Cheshire West and Chester
Unitary authority area and borough
Chester, the county town of Cheshire and the largest settlement in Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester shown within Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°12′47″N 2°54′07″W / 53.213°N 2.902°W / 53.213; -2.902
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North West
Ceremonial county	Cheshire
Incorporated	1 April 2009
Administrative HQ	The Portal, Ellesmere Port
Government [1]
• Type	Unitary authority
• Body	Cheshire West and Chester Council
• Executive	Leader and cabinet
• Control	Labour
• Leader	Louise Gittins (L)
• Chairman	Robert Bisset
• MPs	5 MPs Mike Amesbury (L) Justin Madders (L) Chris Matheson (L) Esther McVey (C) Edward Timpson (C)
Area [2]
• Total	363 sq mi (941 km2)
• Land	360 sq mi (920 km2)
• Rank	31st
Population  (2022)[3]
• Total	361,694
• Rank	24th
• Density	1,020/sq mi (393/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [4]
• Ethnic groups	List 95.3% White 2.0% Asian 1.5% Mixed 0.6% Black 0.6% other
Religion (2021) [4]
• Religion	List 54.5% Christianity 37.8% no religion 1.0% Islam 0.4% Hinduism 0.3% Buddhism 0.1% Judaism 0.1% Sikhism 0.3% other 5.5% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode areas	CH1–4 CH33–34 CH64–66 CW6–10 SY14 WA4–6
Dialling codes	01244 01270 01477 0151 01565 01606 01829 01925 01928 01948
ISO 3166 code	GB-CHW
GSS code	E06000050
Website	cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Cheshire West and Chester is a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.^[5] It superseded the boroughs of Ellesmere Port and Neston, Vale Royal and the City of Chester; its council is a unitary authority, having also assumed the functions and responsibilities of the former Cheshire County Council within its area. The remainder of ceremonial Cheshire is composed of Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington. Cheshire West and Chester has three key urban areas: Chester, Ellesmere Port and Northwich/Winsford.

The decision to create the Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007 following a consultation period, in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.^[6]

Governance

The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. Full council meetings are held at Wyvern House in Winsford and the council has its main offices at The Portal in Ellesmere Port.^[7][8]

Subdivisions

The borough is divided into forty-six wards,^[9][10] listed below in alphabetical order.

There are ninety-seven parish councils in the borough,^[11][12] despite there being a total of 166 civil parishes before a community governance review was undertaken by the borough council in 2014^[13] under section 82 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.^[14]