Editing Witham (section)

==Governance==
Witham is part of the [[Witham (UK Parliament constituency)|Witham constituency]] of the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]. The local Member of Parliament (MP) is the former [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Home Secretary]] [[Priti Patel]], who was elected at the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], becoming the first [[British Asian|Asian]] female Conservative MP.

The constituency includes [[Hatfield Peverel]], [[Langford, Essex|Langford]], [[Wickham Bishops]], [[Marks Tey]], [[Tiptree]], [[Tolleshunt Knights]], [[Stanway, Essex|Stanway]] [[Kelvedon]], and [[Coggeshall]]. Although regarded as a safe seat for the Conservatives, Patel suffered a significant drop in vote share in the [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 general election]], going from a majority of 24,082 in the 2019 election down to 5,145.

Witham is under the jurisdiction of Witham Town Council (its [[Parish councils in England|parish council]]), Braintree District Council and Essex County Council. Witham Town Council is based at [[Witham Town Hall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.withamtowntrail.com/town-hall|title=Town Hall|publisher=Witham Town Trail|access-date=5 May 2021}}</ref>

Witham, and parts of the [[Braintree (district)|Braintree district]], hold one of the best [[recycling]] schemes in the UK, with compulsory recycling, reaching over 50% recycling.

On 1 October 1933 the parish of [[Rivenhall]] was abolished and merged with Witham, parts of [[Faulkbourne]] and [[Kelvedon]] were also added.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10249065|title=Relationships and changes Witham AP/CP through time|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=5 March 2024}}</ref> Witham was an [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban district]] from 1894 to 1 April 1974<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10025965|title=Relationships and changes Witham UD through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=5 March 2024}}</ref> when it became an [[unparished area]] of Braintree non-metropolitan district. On 1 April 1982 the parishes of Witham, Rivenhall and Silver End were formed from the unparished area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/braintree.html|title=Braintree Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=5 March 2024}}</ref>