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Lancashire County Council

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Lancashire County Council
Type
Type
Established1 April 1889, reformed 1 April 1974
Leadership
Alf Clempson,
Conservative
since 22 May 2025[1]
Stephen Atkinson,
Reform UK
since 22 May 2025
Mark Wynn
since 1 August 2024[2][3]
Structure
Seats84 councillors
Political groups
Administration (53)
  Reform UK (53)
Other parties (31)
  Conservative (8)
  Labour (5)
  Liberal Democrats (5)
  Green (4)
  Our West Lancashire (2)
  Independent (7)
Joint committees
Lancashire Combined County Authority
Length of term
4 years[4]
Elections
First-past-the-post voting
Last election
1 May 2025
Next election
3 May 2029
Meeting place
County Hall, Fishergate, Preston, PR1 8XJ
Website
www.lancashire.gov.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool. The council is based at County Hall, Preston, and consists of 84 councillors. The council has been a member of the Lancashire Combined County Authority since its formation in 2025.

The council has been under Reform UK majority control since the 2025 election.

History

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Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. Fifteen boroughs were considered large enough for their existing councils to provide county-level services, and so they were made county boroughs, independent from the new county council. They were:[5]

The 1888 Act also placed each urban sanitary district which straddled county boundaries in one county, and so Lancashire gained the parts of Ashton under Lyne, Stalybridge, and Warrington which had been in Cheshire, and the parts of Mossley which had been in Cheshire and Yorkshire. Lancashire ceded its part of Todmorden to the West Riding of Yorkshire. Lancashire County Council was elected by and provided services to the parts of the county (as thus adjusted) outside the county boroughs. The county council's area was termed the administrative county.[6][7]

Three more boroughs were later elevated to become county boroughs: Warrington in 1900, Blackpool in 1904, and Southport in 1905.[6]

The first elections were held in January 1889 and the county council formally came into being on 1 April 1889. It held its first official meeting on 4 April 1889 at County Hall in Preston, the courthouse (completed 1882) which had served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. John Tomlinson Hibbert, a Liberal who had previously been the Member of Parliament for Oldham, was appointed the first chairman of the council.[8]

In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the administrative county of Lancashire and reconstituted the county as a non-metropolitan county. There were some significant changes to its territory, notably ceding significant areas in the south to Greater Manchester and Merseyside and in the north to Cumbria, whilst gaining more modest areas from Yorkshire to the east. Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley and Preston were also brought into the non-metropolitan county, losing their former independence from the county council. The lower tier of local government was reorganised as part of the same reforms. Previously it had comprised numerous boroughs, urban districts and rural districts; they were reorganised into 14 non-metropolitan districts.[9]

In 1998 two of the districts, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool, were both made unitary authorities, making them independent from the county council, leaving 12 districts within the non-metropolitan county.[10]

In 2025, the council became a member of the new Lancashire Combined County Authority.[11]

Governance

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Non-unitary authorities

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Lancashire County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the county's twelve district councils. They are:[12]

Unitary authorities

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Two unitary authorities, which are functionally independent from Lancashire County Council, provide their own county-level services. They are:

Civil parishes

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Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[13][14]

Political control

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The county council has been under Reform UK majority control since the May 2025 election.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[15]

Party in control Years
Conservative 1974–1981
Labour 1981–1985
No overall control 1985–1989
Labour 1989–2009
Conservative 2009–2013
No overall control 2013–2017
Conservative 2017–2025
Reform UK 2025-present

Leadership

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The leaders of the council since 1974 have been:

Councillor Party From To
Leonard Broughton[16][17][18] Conservative 1 Apr 1974 May 1981
Louise Ellman[18][19] Labour May 1981 Feb 1997
John West[20][21] Labour Feb 1997 Jun 2001
Hazel Harding[22][23] Labour Jun 2001 Jun 2009
Geoff Driver[23][24][25] Conservative 25 Jun 2009 May 2013
Jennifer Mein[26][27] Labour 23 May 2013 May 2017
Geoff Driver[28][29] Conservative 25 May 2017 May 2021
Phillippa Williamson[30][31] Conservative 27 May 2021 May 2025
Stephen Atkinson[1][32] Reform UK 22 May 2025

Composition

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Following the 2025 election, the composition of the council is:[33][34]

Party Councillors
Reform UK 53
Conservative 8
Labour 5
Liberal Democrats 5
Green 4
Our West Lancashire 2
Independent 7
Total 84

The seven independent councillors and the Green councillor sit together as the "Progressive Lancashire" group. The next election is due in 2029.[35]

Elections

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See also: Lancashire County Council elections and List of electoral wards in Lancashire § County council

Since the last boundary changes in 2017 the council has comprised 84 councillors representing 82 electoral divisions. Most divisions elect one councillor, but two divisions elect two councillors each. Elections are held every four years.[36]

There are sixteen parliamentary constituencies in Lancashire. The Labour Party holds 13, the Conservative Party holds one, independent MP Adnan Hussain represents Blackburn, and the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, represents Chorley.

Premises

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The council is based at County Hall on Fishergate in Preston. The original part of the building was a courthouse completed in 1882, which also served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. The building became the meeting place for the county council on its creation in 1889 and was significantly extended in 1903 and 1934 to provide additional office space.[37]

Future

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In July 2020, the county council announced that it wanted to replace itself and the 14 other councils that currently make up Lancashire's complex local government map with three standalone authorities. In September 2020 the county council submitted an outline plan to the government that outlines the proposed new unitary authorities and the areas they would cover. The new authorities would be, Central Lancashire (based on the footprints of Preston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire councils), North West Lancashire (Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre, Lancaster and Ribble Valley) and East Pennine Lancashire (Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Rossendale, Hyndburn and Pendle). These authorities would be governed by an elected mayor, with a combined authority. The major shake up to Lancashire's council structure is in a bid to gain more funding and power for the people of Lancashire.[38][39]

County Library

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Lancashire adopted the Public Libraries Act, 1919, in 1924. Library services were slow to develop as the average ratable value of the area outside the county boroughs and the other local authorities which had already adopted the act was relatively low. In 1938/39 the average expenditure on urban libraries per head was 1s. 9d., but that on county libraries was only 8 1/4d. (about two fifths of the former amount). Another disadvantage was that government of libraries was by a libraries sub-committee of the education committee of the council (the librarian having to report to the education officer who might not have been sympathetic to libraries). The central administration of the county library is at Preston where there are special services, special collections and staff to maintain a union catalogue.[40]

Biological heritage sites

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"Biological heritage sites" are, according to Lancashire County Council, "'local wildlife sites' in Lancashire...(that) are identified using a set of published guidelines."[41] The published guidelines dictate the necessary parameters in which a piece of land can be properly considered a "biological heritage site" by the "(Lancashire) County Council, Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside and Natural England."[41][42]

Coat of arms

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Coat of arms of Lancashire County Council [43]
Granted
August 31, 1903 (arms)
October 26, 1903 (supporters)
Crest
On a Wreath of the Colours a Lion passant guardant proper charged on the body with a Mascle Gules and resting the dexter forepaw on an Escocheon of the above said Arms.
Escutcheon
Gules three Piles two issuant from the chief and one in base Or each charged with a Rose of the field barbed and seeded proper.
Supporters
On either side a Lion proper gorged with a Collar Vair pendent therefrom an Escucheon of the Arms viz. Gules three Piles two issuant from the chief and one in base Or each charged with a Rose Gules barbed and seeded proper.
Motto
Latin: In consilio consilium, lit. 'In council is wisdom'
Banner
the heraldic banner of the council

Notable members

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References

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  1. ^ The county borough of Stockport straddled the geographic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.
  1. ^ a b "Council minutes, 22 May 2025". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  2. ^ Faulkner, Paul (26 July 2024). "Acting chief taking over as council boss next week". BBC News. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
  3. ^ "New chief executive for Lancashire County Council". Lancashire County Council. 11 February 2025. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
  4. ^ "Election timetable in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  5. ^ Pulling, Alexander (1889). A Handbook for County Authorities. London: W. Clowes and Sons. p. 15. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b Youngs, Frederic (1991). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 2. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. 683–686. ISBN 0861931270.
  7. ^ Pulling, Alexander (1889). A Handbook for County Authorities. London: W. Clowes and Sons. p. 15. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  8. ^ "Lancashire County Council". Burnley Express. 6 April 1889. p. 7. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  9. ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 3 March 2023
  10. ^ "The Lancashire (Boroughs of Blackburn and Blackpool) (Structural Change) Order 1996", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1996/1868, retrieved 22 August 2022
  11. ^ Millson, Gina (5 February 2025). "County's combined authority officially launched". BBC News. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  12. ^ "Local Authority Profiles". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 22 October 2023
  15. ^ "Compositions Calculator". The Elections Centre. University of Exeter. Retrieved 21 May 2025. (Put "Lancashire" in search box to see specific results.)
  16. ^ Craig, Ian (23 May 1973). "The men in County Hall". Liverpool Echo. p. 8. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  17. ^ "No extra cash for council members". Manchester Evening News. 10 April 1981. p. 6. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  18. ^ a b "Leader-elect lists her county priorities". Ormskirk Advertiser. 14 May 1981. p. 1. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  19. ^ "The Red Rose queen gives up her empire". West Lancashire Evening Gazette. Blackpool. 27 February 1997. p. 12. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  20. ^ "Council leader's new challenge". Lancaster Guardian. 28 February 1997. p. 5. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  21. ^ "Lancashire County local election results". Lancashire Telegraph. 8 June 2001. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Lancashire gets a new leader". Lancashire Telegraph. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  23. ^ a b "New Tory leader at county council". BBC News. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  24. ^ Pidd, Helen (3 May 2013). "Labour fails to reclaim overall control of Lancashire county council". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  25. ^ "Geoff Driver: Lancashire County Council leader to resign". BBC News. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  26. ^ "Council minutes, 23 May 2013". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  27. ^ "Lancashire County Council election: Tories gain control". BBC News. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  28. ^ "Council minutes, 25 May 2017". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  29. ^ "Election results 2021: Tories hold on to Lancashire County Council". BBC News. 8 May 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  30. ^ "Council minutes, 27 May 2021". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  31. ^ "Reform UK take control of Lancashire County Council". BBC News. 2 May 2025. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  32. ^ Jacobs, Bill (22 May 2025). "New Lancashire Reform cabinet has three from county's East". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  33. ^ "Your Councillors". council.lancashire.gov.uk. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  34. ^ "Lancashire". Local Councils. Thorncliffe. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  35. ^ "Lancashire". Local Councils. Thorncliffe. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  36. ^ "The Lancashire (Electoral Changes) Order 2016", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2016/1069, retrieved 27 October 2023
  37. ^ "Fishergate Hill Conservation Area Character Appraisal" (PDF). Preston City Council. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  38. ^ "This is why Lancashire County Council wants to scrap itself – and every other local authority in the area". lancasterguardian.co.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  39. ^ "Lancashire councils face abolition in shake-up". BBC. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  40. ^ Cotton, G. B. (1971) "Public libraries in the North West"; North Western Newsletter; Manchester: Library Association (North Western Branch), no. 116: Libraries in the North West, pp. 5-24 (p. 8)
  41. ^ a b Council, Lancashire County. "Biological Heritage Sites". Lancashire.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  42. ^ "Lancashire County Heritage Sites Scheme - Biological Heritage Sites - Guidelines for Site Selection" (PDF). Lancashire County Council. ISBN 1 899907 05 X.
  43. ^ "Lancashire". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  44. ^ Burke's Peerage, volume 3 (2003), p. 3616
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