Trafford Council

The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford and its council were created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of ten metropolitan districts within the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. The first election was held in 1973. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's seven outgoing authorities, being the borough councils of Altrincham, Sale and Stretford, the urban district councils of Bowdon, Hale, and Urmston, and the Bucklow Rural District Council (in respect of four of its parishes only). The new metropolitan district and its council formally came into being on 1 April 1974, at which point the old districts and their councils were abolished.^[5]

The metropolitan district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[6] The council styles itself Trafford Council rather than its full formal name of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council.^[7][8]

From 1974 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to Greater Manchester's ten borough councils, including Trafford, with some services provided through joint committees.^[9]

Since 2011 the council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. The combined authority provides strategic leadership and co-ordination for certain functions across Greater Manchester, notably regarding transport and town planning, but Trafford Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.^[10][11]

Trafford Council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the leader of Trafford Council sits on the combined authority as Trafford's representative.^[12] There are four civil parishes in the borough at Carrington, Dunham Massey, Partington and Warburton, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the borough is unparished.^[13]

Since the last boundary changes in 2023, the council has comprised 63 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office.^[44]

Each ward is represented by three councillors.^[45]

• ^aElected in a by-election in October 2025 following the death in office of Labour councillor Denise Western.
• ^bElected as Labour, resigned from the Labour party in July 2025 and joined the Lib Dems in September 2025.
• ^cElected in a by-election in November 2025 following the resignation of Green councillor Owain Sutton.

The council is based at Trafford Town Hall, on Talbot Road in Stretford. The building was originally called Stretford Town Hall, having been completed in 1933 for the former Stretford Borough Council, one of Trafford Council's predecessors.^[46] Most of the council's offices are in a modern extension to the rear of the building which opened in 2013, replacing an earlier office extension of 1983 on the same site.^[47]