Mayor of Kirklees

Kirklees’ new mayor is Denby Dale Tory, Clr Jim Dodds.

At the annual Mayor Making ceremony at Huddersfield Parish Church, Clr Dodds said it was a “very proud day” for him and his wife Carol.

And he joked after Clr David Ridgway being the first Freemason to be mayor that he was the first “Scotsman with a Geordie accent” to hold the position.

Clr Dodds said during his mayoral year he wanted all councillors to dress smartly and warned councillors he would not accept any “cheap political point scoring”.

His chosen charity for the year will be the Royal British Legion.

The main one is to chair the full meetings of the Council. It was strange at first not being in my usual seat plus I was considered chief heckler, which you can’t do as Mayor!

I also host delegations and citizenship ceremonies, (he confesses that singing the National Anthem is not his forte) and I talk to school children in the Town Hall about my role and democracy.

I get invited to represent Kirklees at a variety of events such as World War One commemorations, musical concerts, opening both public and commercial places and I support Kirkwood Hospice, as my chosen Mayoral charity. My wife and the Lady Mayoress’ husband were both cared for at Kirkwood so it had to be there.

My partner Christine, Lady Mayoress, supports me in this work and I have a Deputy Mayor, although as the role suggests we’re rarely in the same place.

Kirklees Metropolitan Council represents Batley, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Holmfirth and other localities in West Yorkshire. West Yorkshire is a county in the north of England.
The Council is split into electoral wards and each ward has three representatives. Kirklees has 69 representatives and they have the title of 'Councillors.' They can also be referred to as 'Elected Members' as they are members of the Council. Like central government, the Council has an executive comprised of a Leader and their Cabinet. Each Cabinet Member is responsible for delivering services such as housing, children's services and health and well-being services.




Kirklees

The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 422,500 in 2011  and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. Huddersfield is the largest settlement of the district, and its centre of administration.

The borough was formed under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, by a merger of the county boroughs of Dewsbury and Huddersfield along with the municipal boroughs of Batley and Spenborough and the urban districts of Colne Valley, Denby Dale, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Kirkburton, Meltham and Mirfield.