Burnley Borough Council | |
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Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1974 |
Leadership | |
Lukman Patel since July 2023 [2] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 45 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
First past the post | |
Last election | 2 May 2024 |
Next election | 7 May 2026 |
Meeting place | |
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Town Hall, Manchester Road, Burnley, BB11 9SA | |
Website | |
www |
Burnley Borough Council provides district-level services for the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, in North West England. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government. [3]
The town of Burnley had been incorporated as a municipal borough in 1861. The larger modern borough and its council were created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972.
The council has been under no overall control since 2019.
Following the 2023 election, Labour ran a minority administration in Burnley council, having 21 seats, leaving them two seats short of an overall majority. On 5 November 2023, council leader Afrasiab Anwar and ten Labour colleagues resigned from the Labour Party in protest at Keir Starmer's refusal to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza war. [4] This group was subsequently known as the Burnley Independent Group. On 17 November, the council was taken over by the new "Co-operative Alliance", which comprised the Burnley Independent Group, Green Party, and Liberal Democrat councillors and had enough seats to hold an overall majority on Burnley Council. [5]
Following the 2024 United Kingdom local elections, the Alliance fell one short of a majority, with only 22 councillors. Despite this, the Alliance members agreed to continue their arrangement and continue running the council, relying on the independent mayor to use his casting vote in their favour in case of a drawn vote with Labour and the Conservatives. [6]
The first election to the reformed borough council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: [7] [8]
Party | Period | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 1974–2000 | |
No overall control | 2000–2001 | |
Labour | 2001–2004 | |
No overall control | 2004–2008 | |
Liberal Democrats | 2008–2011 | |
No overall control | 2011–2012 | |
Labour | 2012–2019 | |
No overall control | 2019–present |
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Burnley. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1980 have been:
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
John Entwistle [9] [10] | Labour | May 1980 | ||
Peter Pike [9] [11] [12] | Labour | May 1980 | May 1983 | |
Ken McGeorge [13] [14] | Labour | 1983 | 1987 | |
Jesse Bradshaw [14] | Labour | 1987 | May 1989 | |
Ken McGeorge [14] [15] [16] | Labour | May 1989 | May 1994 | |
Kath Reade [15] [17] | Labour | May 1994 | May 1998 | |
Stuart Caddy [17] [18] [19] [20] | Labour | May 1998 | 25 Aug 2004 | |
Labour | 29 Sep 2004 | May 2006 | ||
Gordon Birtwistle [20] [21] | Liberal Democrats | May 2006 | 2010 | |
Charlie Briggs [22] | Liberal Democrats | 2010 | 2012 | |
Julie Cooper [23] | Labour | 2012 | 2014 | |
Mark Townsend [24] [25] | Labour | 2014 | 15 May 2019 | |
Charlie Briggs [26] [27] | Burnley and Padiham Independent Party | 29 May 2019 | 18 Sep 2020 | |
Mark Townsend [28] [29] | Labour | 30 Sep 2020 | May 2021 | |
Afrasiab Anwar [30] [31] | Labour | 19 May 2021 | 5 Nov 2023 | |
Independent | 5 Nov 2023 |
As of June 2025, the council's composition was: [32]
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 14 | |
Liberal Democrats | 8 | |
Conservative | 7 | |
Green | 5 | |
Independent | 11 | |
Total | 45 |
Ten of the independent councillors sit together as the 'Burnley Independent Group', which forms part of the council's administration with the Liberal Democrats and Greens. [33] The next elections are due on 7 May 2026, where a third of seats will be up for election. [32]
On 11 September 2025, independent Councillor Fiona Wild resigned from the Council following a series of posts on her Facebook account in response to the assassination of American political activist and commentator Charlie Kirk. Wild's posts said "good riddance" and that Kirk had "brought this on himself". [34] [35]
Since the last boundary changes in 2002 the council has comprised 45 councillors representing 15 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four year term of office. Lancashire County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections. [36]
The wards are:
The district is represented on Lancashire County Council in six divisions: Burnley Central East, Burnley Central West, Burnley North East, Burnley South West, Burnley Rural and Padiham & Burnley West. [37]
The boundaries of the Burnley Parliamentary constituency are the same as those of the borough. [38]
The council is based at Burnley Town Hall on Manchester Road, which had been completed in 1888 for the old town council. [39] The council has additional offices nearby at the old Burnley Building Society building on Parker Lane. [40]