The district had a population of about 81,800 (2006 estimate).[1] The main towns were Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the village of Parkgate. It also included a number of villages such as Great Sutton and Willaston.
The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 by the merger of the borough of Ellesmere Port and the urban district of Neston.[2] The district was originally called just Ellesmere Port, with the council changing the name in 1976.[3][4][5] The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chairman of the council to take the title of mayor.[6]
The town of Ellesmere Port had been a municipal borough from 1955 to 1974 with a borough council.[11] The first elections to the new Ellesmere Port Borough Council created under the Local Government Act 1972 were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control the council from 1974 until its abolition in 2009 was always held by the Labour Party:[12]
The first leader of the council, Fred Venables, had been the leader of the old Ellesmere Port Borough Council since 1970.[13] The leaders of Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council were:
The council was based at the Ellesmere Port Council Offices at 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port, which had been built for the old borough council in 1969.[16] Council meetings were held at nearby Whitby Hall until 1992 when an extension containing a council chamber was opened at the Municipal Buildings.[17] Following the abolition of the council the Council Offices were used by its successor, Cheshire West and Chester Council, until 2022 when they were replaced by a new building called "The Portal" on Wellington Road.[18]
^"Borough of Ellesmere Port". Cheshire Observer. Chester. 12 December 1969. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2022. ...at the new Municipal Offices, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port...