Preston City Council

Preston City Council
Leadership
Mayor	Philip Crowe, Labour since 15 May 2024 [1]
Leader	Matthew Brown, Labour since 17 May 2018 [2]
Chief Executive	Adrian Phillips since April 2019 [3]
Structure
Seats	48 councillors [4]
Political groups	Administration (28) [5]   Labour (28) Other parties (20)   Liberal Democrat (13)   Conservative (6)   Independent (1) [6]
Elections
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Meeting place
Town Hall, Lancaster Road, Preston, PR1 2RL
Website
www.preston.gov.uk

Preston City Council provides district-level services for the City of Preston, in Lancashire, in North West England. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council. ^[7] Parts of the district are also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government. ^[8]

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2011.

The first election to the enlarged Preston Borough Council created by the Local Government Act 1972 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: ^{[9] [10]}

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1974–1976
	Conservative	1976–1980
	Labour	1980–1999
	No overall control	1999–2011
	Labour	2011–present

Leadership

See also: List of mayors of Preston

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Preston. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1992 have been: ^[11]

Councillor	Party		From	To
David Borrow		Labour	1992	1994
Valerie Wise [12]		Labour	1994	1995
David Borrow		Labour	1995	1997
Peter Rankin		Labour	1997	2000
Peter Rankin		Labour	2011	2018
Robert Boswell (acting leader)		Labour	2018	2018
Michael Brown		Labour	2018

References

1. "Preston welcomes new Mayor". Preston City Council. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
2. "Council minutes, 17 May 2018" (PDF). Preston City Council. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
3. Hodgson, Neil (23 April 2019). "Preston City Council confirms Adrian Phillips as chief executive". The Business Desk. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
4. "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections". opencouncildata.co.uk.
5. "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections". opencouncildata.co.uk.
6. Faulkner, Paul (2025-03-11). "Preston Labour councillor suspended after 'antisemitism' complaint". BBC News. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
7. "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
8. "Election maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
9. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
10. "Preston". BBC News Online . 19 April 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
11. "Council minutes". Preston City Council. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
12. Hattersley, Roy (24 March 2001). "Prudent policies bring back pride". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2022.

See also

• City of Preston, Lancashire
• Liverpool City Council
• Manchester City Council

(Copied and moved content from City of Preston, Lancashire; see source page's history for attribution)