City of Canterbury

History

Canterbury itself was an ancient borough, which had held city status from time immemorial. The earliest known charter was issued by Henry II (reigned 1154–1189). A subsequent charter in 1448 gave the city the right to appoint a mayor. Another in 1461 gave the city the right to appoint its own sheriff, making it a county corporate, independent from the jurisdiction of the Sheriff of Kent. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Canterbury's independence was maintained by making it a county borough, independent from the new Kent County Council. Although administratively independent, Canterbury was still deemed part of Kent for the purposes of lieutenancy.

The modern district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:

• Bridge-Blean Rural District
• Canterbury County Borough
• Herne Bay Urban District
• Whitstable Urban District The Bridge-Blean Rural District entirely surrounded the old city; the urban districts occupied the coastal area to the north. The new district was named Canterbury after its largest settlement. The district is a non-metropolitan district, with Kent County Council providing county-level services to the area. The district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Canterbury's series of mayors dating back to 1448. Canterbury's city status was extended to cover the whole of the new borough.

In 1988 the position of mayor was given the honorific title of lord mayor. The council continues to appoint a ceremonial sheriff; the sheriff no longer has any judicial functions, but the title is today taken by the deputy chair of the council.

Governance

Labour Labour Suzi Wakeham ;Administration (27) : Labour (18) : ;Other parties (12) : Conservative (8) : Green (3) : Independent (1)

Canterbury City Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Kent County Council. The more rural parts of the district are covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government for their areas.

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since April 2023. Following the May 2023 elections a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition was formed to run the council, led by Labour councillor Alan Baldock.

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

Leadership

The role of lord mayor in Canterbury is largely ceremonial. Since 2002 the council has formally appointed a leader of the council to provide political leadership; the chair of the policy committee was sometimes called the leader prior to 2002. The leaders since 2002 have been:

Compositions

Following the 2023 election, and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to May 2025, the composition of the council was:

The Green Party gained an extra seat following the by-election on 13 November 2025 caused by the resignation of Liberal Democrat Roben Franklin.

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last full review of boundaries in 2015 the council has comprised 39 councillors representing 21 wards with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Premises

Council meetings are held at Canterbury Guildhall at the corner of St Peter's Place and St Peter's Street, adjoining the Westgate. The building was formerly the Church of the Holy Cross. It had been commissioned by Archbishop Simon Sudbury and was completed before his death in 1381. After the church was declared redundant and deconsecrated in 1972, it was acquired by the city council and converted for municipal use: it was officially re-opened by Prince Charles as the council's meeting place on 9 November 1978.

The council's main offices are the Council Offices on Military Road, Canterbury, which was built in the 1980s. During 2024 the council plans to vacate Military Road and move its offices to converted parts of the Whitefriars Shopping Centre.

Geography

Within the district are the towns of Herne Bay and Whitstable, which, with the rural parishes and the cathedral city itself, make up the district of the City of Canterbury. There are 27 parishes within the district, as follows:

• Adisham
• Barham
• Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne
• Bishopsbourne
• Blean
• Bridge
• Chartham
• Chestfield
• Chislet
• Fordwich, which has town status
• Hackington
• Harbledown and Rough Common
• Hersden
• Herne and Broomfield
• Hoath
• Ickham
• Kingston
• Littlebourne
• Lower Hardres and Nackington
• Petham
• Sturry
• Thanington Without
• Upper Hardres
• Waltham
• Westbere
• Wickhambreaux
• Womenswold Swalecliffe is an unparished area within the district.

The district is largely rural, with a coastal strip taken up by the almost unbroken spread of seaside towns and beaches from Seasalter, west of Whitstable, to Herne Bay. Between them and the city the hills rise into the wooded area of Blean, south of which the Great Stour flows from its source beyond Ashford.

Demography

Twin towns

The district participates in the Sister Cities programme, with links to Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, and Vladimir, Russia.

The Three Towns Association was founded in 1985 on the initiative of three local clergymen to promote person-to-person contact between ordinary people in the UK, the U.S. and Russia. The name was subsequently changed to the Three Cities Association. The Association chose Vladimir as the twin city in Russia because it is the seat of Christianity in that country as Canterbury is the seat of Christianity in England. Vladimir was already twinned with Bloomington-Normal. Among other activities, the Association arranged home-stay exchanges between the two Simon Langton Schools in Canterbury and School No. 23 in Vladimir, where the teaching was conducted in English.

Several towns and villages within the City of Canterbury have their own twinning arrangements: see the articles on Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

References

References

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13. (2024). "Canterbury City Council Constitution". Canterbury City Council.
14. "Council minutes, 15 May 2025".
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23. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
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27. "Council minutes, 16 May 2007".
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29. "Council minutes, 20 May 2015".
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31. "Council minutes, 22 May 2019".
32. (15 February 2024). "New Cabinet Member at KCC".
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34. (5 May 2023). "Kent local elections 2023: Big changes at Canterbury City Council as Tories lose control". Kent Online.
35. "Council minutes, 17 May 2023".
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47. Data is taken from United Kingdom [http://casweb.ukdataservice.ac.uk/index.htm Casweb Data services] of the United Kingdom [http://casweb.ukdataservice.ac.uk/step1.cfm 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England, Scotland and Wales] {{Webarchive. link. (5 April 2022 (Table 6))
48. "Office of National Statistics; 2001 Census Key Statistics".
49. "2011 Census: Ethnic Group, local authorities in England and Wales".
50. "Twinning contacts".