Bridge Trafford

There are two tiers of local government covering Bridge Trafford, at parish and unitary authority level: Mickle Trafford and District Parish Council, and Cheshire West and Chester Council. The parish council generally meets at the village hall in Mickle Trafford.^[3]

Bridge Trafford was historically a township in the ancient parish of Plemstall, which formed part of the Broxton Hundred of Cheshire. 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 Plemstall, 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 Bridge Trafford became a civil parish, whilst remaining part of the ecclesiastical parish of Plemstall.^[4][5]

Bridge Trafford was too small to have a parish council, having a parish meeting instead. In 1960, the parish was placed under a grouped parish council with Hoole Village and Mickle Trafford, called the Mickle Trafford and District Parish Council.^[6] In 1972, the group of parishes was enlarged to also include Picton and Wimbolds Trafford.^[7] On 1 April 2015 the five parishes within the group were merged into a single civil parish called Mickle Trafford and District, subject to some minor adjustments to boundaries with neighbouring parishes.^[8][9][10]

At the 2001 census (the last census which published statistics for the parish of Bridge Trafford) it had a population of 33.^[11] From 1974 to 2009 it was in Chester district.