Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. The district had a population of about 81,800 (2006 estimate). 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. History 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. The district was originally called just Ellesmere Port, with the council changing the name in 1976. The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chairman of the council to take the title of mayor. In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Cheshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The decision to merge Ellesmere Port and Neston with the districts of Chester and Vale Royal to create a single 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. Ellesmere Port and Neston was abolished on 31 March 2009, with the area becoming part of the new unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester from 1 April 2009. Civil parishes The entire borough was initially unparished. A civil parish of Ince was created in 1987, and a Neston parish was created in 2008. Political control The town of Ellesmere Port had been a municipal borough from 1955 to 1974 with a borough council. 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: Leadership The first leader of the council, Fred Venables, had been the leader of the old Ellesmere Port Borough Council since 1970. The leaders of Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council were: Composition The political composition of the council at its abolition in 2009 was: Premises The council was based at the