{
  "name": "Crowthorpe Metropolitan Borough Council",
  "shortName": "Crowthorpe MBC",
  "region": "West Yorkshire",
  "population": 243000,
  "type": "Metropolitan Borough",
  "governance": "Cabinet system",
  "netRevenueBudget": 218000000,
  "reservesAtStart": 42000000,
  "reservesMonthsCover": 8,
  "councilTaxBandD": 1847,
  "staff": 7200,
  "totalSeats": 60,
  "majorityThreshold": 31,
  "electionDate": "2026-05-07",
  "leaderAppointed": "2026-05-21",
  "termEnds": "2030-05-02",
  "wards": [
    { "name": "Crowthorpe Central", "character": "town centre, university-adjacent, mixed" },
    { "name": "Marsden Vale", "character": "ex-mining, deprivation, ASC/SEND pressure" },
    { "name": "St Cuthbert's", "character": "students and young professionals, Green-leaning" },
    { "name": "Holme Bottom", "character": "post-industrial, mixed housing, swing ward" },
    { "name": "Aldworth", "character": "leafy commuter, NIMBY, high council tax revenue" },
    { "name": "Brindlecombe", "character": "regen heartland, mothballed library, contested" },
    { "name": "Riverside", "character": "flood risk, new builds, transient" },
    { "name": "Eastfield", "character": "new-build estate, unfinished section 106" }
  ],
  "politicalGroups": {
    "reform": { "name": "Reform UK", "seats": 36, "change": "+36", "leader": "you" },
    "green": { "name": "Green Party", "seats": 9, "change": "+5", "leader": "Dr Helena Voss-Mitchell" },
    "libdem": { "name": "Liberal Democrats", "seats": 7, "change": "+0", "leader": "Cllr Robin Halloway" },
    "conservative": { "name": "Conservative", "seats": 4, "change": "-10", "leader": "Cllr Janet Beaumont" },
    "independent": { "name": "Independent", "seats": 3, "change": "+1", "leader": "various" },
    "labour": { "name": "Labour", "seats": 1, "change": "-34", "leader": "Cllr Sandra Bewick" }
  },
  "recentHistory": [
    { "year": 2019, "event": "Lost High Court case over the Brindlecombe Town Hall sale (£3.2M legal costs)" },
    { "year": 2022, "event": "Children's Services rated Requires Improvement by Ofsted (was Inadequate in 2019)" },
    { "year": 2023, "event": "Signed 20-year contract with Crowthorpe Lifestyle (leisure trust) that nobody now thinks was a good idea" },
    { "year": 2024, "event": "Town Centre Regeneration Programme broke ground — Phase 1 done, Phases 2 and 3 ahead" },
    { "year": 2026, "event": "May 7: Reform UK swept Crowthorpe. Labour, who had run the council continuously since 1986, lost every seat they were defending. Six of the new Reform councillors had never held public office before." },
    { "year": 2026, "event": "May 21: After two weeks of chaos in group meetings — including the original Reform group leader's resignation over a 2017 Facebook post — you have been chosen as Leader. You are 34. Your day job is running a kitchen showroom in Aldworth. You have been a councillor for fourteen days." }
  ],
  "baselineSpending": [
    { "service": "Adult Social Care", "spend": 72000000, "pct": 33 },
    { "service": "Children's Services", "spend": 58000000, "pct": 27 },
    { "service": "Highways & Transport", "spend": 18000000, "pct": 8 },
    { "service": "Waste & Recycling", "spend": 14000000, "pct": 6 },
    { "service": "Libraries, Leisure, Culture", "spend": 11000000, "pct": 5 },
    { "service": "Housing & Homelessness", "spend": 9000000, "pct": 4 },
    { "service": "Planning & Regulation", "spend": 6000000, "pct": 3 },
    { "service": "Corporate & Democratic", "spend": 14000000, "pct": 6 },
    { "service": "Debt servicing (MRP + interest)", "spend": 16000000, "pct": 7 }
  ],
  "institutions": [
    { "name": "Crowthorpe Examiner", "description": "Local paper, Sarah Whitlock's beat" },
    { "name": "Crowthorpe Lifestyle", "description": "Leisure trust on a 20-year contract" },
    { "name": "St Cuthbert's General", "description": "Hospital you don't run but whose A&E waits are blamed on you" },
    { "name": "Crowthorpe College", "description": "FE college, separate body; Leader sits on the board" },
    { "name": "Marsden Vale Working Men's Club", "description": "Where Brian Tetlow holds court" },
    { "name": "The Old Library, Brindlecombe", "description": "Grade II listed, mothballed, eternal political football" }
  ]
}