Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

History

The town of Blackburn was governed by a body of improvement commissioners from 1803. The town was incorporated to become a municipal borough in 1851, after which it was governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Blackburn', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Blackburn 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 Lancashire County Council, whilst remaining part of the geographical county of Lancashire.

A larger Blackburn district was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It gained the neighbouring town of Darwen and several other rural parishes, and became a non-metropolitan district, with Lancashire County Council providing county-level services. Blackburn's borough status was transferred to the enlarged district, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Blackburn's series of mayors dating back to 1851.

The borough was renamed Blackburn with Darwen in May 1997.

The council became a unitary authority on 1 April 1998. The way the change was implemented was to create a new non-metropolitan county covering the same area as the borough, but with no separate county council; instead, the existing borough council took on county council functions. Blackburn with Darwen remains part of the ceremonial county of Lancashire for the purposes of lieutenancy.

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

Governance

As a unitary authority, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council provides both district-level and county-level functions. Parts of the borough are covered by civil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas. The exceptions are the main part of the Blackburn urban area (roughly corresponding to the pre-1974 borough) and the Hoddlesden area, which are unparished.

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2011.

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

Lower tier non-metropolitan district

Unitary authority

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Blackburn with Darwen. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1989 have been:

Composition

Following the 2024 election the composition of the council was:

Of the independent councillors, 12 sit together as the '4 BwD' group, and the other does not belong to a group. The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2018, the council has comprised 51 councillors elected from 17 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) being elected each time for a four-year term.

Premises

The council is based at Blackburn Town Hall on King William Street in the centre of Blackburn. The building was built for the old Blackburn Borough Council and completed in 1856. A tower block annexe was added in 1969, linked to the old building by a bridge. The council also maintains an area office at Darwen Town Hall, completed in 1882 for the old Darwen Borough Council.

References

References

1. "Council minutes, 15 May 2025".
2. "Council minutes, 19 May 2022".
3. "Chief Executive".
4. "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections".
5. "Blackburn Markets and Improvement Act 1803". The National Archives.
6. (1911). "A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6". Victoria County History.
7. "Blackburn Municipal Borough / County Borough". GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth.
8. {{cite legislation UK. (1972)
9. {{cite legislation UK. (1973)
10. (28 March 1974). "District Councils and Boroughs".
11. "Historical information on changes to electoral arrangements of Local authorities, Parliamentary areas and European Parliamentary boundaries". Ordnance Survey.
12. "Lancashire". Local Government Boundary Commission for England.
13. {{cite legislation UK. (1996)
14. {{cite legislation UK. (1997)
15. (5 February 2025). "County's combined authority officially launched". BBC News.
16. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
17. "Lancashire: Diagram showing administrative boundaries, 1969". Ordnance Survey.
18. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
19. (19 April 2008). "Blackburn With Darwen". [[BBC News Online]].
20. (10 May 1989). "Labour leader's 'I quit' surprise". Lancashire Telegraph.
21. (15 February 1994). "Shock as council leader quits in 'spending row'". Lancashire Telegraph.
22. (25 February 1994). "Council leader is a man of vision". Lancashire Telegraph.
23. (9 June 2001). "Council leader to quit after 8 years". Lancashire Telegraph.
24. (13 June 2001). "It's open house at the town hall". Lancashire Telegraph.
25. (12 June 2004). "Sir Bill gets the boot in election shock". Lancashire Telegraph.
26. (2 July 2004). "Town hall drama as Labour scrapes back into power". Lancashire Telegraph.
27. (30 January 2009). "New Blackburn with Darwen leader pledges recession help". Lancashire Telegraph.
28. (15 September 2010). "Labour regains control of Blackburn with Darwen Council". BBC News.
29. "Council minutes, 14 September 2010".
30. (30 March 2015). "Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Kate Hollern steps down to fight election". Lancashire Telegraph.
31. "Council minutes, 21 May 2015".
32. (12 May 2015). "Councillor Khan 'privileged' to be new Blackburn with Darwen leader". Lancashire Telegraph.
33. (3 December 2021). "Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Mohammed Khan to retire". Lancashire Telegraph.
34. "Council minutes, 19 May 2022".
35. (7 May 2022). "Phil Riley ‘honoured’ to be selected as new leader of borough". Lancashire Telegraph.
36. (4 May 2024). "Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England". The Guardian.
37. (3 May 2024). "Blackburn with Darwen: Gaza Independents surge rocks Labour". Lancashire Telegraph.
38. "Blackburn with Darwen". Thorncliffe.
39. {{cite legislation UK. (2017)
40. "Town Halls".