Pendle Borough Council
Pendle Borough Council | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1 April 1974 |
| Leadership | |
Rose Rouse since 2021[2] | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 33 councillors |
 | |
Political groups |
|
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
Last election | 2 May 2024 |
Next election | 7 May 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Town Hall, Market Street, Nelson, BB9 7LG | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Pendle Borough Council provides district-level services for the Borough of Pendle, in Lancashire, in North West England. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council.[3] The whole borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[4]
In March 2013, Brian Cookson retired from his position as Executive Director for Regeneration, a post he had held for nine years, in parallel with that of President of British Cycling from 2007 onwards.[5] He subsequently became the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body for sports cycling from 2013-2017.
In June 2017, a Conservative councilor, Rosemary Carroll,[6] was suspended after sending a racist post on social media comparing Asians to dogs. This controversy expanded after the local elections in 2018, when the councilor was readmitted into the Conservative Party, allowing the Conservative party to gain a majority on the council. The Pendle Labour party accused the Pendle Conservative Party of condoning racism after the reinstatement. The Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Dawn Butler, called upon the Conservative Party Chairman, Brandon Lewis, to issue a statement saying that the councillor in question would not be part of the Conservative group on the council. This followed a statement from Lewis congratulating the Pendle Conservatives on winning a majority on the council.[7][8]
In April 2024, all of Labour’s 11 borough councillors in Pendle, including the leader of the council, quit the party.[9][10]
Political control
The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election. A coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat formed to run the council after that election.[1] Following the Labour group all leaving their party, the coalition became an independent and Liberal Democrat coalition in April 2024.[11]
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[12][13]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| No overall control | 1974–1976 | |
| Conservative | 1976–1979 | |
| No overall control | 1979–1987 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1987–1990 | |
| No overall control | 1990–1991 | |
| Labour | 1991–1994 | |
| No overall control | 1994–1995 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 1995–1999 | |
| No overall control | 1999–2004 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 2004–2008 | |
| No overall control | 2008–2018 | |
| Conservative | 2018–2019 | |
| No overall control | 2019–2021 | |
| Conservative | 2021–2023 | |
| No overall control | 2023–present | |
Leadership
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Pendle. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2015 have been:[14]
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Cooney | Conservative | 2015 | ||
| Mohammed Iqbal | Labour | 2015 | 17 May 2018 | |
| Paul White | Conservative | 17 May 2018 | 5 May 2019 | |
| Mohammed Iqbal | Labour | 16 May 2019 | 20 May 2021 | |
| Nadeem Ahmed | Conservative | 20 May 2021 | 18 May 2023 | |
| Asjad Mahmood | Labour | 18 May 2023 | 1 Apr 2024 | |
| Independent | 1 Apr 2024 | |||
Composition
Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:[15]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 13 | |
| Independent | 12 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 8 | |
| Total | 33 | |
Ten of the independent councillors sit together as the 'Independent Group', which forms the council's administration with the Liberal Democrats. The other two independents do not form part of a group.[16] The next election is due in 2026.
Premises
The council meets at Nelson Town Hall on Market Street in the centre of Nelson, which had been completed in 1881 for the old Nelson Local Board, predecessor of the Nelson Borough Council created in 1890.[17] It has its main administrative offices in a modern building at Number One Market Street, opposite the town hall.[18]
Elections
Since the last full review of boundaries took effect in 2021 the council has comprised 33 councillors representing 12 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council being elected each time for a four-year term. Lancashire County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.[19]
Councillors
Following the 2023 election, the councillors were:[20]
| Ward | Name | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnoldswick | Tom Whipp | Liberal Democrats | |
| Chris Church | Liberal Democrats | ||
| Mick Strickland | Liberal Democrats | ||
| Barrowford and Pendleside | Martyn Stone | Conservative | |
| Nadeem Ahmed | Conservative | ||
| David Gallear | Conservative | ||
| Boulsworth and Foulridge | Sarah Cockburn-Price | Conservative | |
| David Cockburn-Price | Conservative | ||
| Kevin Salter | Conservative | ||
| Bradley | Mohammad Aslam | Conservative | |
| Mohammed Iqbal | Independent | ||
| Mohammad Kaleem | Conservative | ||
| Brierfield East and Clover Hill | Naeem Hussain Ashraf | Labour | |
| Sajjad Ahmed | Labour | ||
| Zafar Ali | Labour | ||
| Brierfield West and Reedley | Mohammad Hanif | Labour | |
| Yasser Iqbal | Labour | ||
| Earby and Coates | Susan Land | Liberal Democrats | |
| Rosemary Carroll | Conservative | ||
| David Whipp | Liberal Democrats | ||
| Fence and Higham | Brian Newman | Liberal Democrats | |
| Marsden and Southfield | Yvonne Tennant | Labour | |
| Mohammed Adnan | Labour | ||
| Mohammed Ammer | Labour | ||
| Vivary Bridge | Kieran McGladdery | Conservative | |
| Tom Ormerod | Conservative | ||
| David Albin | Conservative | ||
| Waterside and Horsfield | Neil Butterworth | Conservative | |
| Dorothy Lord | Liberal Democrats | ||
| Ash Sutcliffe | Conservative | ||
| Whitefield and Walverden | Faraz Ahmad | Labour | |
| Ruby Anwar | Labour | ||
| Asjad Mahmood | Labour |
Wider politics
The Pendle constituency was represented in Parliament by the Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrew Stephenson, from 2010-2024.
From the 2024 General Election, the constituency no longer covers the same area as the borough and is now represented by two MPs, Jonathan Hinder the Labour member for Pendle and Clitheroe and Oliver David Ryan the MP for Burnley, whose constituency includes parts of Reedley and Brierfield, which are in Pendle.
References
- ^ a b "Labour and Lib Dems to run 'hung' Pendle Council". BBC News. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ "A new Chief Executive for Pendle Council".
- ^ "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
- ^ "Election maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ "UK cycling chief steps down from Pendle Council role". Lancashire Telegraph. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Mills, Jen (29 June 2017). "Conservative councillor 'posted joke comparing Asian people to dogs'". Metro UK. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ^ "Tories Win Pendle Council After Reinstating Councillor Suspended over Racist Joke". 4 May 2018.
- ^ Grierson, Jamie; Sparrow, Andrew; Rawlinson, Kevin; Sparrow, Andrew; Walker, Peter (4 May 2018). "Almost 4,000 people may have been denied vote by election ID pilots – as it happened". The Guardian.
- ^ Green, Daniel (2024-04-02). "Twenty Labour councillors resign amid bullying claims and Gaza row in Pendle". LabourList. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
- ^ Goodlad, Nat (1 April 2024). "Twenty councillors in Pendle resign from Labour after 'bullying' claim". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ Macdonald, Robbie (2 April 2024). "Pendle Council: Power sharing to continue after mass resignation". BBC News. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
- ^ "Pendle". BBC News Online. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Council minutes". Pendle Borough Council. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ "Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England". The Guardian. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
- ^ "Political composition". Pendle Borough Council. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009). Lancashire: North: The Buildings of England. Yale University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0300126679.
- ^ "Contacting us". Pendle Borough Council. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ "The Statutory Instruments Regulations 1947", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2020/215, retrieved 26 June 2023
- ^ "Councillors by name". Pendle Borough Council. Retrieved 26 June 2023.