Wyre Forest District

This article is about the local government district in Worcestershire. For the woodland of the same name, see Wyre Forest. For the local government district in Lancashire, see Wyre.

Wyre Forest District
Non-metropolitan district
Wyre Forest shown within Worcestershire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Non-metropolitan county	Worcestershire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Kidderminster
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Wyre Forest District Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (TBA (council NOC))
• MP	Mark Garnier
Area
• Total	75.4 sq mi (195.4 km2)
Area rank	169th (of 326)
Population (mid-2014 est.)
• Total	98,960
• Rank	238th (of 326)
• Density	1,300/sq mi (510/km2)
• Ethnicity	98.2% White
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	47UG (ONS) E07000239 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SO8264776847
Website	www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk

Wyre Forest is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, covering the towns of Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley, and several civil parishes and their villages. Its council was previously based in Stourport-on-Severn, but moved to new purpose built offices on the outskirts of Kidderminster in 2012.

The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974, as a merger of Bewdley and Kidderminster municipal boroughs, Stourport-on-Severn Urban District Council and Kidderminster Rural District Council.

Since 2011, Wyre Forest has formed part of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership along with neighbouring authorities Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Solihull and Tamworth.

Governance

See also: Wyre Forest District Council elections

The Wyre Forest parliamentary constituency, which covers most of the district, is represented by the Conservative MP Mark Garnier. He has held the seat since the 2010 general election, when he gained it from Richard Taylor of Health Concern, who had held the seat from 2001 to 2010.

Elections to Wyre Forest District Council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the seats on the council being elected at each election. Since the first election to the council in 1973 no party has held a majority on the council for most of the time, while the Conservatives, Labour and Health Concern have had periods in control. The Conservatives regained a majority at the last election in 2015 and as of that election the council is composed of the following councillors:-

Party		Councillors
	Conservative Party	23
	Labour Party	3
	Independent	3
	Independent Community and Health Concern	2
	UKIP	1
	Liberal	1

Parishes

Kidderminster is unparished.

• Areley Kings
• Bewdley
• Broome
• Chaddesley Corbett
• Churchill and Blakedown
• Kidderminster Foreign
• Ribbesford
• Rock
• Rushock
• Stone
• Stourport-on-Severn
• Upper Arley
• Wilden
• Wolverley and Cookley

Schools

• The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre
• Wolverley C E Secondary School
• The Stourport High School & VIth Form Centre
• King Charles I School
• Baxter College

Media

• The Shuttle

External links

• Official District Council web site.