The Staveley and Brimington parts of the borough are also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

[9] Since 2014 the borough has been a non-constituent member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (formerly known as the Sheffield City Region); the council sends representatives to meetings of the combined authority, but the electorate of Chesterfield do not vote in elections for the Mayor of South Yorkshire.

Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[11][12] The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Chesterfield.

With its geographical position, the borough offers convenient commuter links to the cities of Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Bradford, Wakefield, Manchester, Salford, Leeds and Lincoln, and via its mainline railway station at Chesterfield and the connections to the M1 motorway.

Chesterfield and its surrounding borough are situated around multiple travel to work areas which span from the counties of Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire as well as Derbyshire.