Birmingham City Council

History

Until the 18th century, Birmingham was governed by manorial courts and its parish vestry. A body of improvement commissioners called the Birmingham Street Commissioners was established in 1769 to provide services in the rapidly growing town. Birmingham was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1838, after which it was governed by a body formally called 'the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Birmingham', generally known as the corporation or town council. William Scholefield became the first mayor and William Redfern was the first town clerk. The corporation absorbed the functions of the street commissioners in 1852.

Birmingham was granted city status on 14 January 1889, after which the corporation was also known as the city council. When elected county councils were established in April 1889, Birmingham was considered large enough for its existing council to provide county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, independent from the new Warwickshire County Council, whilst remaining part of the geographical county of Warwickshire. The dignity of a lord mayor was conferred in 1896, with James Smith being appointed the first Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

The city boundaries have been enlarged many times. Notable expansions were in 1891 (Balsall Heath, Harborne, Saltley and Little Bromwich), 1909 (Quinton), 1911 (Aston Manor, Erdington, Handsworth, Kings Norton, Northfield and Yardley), 1928 (Perry Barr), 1931 (Sheldon and parts of other parishes), and 1974 (Sutton Coldfield).

The county borough was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, being replaced by a metropolitan district of Birmingham, covering the area of the old county borough plus the borough of Sutton Coldfield. The new district was one of seven metropolitan districts within the new metropolitan county of the West Midlands. Birmingham's borough and city statuses and its lord mayoralty passed to the new district and its council.

From 1974 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the West Midlands County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to the county's seven borough councils, including Birmingham City Council, with some services provided through joint committees. In 1995, New Frankley and the Kitwell Estate were transferred into the city from the parish of Frankley in Bromsgrove District.

Since 2016 the council has been a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands since 2017. The combined authority provides strategic leadership and co-ordination for certain functions across the county, but Birmingham City Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.

Women and minorities

The first woman elected to the council, on 1 November 1911, was Ellen Pinsent. She represented the Edgbaston Ward as a Liberal Unionist. She had earlier been co-opted as a member of the council's Education Committee and served as Chairman of the Special School Sub-Committee. She stood down from the council in October 1913 upon appointment as Commissioner for the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency.

Pinsent's time on the council overlapped with that of Margaret Frances Pugh, who was elected on 22 November 1911 to serve in the North Erdington ward. She resigned in November 1913.

Birmingham's third woman councillor, Clara Martineau, was elected on 14 October 1913 in the Edgbaston ward, and served until 1932, when she died, aged 57. Her father was former Mayor Sir Thomas Martineau, Lord Mayor Ernest Martineau was her brother, and Alderman Sir George Kenrick was her uncle.

Mary Cottrell became the first female Labour councillor in February 1917, when she was elected unopposed to the Selly Oak ward. The first female Lord Mayor, Marjorie Brown, held the post from 1973 to 1974. Theresa Stewart became the first female leader in October 1993, until 1999; and Lin Homer the first female chief executive, was in post from 2002 until 2005.

Bert Carless, a migrant from Jamaica, was elected the City's first non-white councillor in 1979. He was later made an Honorary Alderman.

2023 section 114 finances notice

On 5 September 2023, Birmingham City Council issued a section 114 notice, being the local government equivalent of bankruptcy, stopping all future spending with the exception of money for statutory services, including the protection of vulnerable people. The leader of the Labour authority stated that the notice was a necessary step to get Birmingham back into a sound financial footing. The government subsequently appointed commissioners to oversee the running of the council under emergency measures. The bankruptcy has been ascribed to equal pay liabilities plus a disastrous implementation of an ERP system.

When the council issued the section 114 notice, it had forecast the reserves would go into a nominal £677.9 million deficit, but when the 2022-2024 accounts were published in July 2025 they showed the reserves had been £784.7 million in credit, more that £1 billion better than forecast. Independent accountants said the forecast had been "based on unaudited and materially incorrect information", and a group of 34 experts in accounting, finance and local government called for a public inquiry to investigate the section 114 notice decision.

2025 bin strike

Main article: Birmingham bin strike

On 11 March 2025, Members of the Unite union went out on strike due to a long-running dispute over the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) position being removed. The union claims the move will leave about 150 members £8,000 worse off. Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March 2025, saying the "regrettable" move was taken in response to public health concerns, as picket lines were blocking depots and preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.

Governance

Birmingham City Council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the West Midlands Combined Authority; the leader and deputy leader of the city council sit on the board of the combined authority as Birmingham's representatives. There are two civil parishes in the city at Sutton Coldfield and New Frankley in Birmingham, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the city is unparished.

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2012.

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

Leadership

The role of Lord Mayor of Birmingham is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The first leader of the council after the 1974 reforms, Clive Wilkinson, had been the leader of the old corporation since December 1973. The leaders since 1973 have been:

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to January 2026, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2018, the council has comprised 101 councillors representing 69 wards, with each ward electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Wards and councillors

The wards and councillors are:

Premises

The council meets and has some offices at the Council House on Victoria Square in the city centre. The building was first completed in 1879 for the old borough council and has been extended several times since. The council has several other office buildings, notably at 10 Woodcock Street, completed in 2011. There are two customer services centres, at 67 Sutton New Road in Erdington and at 1a Vineyard Road in Northfield. The possible closure and sale of some of the council's buildings is being considered as part of addressing the council's financial difficulties following the issuing of the Section 114 notice in 2023.

Chief executives

Past chief executives have included:

• 2019 2020 Clive Heaphy (Acting)
• 2020 Chris Naylor (Interim)
• 2024 Graeme Betts (Acting)
• 2024 Joanne Roney

Services and facilities

Notable services provided and facilities managed by Birmingham City Council include:

• Library of Birmingham
• Public Library and Baths, Balsall Heath
• Birmingham Wholesale Markets
• Cemeteries
  • Brandwood End Cemetery
  • Handsworth Cemetery
  • Lodge Hill Cemetery
  • Witton Cemetery
• Council House
• Hall of Memory
• Parks
  • Brookvale Park
  • Calthorpe Park
  • Handsworth Park
  • Kings Heath Park
  • Swanshurst Park
  • Several country parks

The city's museums were transferred to the independent Birmingham Museums Trust in 2012. The council sold its Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre, by auction, in October 2014.

Highways

In 2010, Birmingham City Council agreed a 25 year deal with Amey plc to manage the city's highways, but, after allegations of sub-standard repairs to roads and pavements, the council invoked penalty clauses and entered into a prolonged legal dispute. In December 2018, Amey parent Ferrovial put the business up for sale, after allocating €237m for losses on Amey's highway maintenance contract with the Council. In February 2019, Amey was close to a deal to exit its Birmingham contract, liabilities from which were preventing the company's sale by Ferrovial. A £215m deal to terminate Amey's Birmingham contract was confirmed in July 2019. The council was set to receive £160m in 2019 with a further £55m paid over the next six years, with services continuing on an interim basis until September 2019, and potentially until March 2020. However, in February 2020, it was announced the Birmingham contract would end in March 2020; Kier Group was appointed as interim contractor for 15 months while the council sought a permanent replacement for Amey. In February 2022, the city council formally began the process of identifying a contractor to deliver £2.7 billion of works over 12 years, and invited Kier and Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin to tender for the city’s restructured highways PFI contract, covering more than 2,500km of road and 5,000km of footway. However, in October 2023, the council claimed the government was preparing to "pull the plug" on £600m of highways funding. Kier were awarded the restructured contract, set to start in February 2024, but the deal was subject to government approval. The Department for Transport pulled support for the restructured business case, forcing the council to switch to a fully publicly funded model, and in November 2025, the Council invited bids on a new deal to deliver highways and infrastructure worth around £1bn over eight year across the city and wider Midlands.

References

References

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