Hinckley and Bosworth

Political control

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 2019.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Since 1974 political control of the council has been as follows:^[10]

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Hinckley and Bosworth. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2003 have been:^[11]

Composition

Following the 2023 election,^[20][21] and subsequent changes of allegiance in May 2024, the composition of the council was:^[22]

The next election is due in 2027.^[22]

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2003 the council has comprised 34 councillors, representing 16 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[23]

The district is broadly coterminous to the Bosworth parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Luke Evans (Conservative). The Groby ward is the only part of the district not in the Bosworth constituency, forming instead part of the Charnwood constituency.^[9]

Premises

The council is based at the Hinckley Hub on Rugby Road in Hinckley. The building was completed in 2013.^[24] Prior to 2013 the council was based at the Council Offices at Argents Mead, which had been built in 1968 for the old Hinckley Urban District Council.^[25]

Places of interest

• The Geographical Centre of England is in the northwest of the borough at Lindley Hall Farm, near Fenny Drayton
• Burbage Common and Woods is one of the largest recreation areas in the borough consisting of 80 hectares of fields, meadows and woodland^[27]
• Hinckley Museum is in a range of 17th century timber-framed framework knitters' cottages.
• The Ashby Canal, the longest contour canal in England, passes through the borough from Hinckley in the south of the borough through Stoke Golding, Dadlington, Market Bosworth and Shackerstone before heading north to its current terminus at Snarestone.
• There is a large mill in Sheepy Magna to the west of the borough located on the River Sence
• Stoke Golding, is home to the medieval Church of St. Margaret's.
• The site of the Battle of Bosworth, administered by Leicestershire County Council, includes an interpretation centre at Ambion Hill, where Richard III encamped the night before the battle. St. James's Church at Dadlington is the place where many of the dead were buried and where a chantry was founded on their behalf.
• The Battlefield Line is a preserved railway which runs over part of the alignment of the former railway from Nuneaton to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It is home to the Shackerstone Diesel Group.^[28]
• Twycross Zoo is notable for having the largest collection of primates in the world.
• Thornton Reservoir is a former 75-acre (300,000 m²) drinking water reservoir that is no longer in use.
• A large collection of tropical birds is on display at Tropical Birdland near to Desford.

Railways

The only railway station in the borough on the National Rail network is Hinckley railway station on the South Leicestershire Line opened by the LNWR between 1862 and 1864. Currently there are direct services to Birmingham New Street and Leicester only with additional services to/from Cambridge and Stansted Airport in the peak.

There was also a branch line serving the market town of Market Bosworth which connected both Nuneaton and Hinckley to both Coalville and Ashby. The line closed to regular traffic in 1970 and is now part of the Battlefield Line. There was also a small stub to Hinckley but was never opened or used. There was also a stub to Nuneaton via Stoke Golding.

The last line that runs through part the borough is the Leicester to Burton Line which had a station in Desford, the station closed in 1964 but the line remains open for traffic. The station also served as a junction for the branch line to Leicester West Bridge on the now defunct Swannington and Leicester Railway. Although the section from Desford to Swannington remains open for freight traffic.

Demography

Hinckley and Bosworth is the second largest borough by population in Leicestershire^[29] and has seen significant population growth over recent decades; a trend forecast to continue at least into the short-medium term.