Editing Denton, Greater Manchester (section)

==Governance==

===Civic history and councillors===
Denton was originally one of the [[township (England)|townships]] of the [[Manchester (ancient parish)|ancient parish of Manchester]] in the [[Salford (hundred)|Salford Hundred]] of Lancashire. In 1866 it became a [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in its own right.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10347385&c_id=10001043 |title=Denton Ch/CP |work=A vision of Britain through time |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001030511/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10347385&c_id=10001043 |archive-date=1 October 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> The parish was expanded in 1894 by the inclusion of the Haughton township, the former area of which now covers the eastern part of the town.<ref>[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/bound_map_page.jsp?first=true&u_id=10347385&c_id=10001043 Vision of Britain] – Boundaries of Denton with 1894 enlargement shown {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001020946/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/bound_map_page.jsp?first=true&u_id=10347385&c_id=10001043 |date=1 October 2007 }}</ref> The name of Haughton survives as local place names at Haughton Green and Haughton Dale, both in south Denton. Clues to the former township do still exist at Haughton Street, Haughton Hall Road, the Parish [[St Anne's Church, Haughton Green|Church of St. Anne, Haughton]], and etched onto an ancient [[boundary marker]] on Broomstair Bridge on the A57 Hyde Road – (CHESHIRE Township of Hyde | Township of Haughton LANCASHIRE). Also in 1894 the enlarged parish became [[Denton Urban District]] in the [[Administrative counties of England|administrative county]] of Lancashire.

In 1974 Denton's [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|Urban District]] status was abolished and its assets and area were transferred to form part of the new [[Metropolitan Borough]] of Tameside in the [[metropolitan county]] of Greater Manchester.<ref>Arnold-Baker, C., ''Local Government Act 1972'', (1973)</ref>

Since 1974, Denton has consisted of three council wards on Tameside Council; Denton North East, Denton South and Denton West, each returning three councillors. The new wards took the same format as the original six Denton UDC wards (which were East, North, South-east, South, South-west and West). There have been minor ward boundary changes in 1982 and 2004. Denton West is the most Conservative-inclined of the three wards, and from 1975 to 1991 had Conservative Party representation. No Conservative councillor has been elected since 1987 in the town, although the party came within 13 votes of re-gaining the Denton West seat in 2008 on the back of government unpopularity over the abolition of the 10p tax rate and the proposals for a congestion charge in Greater Manchester with the proposed outer charging zone cutting the ward in two.

After the most recent local elections held in May 2022, the nine councillors for the town are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"| Denton North East!! Denton South!! Denton West
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| Vincent Ricci
| Jack Naylor
| Mike Smith
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| Allison Gwynne
| Claire Reid
| Brenda Warrington
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| Denise Ward
| George Newton
| George Jones
|}



Since 1998 there has been a degree of devolution, with District Assemblies established in the Tameside townships and consisting of the councillors and an advisory group. Assembly meetings are open to the public. Each Assembly has a town manager and devolved staff and budgets to deal with local services such as grounds maintenance, road repairs, parks, Britain in Bloom, community events, youth services, crime and disorder and town centre regeneration. The Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly controls an annual budget in excess of £1.5m. The old council chamber in [[Denton Town Hall]] was refurbished to provide a permanent home and meeting place for the Denton and [[Audenshaw]] District Assembly as the town's millennium project in 2000.

Since its formation the District Assembly Chairs have been: Andrew Gwynne (1998–2001); Mike Craven (2001–2004); Allison Gwynne (2004–2005); Margaret Downs (2005–present).

===Twinning===
[[File:Mayors on Denton Twinning Day.jpg|thumb|left|Chairman George Newton, Mayor of Kierspe, Mayoral Consort and Civic Mayor of Tameside Cllr Brenda Warrington, Mayor and Mayoress of Montigny and Deputy Mayor of Montigny on Denton Town Twinning Day, 22 September 2012]]

On 5 December 1992, Denton became a [[twin-town]] to [[Montigny-le-Bretonneux|Montigny le Bretonneux]], near Paris, France. On one side of the town hall, there is a 'French road sign' which was a gift from the Municipal Authority in Montigny and states how far it is to Montigny le Bretonneux from Denton. There is a similar 'English road sign' outside Montigny's Town Hall pointing to Denton. Denton celebrated 20 years of twinning in September 2012.

For ten years the French sign on Denton Town Hall pointed north, implying that Denton's French twin-town is located in the sea somewhere to the west of [[Orkney]]. However, Tameside MBC installed a 'mock' French road sign, pointing left (i.e. south) in February 2007.

Since September 2012, Denton has been twinned with [[Kierspe]] in north west Germany, near [[Cologne]], which in itself has been twinned with Montigny for 25 years.

There is a similar road sign to Kierspe displayed on the wall of the town hall building that points in a southerly direction, indicating that you may find it close to Le Mans in France, rather than Germany where Kierspe is currently located.

The town twinning is run independently of the local authority and is run by volunteers who sit on the Denton Town Twinning Association. The group fundraise and rely on generous donations to continue cultivating educational, cultural, and commercial links between Denton and its twin towns.{{Clear}}

===Parliamentary representation===
The area of the former Denton urban district initially formed part of the Gorton Parliamentary Division of South East Lancashire from 1885 to 1918; it then became part of the Lancashire, Mossley Parliamentary Division from boundary changes effective in that year's election until 1950. From 1950 to 1955 the town was contained within the short-lived Droylsden constituency. From 1955 to 1983 Denton was re-grouped with Gorton to form the Manchester, Gorton constituency. From the 1983 boundary changes until 2024, Denton formed part of the [[Denton and Reddish (UK Parliament constituency)|Denton and Reddish parliamentary constituency]]. In 2024, the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies came into effect, with Denton joining Gorton, Longsite and Levenshulme to become the Gorton and Denton Constituency. [[Andrew Gwynne]] is Denton's current Member of Parliament. He was elected in 2005 to represent the Denton and Reddish seat, after long-serving MP [[Andrew Bennett (politician)|Andrew Bennett]] retired. He remained the MP for Denton as part of the new Denton and Gorton Constituency after the 2023 boundary changes.

'''Members of Parliament representing Denton since 1885:'''

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Party!! Parliamentary constituency
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1885 United Kingdom general election|1885]]
| [[Richard Peacock]]
| [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]
| S.E. Lancs., Gorton Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1889 Gorton by-election|1889 by-election]]
| Sir [[William Mather]]
| [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]
| S.E. Lancs., Gorton Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Sir Ernest Hatch, 1st Baronet|Ernest Frederic George Hatch]]
| [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| S.E. Lancs., Gorton Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" |
| ''1904''
| [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]
| S.E. Lancs., Gorton Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]]
| [[John Hodge (UK politician)|John Hodge]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| S.E. Lancs., Gorton Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Coalition Liberal}}" |
| [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Austin Hopkinson]]
| [[Coalition Liberal]]
| Lancs., Mossley Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Independent (politics)}}" |
| [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]
| [[Independent (politics)|Independent]]
| Lancs., Mossley Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929]]
| [[Herbert Gibson (politician)|Herbert Gibson]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| Lancs., Mossley Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|National Independent}}" |
| [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931]]
| [[Austin Hopkinson]]
| [[National Independent]]
| Lancs., Mossley Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Co-operative}}" |
| [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]]
| [[George Savile Woods|Rev. George Savile Woods]]
| [[Labour Co-operative|Labour Co-op]]
| Lancs., Mossley Division
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Co-operative}}" |
| [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]]
| [[George Savile Woods|Rev. George Savile Woods]]
| [[Labour Co-operative|Labour Co-op]]
| Droylsden Borough
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951]]
| [[William Williams (Labour politician)|William Richard Williams]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| Droylsden Borough
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955]]
| [[Konni Zilliacus]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| Manchester, Gorton Borough
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1967 Manchester Gorton by-election|1967 by-election]]
| [[Kenneth Marks]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| Manchester, Gorton Borough
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]
| [[Andrew Bennett (politician)|Andrew Bennett]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| Denton and Reddish Borough
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005]]
| [[Andrew Gwynne]]
| [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| Denton and Reddish Borough
|}