King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a local government district with

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

status in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 147,451.

History

The district was formed in 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of King's Lynn, Hunstanton and Downham Market

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

s along with Docking Rural District,

Downham Rural District __NOTOC__ Downham Rural District was a rural district in Norfolk, England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Downham rural sanitary district. It completely encircled Downham Market Urban Dist ...

Freebridge Lynn Rural District Freebridge Lynn Rural District was a rural district in Norfolk, England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Freebridge Lynn rural sanitary district, and was named after the Freebridge Lynn hund ...

and

Marshland Rural District Marshland Rural District was a rural district in Norfolk, England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Marshland rural sanitary district, and was named after the Freebridge Marshland hundred. It co ...

. The district was originally known as just West Norfolk, and adopted its present name in 1981.

Politics

Elections to the borough council are held every four years, with all of the 55 councillors, representing 42 wards, on the council being elected at each election. After being under no overall control from the 1999 election, the

Conservative party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

gained a majority at the 2003 election and has held one ever since, although losing a large number of seats due to the resurgence of the Independent Group in 2019. This meant that at the election the Tories were cut back to 28 seats, and opposition parties 27. Following the

United Kingdom local elections, 2019 Local elections in parts of the United Kingdom were held on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested. A total of 8,886 council ...

the political composition of King's Lynn and West Norfolk council was as follows: ;UK Youth Parliament Although the UK Youth Parliament is an apolitical organisation, the elections are run in a way similar to that of the Local Elections. The votes come from 11 to 18 year olds and are combined to make the decision of the next, 2 year Member of Youth Parliament. The elections are run at different times across the country with King's Lynn and West Norfolk's typically being in early Spring and bi-annually.

Composition

The district comprises the urban area of King's Lynn itself, together with 102 surrounding parishes. At the time of the 2001 census, the district had an area of 1,473 km², of which 28 km² was in the urban area and 1,445 km² in the surrounding parishes. The district had a population of 135,345 in 58,338 households, with 34,564 in 15,285 households living in the urban area, whilst 100,781 people in 43,053 households lived in the surrounding parishes.Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001).
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
''. Retrieved December 2, 2005. The urban area of King's Lynn itself is unparished. The remainder of the district lies within the following

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

es:

Arms

References

Official WebsiteWest Norfolk Information
{{Coord, 52.7549, 0.3962, display=title} Non-metropolitan districts of Norfolk Boroughs in England