The History of Bournemouth Council

Back in August 1854, a special meeting took place of interested residents, who decided to apply for a Local Act for the improvement of Bournemouth.

Known as "The Bournemouth Improvement Act", it was given Royal Assent (which means it was approved by the King or Queen at the time) in 1856. The Act called for a board of 13 Commissioners, of which the Lord of the Manor and his nominee were to be non-elected members, with the rest being voted in an election. In those days, to be able to vote, electors had to own property which had an annual value of £7 listed within the Bournemouth area.

The "Bournemouth Improvement Act" allowed for general improvements to the town, such as better footpaths, sewers, drains and street lights. An area of 1,140 acres was plotted by the Commissioners, that is approximately 669 full size football pitches!

The amount of people living in Bournemouth grew in one year from just over 1,500 to over 6,500 in 1871. 10 years later in 1881, there were almost 17,000 people living in the area.

By August 1885, the bournemouth boundary had extended so they now had under their control nearly 2,500 acres (nearly 1467 football pitches!), a population of 37,000. 

In June 1890, a council meeting which Queen Victoria attended, gave its approval for Bournemouth to have a charter (certain rights given to a town, sometimes in the form of a loan), and the official day of granting the charter was Wednesday, 27^th August 1890, was observed locally as a general holiday.

The town's first elections took place in November of the same year, and 18 Councillors were elected. The Mayor and six Aldermen were required to complete the constitution.

Mr. T. J. Hankinson became the first Mayor of Bournemouth and his name is engraved on the Mace and the Mayoral Badge, which were presented to Bournemouth In March 1891, by Mr. and Mrs. Merton Russell-Cotes.

In July 1898, Councillor C. Mate led the call for Bournemouth to become a County Borough. Such status was granted on April Fools' Day in 1900. From that date, the size and population of the County Borough increased rapidly, only to lose its status and return to a Borough in 1974 when the whole system of local government was reorganised. The new Borough was no longer part of Hampshire but had been included within the bounds of Dorset.

 So Bournemouth, had many administrative decisions taken by the County Council based in Dorchester, while but the Borough Council remained in charge of other local services.

Since April 1997, Bournemouth Council has been responsible for providing all local government services for the Town.

This will mean that local people only need to approach one local authority with any queries they may have regarding all of the following services, and many more:

Education
Social Services
Trading Standards
Libraries
Planning
Economic Development
Highways
Environmental Health
Tourism
Benefits
Leisure Services
Housing

A single local authority provides all local government services
A more accessible council
No more confusion over service providers
Increased efficiency and better value for money
More responsive to the needs of the community it serves
The best co-ordination of service delivery
Greater accountability
A more democratic system of local government