Poole Borough Council was the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

responsible for

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

in the Borough of Poole, Dorset, England. It was created on 1 April 1997 following a review by the Local Government Commission for England (1992), becoming administratively independent from

Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...

, and ceased to exist on 1 April 2019. Its council comprised 16 wards and 42 councillors and was controlled by a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

before it was merged into Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. The council was based at

Poole Civic Centre Poole Civic Centre is an Art Deco municipal building in Poole, Dorset. Since 7 October 2019 the building has been a Grade II listed building. Also sometimes known as Poole Town Hall, the civic centre was the headquarters of Poole Borough Counc ...

. In February 2018 the 'Future Dorset' plan was approved by the

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...

Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

, which meant that Bournemouth,

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

and Poole borough councils were merged into one

in April 2019.

Composition

{{Further, Poole local elections 42

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s were

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

across 16 wards and there were elections every four years. The last election, in May 2015, resulted in a Conservative majority. The Mayor was Sean Gabriel, a Conservative councillor for the Canford Heath West ward since May 2015. The Council was made up of 32 Conservative, 6

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

3 Poole People and 1 UKIP councillors. After the election, a Conservative administration was formed with a cabinet of seven councillors who were responsible for deciding how the Council's strategies and policies were implemented and how the budget was spent. The Council Leader was Janet Walton (Conservative).

Wards

{, class="wikitable sortable" border="1" , - ! scope="col" , Ward ! scope="col" , Number of seats , - , Alderney , , 3 , - , Branksome East , , 2 , - , Branksome West , , 2 , - , Broadstone , , 3 , - ,

Canford Cliffs Canford Cliffs is a suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. The neighbourhood lies on the English Channel coast midway between Poole and Bournemouth. To the southwest is Sandbanks which has some of the highest property values in the world; with Canf ...

, , 3 , - , Canford Heath East , , 2 , - , Canford Heath West , , 2 , - , Creekmoor , , 3 , - ,

Hamworthy Hamworthy is a village, parish, peninsula and suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. It is sited on a peninsula of approximately that is bordered by the town of Upton to the north, Poole Harbour to the south, Lytchett Bay to the west and Holes B ...

East , , 2 , - , Hamworthy West , , 2 , - , Merley and Bearwood , , 3 , - , Newtown , , 3 , - , Oakdale , , 3 , - ,

Parkstone Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of t ...

, , 3 , - , Penn Hill , , 3 , - , Poole Town , , 3

Unlawful use of surveillance

For three weeks in 2008 the Council carried out unlawful surveillance on a family following an allegation that they were living outside a particular school catchment area. The surveillance was carried out by one of Poole Borough Council's education officers, who followed the family's movements for 24 consecutive days between 10 February and 4 March 2008. Tim Martin, the council's head of legal services, authorised the surveillance and initially argued that it was justified under the

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ( c.23) (RIP or RIPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of comm ...

, set up to counter serious crime, including terrorism. However, at a subsequent tribunal, the Council's actions were ruled unlawful on multiple grounds: there was nothing, for instance, to suggest that the family's three young children had committed any criminal act, yet they were still made targets of the surveillance. The tribunal also ruled that the surveillance "was not proportionate and could not reasonably have been believed to be proportionate". The Council said that it accepted the judgment "fully"."Poole Council loses school catchment 'spying' tribunal"

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 2 August 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2019.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Borough of Poole
{{Former unitary authorities of England {{Authority control Politics of Poole Former unitary authority councils of England Leader and cabinet executives Local education authorities in England Billing authorities in England 2019 disestablishments in England Local authorities in Dorset