Borough of Erewash

Borough of Erewash
Non-metropolitan district and borough
Ilkeston, one of the borough's towns
Shown within Derbyshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Administrative county	Derbyshire
Founded	1 April 1974
Admin. HQ	Ilkeston and Long Eaton
Government
• Type	Erewash Borough Council
• MPs:	Jonathan Davies, Adam Thompson
Area
• Total	40 sq mi (110 km2)
• Rank	189th
Population  (2022)
• Total	113,080
• Rank	Ranked 213th
• Density	2,700/sq mi (1,000/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 95.4% White 1.8% Mixed 1.6% Asian 0.8% Black 0.4% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 52.8% no religion 45.1% Christianity 1.6% other 0.5% Islam
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Postcode	DE, NG
ONS code	17UG (ONS) E07000036 (GSS)

Erewash (/ˈɛrəwɒʃ/ ^ⓘ) is a local government district with borough status in Derbyshire, England. The borough is named after the River Erewash. The council has offices in both the borough's towns of Ilkeston and Long Eaton. The borough also includes several villages and surrounding rural areas. Some of the built-up areas in the east of the borough form part of the Nottingham Urban Area.

Erewash Borough has military affiliations with 814 Naval Air Squadron Fleet Air Arm based at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose and the Mercian Regiment of the British Army, as the successors to the local infantry regiment the Sherwood Foresters.

The neighbouring districts are South Derbyshire, Derby, Amber Valley, Broxtowe, Rushcliffe and North West Leicestershire.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of nine districts within Derbyshire. The new district covered the whole area of two former districts and part of a third, which were all abolished at the same time:^[2][3]

• Ilkeston Municipal Borough
• Long Eaton Urban District
• South East Derbyshire Rural District (part north of the River Derwent, rest went to South Derbyshire)

The new district was named after the River Erewash, which forms the district's eastern boundary.^[4] On 28 June 1974 the district was awarded borough status, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[5]

Erewash Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Kate Fennelly, Labour since 16 May 2024[6]
Leader	James Dawson, Labour since 25 May 2023[7]
Chief Executive	Jeremy Jaroszek
Structure
Seats	47 councillors
Political groups	Administration (28)   Labour (28) Other parties (19)   Conservative (16)   Green (1)   Liberal Democrats (1)   Independent (1)
Elections
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Town Hall, Wharncliffe Road, Ilkeston, DE7 5RP and Town Hall, Derby Road, Long Eaton, NG10 1HU
Website
www.erewash.gov.uk

Erewash Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Derbyshire County Council. Parts of the borough are also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[8]

The council has been under Labour majority control since the 2023 election.^[9]

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[10][11]

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1974–1976
	Conservative	1976–1991
	Labour	1991–2003
	Conservative	2003–2023
	Labour	2023–present

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Erewash. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council and executive. The leaders since 1974 have been:^[12]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Jock Barnes		Labour	1974	1976
Robert Parkinson		Conservative	1976	1990
Henry Shaw		Conservative	1990	1991
Peter Jeffrey		Labour	1991	1995
Eric Goacher		Labour	1996	1996
John Kirby		Labour	1996	1997
Cyril Stevens		Labour	1997	2003
Robert Parkinson		Conservative	2003	24 May 2007
Chris Corbett		Conservative	24 May 2007	18 May 2017
Carol Hart		Conservative	18 May 2017	25 May 2023
James Dawson		Labour	25 May 2023

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:^[13][14]

Party		Councillors
	Labour	28
	Conservative	16
	Green	1
	Liberal Democrats	1
	Independent	1
Total		47

The next election is due in 2027.

Since the last boundary changes in 2015, the council has comprised 47 councillors, elected from 19 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[15]

When the council was created, it inherited three sets of offices from the predecessor district councils. The South East Derbyshire council offices on St Mary's Gate in Derby were sold shortly after the new council's creation. There was some discussion about building a central headquarters for the council, with possibilities examined at Ilkeston, Long Eaton and Sandiacre, but it was decided in 1976 that the cost of a single new building or a large enough extension to existing buildings was prohibitive.^[16] Instead the council built more modest extensions to the buildings it had inherited from the old Ilkeston and Long Eaton councils, notably in 1981 to Ilkeston Town Hall,^[17] and in 1991 to The Hall in Long Eaton, renaming the enlarged building Long Eaton Town Hall.^[18] The council continues to use both town halls for its offices and meetings.^[19]

The towns of Ilkeston and Long Eaton are both unparished areas.^[20] The rest of the borough is divided into 13 civil parishes. None of the parish councils are styled as town councils.^[21]

The borough has fourteen state secondary schools and 41 primary schools. It is also home to the public (fee-paying) school of Trent College, with its junior/preparatory school, The Elms School.^[22]

Broomfield Hall of Derby College is located in Morley.^[23]

Derby Japanese School (ダービー日本人補習校 Dābī Nihonjin Hoshūkō), a Japanese weekend school, holds its classes in Broomfield Hall.^[23]

In terms of television, the area is served by BBC East Midlands and ITV Central broadcast from the Waltham TV transmitter.^[24]

Radio stations for the area are:

• BBC Radio Derby
• BBC Radio Nottingham
• Capital East Midlands
• Smooth East Midlands
• Greatest Hits Radio Midlands
• Erewash Sound, the borough's community based radio station which broadcast from its studios in Ilkeston.^[25]

The local newspapers that cover the area are:

• Ilkeston Advertiser^[26]
• Derbyshire Times
• Nottingham Post
• Nottingham Journal

Coat of arms of Borough of Erewash

Notes Granted 4 October 1983 by the College of Arms. Crest On a wreath Or Gules and Azure out of a mural crown Or masoned Gules charged with four annulets Sable and between two torches issuing Azure enflamed Proper a stag rampant Gules and gorged with lace Proper attired and unguled Gold. Escutcheon Argent three bends wavy Azure overall between three astronomical signs of Mars Or a chevron Gules thereon a fleur de lys also Or on a chief dovetailed Gules a garb of wheat between two hanks of cotton Gold. Motto Per Sapientiam Constantiamque Victoria (Triumph Through Wisdom And Endeavour)[27][28] Badge A stag's head caboshed Gules attired Or in the mouth an astronomical sign of Mars Or and between the attires a rose Gules barbed Proper thereon another Argent barbed and seeded also Proper.

52°55′N 1°19′W / 52.917°N 1.317°W / 52.917; -1.317