Brooklands is an electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford. It elects three Councillors to Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council using the first past the post electoral method, electing one Councillor every year without election on the fourth.

The borough was formed in 1974 as a merger of the municipal boroughs of Timperley, Sale, and Stretford, the urban districts of Bowdon, Hale and Urmston and part of Bucklow Rural District.

The River Mersey flows through the borough, separating North Trafford from South Trafford, and the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. Trafford is the fifth-most populous district in Greater Manchester.

Trafford has a strong economy with low levels of unemployment and contains both Trafford Park industrial estate and the Trafford Centre, a large out-of-town shopping centre. Apart from the City of Manchester, Trafford is the only borough in Greater Manchester to be above the national average for weekly income.

Socially, the area includes both working class and middle-class areas like Bowdon and Hale. In Parliament, Trafford is represented by three constituencies: Stretford and Urmston; Altrincham and Sale West; and Wythenshawe and Sale East, which mainly covers neighbouring Manchester.