|structure1 = Hinckley_and_Bosworth_Borough_Council_2023.svg

|structure1_res= 250px

|term_length= 4 years

|last_election1 = 4 May 2023

|next_election1 = 6 May 2027

|session_room = Hinckley Hub - geograph.org.uk - 5294021.jpg

|session_res =

|meeting_place = Hinckley Hub, Rugby Road, Hinckley, LE10{{nbsp}}0FR

|website={{url|www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk}}

}}

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Leicestershire County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|access-date=31 May 2023}}{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=17 October 2023}}

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 2019.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Since 1974 political control of the council has been as follows:{{cite web |title=Compositions calculator |url=https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3825 |website=The Elections Centre | date=4 March 2016 |access-date=10 August 2022}}

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Hinckley and Bosworth. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2003 have been:{{cite web |title=Council minutes |url=https://moderngov.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1 |website=Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council |access-date=18 August 2022}}

Following the 2023 election and subsequent changes of allegiance in May 2024, the composition of the council was:{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2023/may/04/elections-2023-results-live-local-council-england#le-full-results|title=Local elections 2023: live council results for England|work=The Guardian}}{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2023/england/councils/E07000132 | title=Hinckley & Bosworth result – Local Elections 2023 | work=BBC News }}{{cite web |title=Hinckley and Bosworth |url=https://www.localcouncils.co.uk/councils/?council=hinckley_and_bosworth |website=Local Councils |publisher=Thorncliffe |access-date=12 July 2024}}

The next election is due in 2027.

{{also|Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council elections}}

Since the last boundary changes in 2003 the council has comprised 34 councillors, representing 16 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Borough of Hinckley and Bosworth (Electoral Changes) Order 2002|year=2002|number=2888|access-date=30 October 2023}}

The district is broadly coterminous to the Bosworth parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Luke Evans (Conservative). The Groby ward is the only part of the district not in the Bosworth constituency, forming instead part of the Charnwood constituency.

File:Council offices, Argents Mead, Hinckley - geograph.org.uk - 3124005.jpg

The council is based at the Hinckley Hub on Rugby Road in Hinckley. The building was completed in 2013.{{cite news |last1=Eccleston |first1=Ben |title=Hinckley Hub opens its doors to the public |url=https://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/hinckley-hub-opens-doors-public-6031666 |access-date=30 October 2023 |work=Hinckley Times |date=13 June 2013}} Prior to 2013 the council was based at the Council Offices at Argents Mead, which had been built in 1968 for the old Hinckley Urban District Council.{{cite web |title=The Council Offices – 1968 |url=http://www.hinckleypastpresent.org/counciloffices2.html |website=Hinckley Past and Present |access-date=30 October 2023}}

File:View towards Earl Shilton - geograph.org.uk - 678046.jpg, the second largest town in the borough]]

File:Market Square, Market Bosworth - geograph.org.uk - 3132342.jpg, best known for the Battle of Bosworth and the third largest town in the borough]]

There are a number of geographical features which shape the landscape of Hinckley & Bosworth.

Two large neighbouring urban areas lie to the south of the borough: Hinckley and Burbage and Barwell and Earl Shilton. A narrow green wedge separates the two conurbations, which is increasingly being occupied by leisure facilities such as the Marston's Stadium and a new leisure centre.[http://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/pp/pressrelease/pressdetail.asp?id=6241 Press release about a new Leisure Centre on the A47]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} To the east of the wedge lies Burbage Common and Woods, a large popular green recreational area.

The west of the borough is largely flat in nature, dominated by the River Sence flood plain. This area of the borough is largely rural, consisting of a number of very small villages and hamlets.

At the northern and eastern edges of the borough lie several settlements (including Bagworth, Desford, Groby, Markfield, Ratby and Thornton) which largely relate to Leicester; in particular the most northern villages have little to do with the main administrative centre of Hinckley. The northern area of the borough also forms part of Charnwood Forest.

File:Frontelevation1.JPG]]

• The Geographical Centre of England is in the northwest of the borough at Lindley Hall Farm, near Fenny Drayton
• Burbage Common and Woods is one of the largest recreation areas in the borough consisting of 80 hectares of fields, meadows and woodland[http://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/pp/gold/viewgold.asp?idtype=page&id=11966 Burbage Common and Woods information at HBBC]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Hinckley Museum is in a range of 17th century timber-framed framework knitters' cottages.
• The Ashby Canal, the longest contour canal in England, passes through the borough from Hinckley in the south of the borough through Stoke Golding, Dadlington, Market Bosworth and Shackerstone before heading north to its current terminus at Snarestone.
• There is a large mill in Sheepy Magna to the west of the borough located on the River Sence
• Stoke Golding, is home to the medieval Church of St. Margaret's.
• The site of the Battle of Bosworth, administered by Leicestershire County Council, includes an interpretation centre at Ambion Hill, where Richard III encamped the night before the battle. St. James's Church at Dadlington is the place where many of the dead were buried and where a chantry was founded on their behalf.
• The Battlefield Line is a preserved railway which runs over part of the alignment of the former railway from Nuneaton to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It is home to the Shackerstone Diesel Group.{{Cite web |url=http://www.shackerstone-diesels.co.uk/ |title=Shackerstone Diesel Group |access-date=8 April 2009 |archive-date=14 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814202247/http://www.shackerstone-diesels.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}
• Twycross Zoo is notable for having the largest collection of primates in the world.
• Thornton Reservoir is a former {{convert|75|acre|m2|adj=on}} drinking water reservoir that is no longer in use.
• A large collection of tropical birds is on display at Tropical Birdland near to Desford.

The only railway station in the borough on the National Rail network is Hinckley railway station on the South Leicestershire Line opened by the LNWR between 1862 and 1864. Currently there are direct services to Birmingham New Street and Leicester only with additional services to/from Cambridge and Stansted Airport in the peak.

There was also a branch line serving the market town of Market Bosworth which connected both Nuneaton and Hinckley to both Coalville and Ashby. The line closed to regular traffic in 1970 and is now part of the Battlefield Line. There was also a small stub to Hinckley but was never opened or used. There was also a stub to Nuneaton via Stoke Golding.

The last line that runs through part the borough is the Leicester to Burton Line which had a station in Desford, the station closed in 1964 but the line remains open for traffic. The station also served as a junction for the branch line to Leicester West Bridge on the now defunct Swannington and Leicester Railway. Although the section from Desford to Swannington remains open for freight traffic.

Hinckley and Bosworth is the second largest borough by population in Leicestershireexcluding the City of Leicester part of Ceremonial Leicestershire and has seen significant population growth over recent decades; a trend forecast to continue at least into the short-medium term.

Most of the borough is covered by civil parishes. The pre-1974 Hinckley Urban District became an unparished area on the borough's creation in 1974, but four new parishes have since been created from parts of that area: Burbage, Stoke Golding (both created 1986),{{cite web |title=The Hinckley and Bosworth (Parishes) Order 1986 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003537mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/12319/hinckley-and-bosworth-parishes-order-1986.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=30 October 2023}} Earl Shilton (1995){{cite web |title=The Hinckley and Bosworth (Parishes) Order 1995 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003537mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/31651/The-Hinckley-and-Bosworth-Parishes-Order-1995.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=30 October 2023}} and Barwell (2007),{{cite web |title=The Hinckley and Bosworth (Parish) Order 2006 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003540mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/12605/the-hinckley-and-bosworth-parish-order-2006.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=30 October 2023}} leaving just the central part of Hinckley itself as unparished. The parish council for Earl Shilton has declared its parish to be a town, allowing it to take the style "town council". (Whilst often referred to as a town, Market Bosworth Parish Council has not formally declared that parish to be a town.){{cite web |title=Parish Council contact details |url=https://moderngov.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/mgParishCouncilDetails.aspx?LS=17&SLS=1&bcr=1 |website=Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council |access-date=30 October 2023}}

• Bagworth and Thornton, Barlestone, Barwell, Burbage
• Cadeby, Carlton
• Desford
• Earl Shilton
• Groby
• Higham on the Hill
• Market Bosworth, Markfield
• Nailstone, Newbold Verdon
• Osbaston
• Peckleton (including the villages of Kirkby Mallory and Stapleton)
• Ratby
• Shackerstone, Sheepy, Stanton-under-Bardon, Stoke Golding, Sutton Cheney
• Twycross
• Witherley

{{Infobox COA wide

|escutcheon = Per pale indented Argent and Gules on a chief Or three torteaux that in the centre charged with a pierced cinquefoil Ermine the others each charged with a mascle Or.

|crest = On a wreath of the colours a dragon Gules preying on a boar passant Argent.

|supporters = On either side a ram reguardant Sable armed Or.

|motto = Post Proelia Concordia (After The Battle Concord)

|notes = Granted 15 November 1974{{cite web|url=http://civicheraldry.co.uk/east_midlands.html |title=East Midlands Region |publisher=Civic Heraldry of England |accessdate=5 March 2021}}}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council's Website]
• [https://www.hinckleypastpresent.org Hinckley Past and Present]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090704141935/http://www.burbagecarnival.co.uk/ The Burbage carnival supports local charities every year]

{{Commons category|Borough of Hinckley and Bosworth|Hinckley and Bosworth}}

{{Leicestershire}}

{{East_Midlands}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|52|36|45|N|1|21|13|W|region:GB-LEC_type:adm2nd_dim:15000|display=title}}

Category:Non-metropolitan districts of Leicestershire

Category:Boroughs in England