Editing Congleton (section)

==Governance==
There are two tiers of local government covering Congleton, at [[civil parish]] (town) and [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]] level: [[Congleton Town Council]] and [[Cheshire East Council]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=29 January 2025}}</ref> The town council is based at [[Congleton Town Hall]] on High Street.<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact us |url=https://www.congleton-tc.gov.uk/contact-us/ |website=Congleton Town Council |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref>

The [[Congleton (UK Parliament constituency)|Congleton parliamentary constituency]] is a [[county constituency]] represented in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]. It includes the towns of Congleton, [[Alsager]], [[Holmes Chapel]], and [[Sandbach]]. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the [[first-past-the-post]] system of election. The current MP is [[Sarah Russell (politician)|Sarah Russell]] of the [[Labour (UK)|Labour Party]], the previous incumbent was [[Fiona Bruce (politician)|Fiona Bruce]] of the [[Conservative (UK)|Conservative Party]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Watterson |first=Kaleigh |date=5 July 2024 |title=Historic wins for Labour in Cheshire |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2q0k73zpl0o |access-date=6 July 2024 |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
Congleton was historically one of twelve [[Township (England)|townships]] within the [[ancient parish]] of [[Astbury, Cheshire|Astbury]], and formed part of the [[Hundreds of Cheshire|Northwich hundred]] of Cheshire.<ref>{{cite web |title=Congleton Chapelry / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10113544 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the [[poor laws]], in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Astbury, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Congleton became a [[civil parish]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume II, Northern England |date=1991 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0861931270 |page=xv}}</ref>

The Congleton township was granted a [[municipal charter]] making it a [[ancient borough|borough]] by Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln. The charter itself is not dated, but is generally assumed to have been issued in 1272, the same year that Lacy became Earl of Lincoln.<ref>{{cite book |title=Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales |date=1835 |page=2649 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Report_of_the_Commissioners_Appointed_to/MHBTAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA2649&printsec=frontcover |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="Congleton Museum website"/> The borough was reformed to become a [[municipal borough]] in 1836 under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]], which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act |date=1835 |page=459 |url=https://archive.org/details/statutesunitedk35britgoog/page/458/mode/2up |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> In 1837, the government's boundary commissioners recommended that [[Buglawton]] should be brought within the borough boundaries, but their recommendations were not implemented.<ref>{{cite book |title=Report on the Proposed Municipal Boundary and Division into Wards of the Borough of Congleton |date=1837 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Parliamentary_Papers/iEwSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP355&printsec=frontcover |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> Buglawton was eventually absorbed into the borough in 1936.<ref>{{cite web |title=Buglawton Urban District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10137100#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=29 January 2025}}</ref>

The municipal borough of Congleton was abolished in 1974.<ref>{{cite web |title=Congleton Municipal Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10025333 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> Its area became part of a larger [[Congleton (borough)|Congleton borough]] which also covered nearby towns and surrounding rural areas.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref> No [[successor parish]] was created for the area of the old municipal borough at the time of the 1974 reforms, but a new parish of Congleton was subsequently created in 1980, with its parish council taking the name Congleton Town Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Parish of Congleton Order 1980 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003804mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/12251/congleton-the-parish-of-congleton-order-1980.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref>

In 2009, Cheshire East Council was created, taking over the functions of the borough council and [[Cheshire County Council]], which were both abolished.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008|year=2008|number=634|access-date=8 May 2024}}</ref>