Hull City Council

History

Hull was an ancient borough. It was granted its first charter in 1299 by Edward I. He had acquired the small port town of Wyke upon Hull six years earlier in 1293, and had renamed it Kingston upon Hull to reflect its new royal ownership. The 1299 charter gave the borough certain rights of self-government. A subsequent charter in 1331 gave the borough the right to appoint a mayor.

In 1440 the borough was given the right to appoint its own sheriff, which made it a county corporate and removed it from the jurisdiction of the Sheriff of Yorkshire. Seven years later, in 1447, the county corporate was extended to also include an adjoining rural area lying to the west of Hull itself, which became known as Hullshire. Although independent from the Sheriff of Yorkshire, Hull remained part of the geographical county of Yorkshire and continued to form part of the East Riding for the purposes of lieutenancy until 1974.

Hull was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. The town was then governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Kingston upon Hull', generally known as the corporation or town council. The reformed borough was enlarged to match the Kingston upon Hull constituency, which had been expanded in 1832 to take in areas including Drypool and Sculcoates. As part of the same reforms, Hull lost its jurisdiction over the parts of Hullshire outside the enlarged borough boundary (the parishes of Hessle, Kirk Ella and North Ferriby and their associated townships), which were returned to the jurisdiction of the Sheriff of Yorkshire.

When elected county councils were established in 1889, Hull was considered large enough for the existing corporation to also take on county council functions, making it a county borough. The borough boundaries were enlarged on several occasions.

In 1897, Hull was awarded city status, after which the corporation was also known as the city council. In 1914 the city's mayor was awarded the honorific title of lord mayor.

Local government was reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Hull kept the same boundaries (which had last been expanded in 1968) but was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district and placed in the new county of Humberside, with county-level functions passing to Humberside County Council. Hull's borough and city statuses and its lord mayoralty were all transferred to the new district and its council.

The legal name of the district is 'Kingston upon Hull', but the council styles itself 'Hull City Council' rather than its full formal name of 'Kingston upon Hull City Council'. The full name is sometimes used in official documents.

In 1996 the county of Humberside and its council were abolished, and Hull City Council gained responsibility for county-level services. The way this change was legally implemented was to create a new non-metropolitan county of Kingston upon Hull covering the same area as the existing district, but with no separate county council; instead the existing city council took on county functions, making it a unitary authority. This therefore had the effect of restoring the city council to the powers it had held when Hull was a county borough prior to 1974. A ceremonial county called East Riding of Yorkshire was established at the same time, covering both Hull and the neighbouring East Riding of Yorkshire unitary authority area.

The council became a member of the new Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority in 2025, which is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.

Governance

The council provides both district-level and county-level functions. There are no civil parishes in the city.

Political control

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 2022.

Political control of the council since 1929 has been as follows:

Leadership

The role of Lord Mayor is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1945 have been:

Composition

Following the 2024 election, and subsequent changes of allegiance in June 2024, February 2025 and September 2025, 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 57 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council elected each time for a four-year term of office.

Premises

The council meets at the Guildhall at the junction of Alfred Gelder Street and Lowgate in the city centre. The building was purpose-built for the council and was completed in 1914. It has several other administrative buildings, including the Wilson Centre, also on Alfred Gelder Street (which houses the main customer service centre), and the City Treasury building on Guildhall Road, immediately north of the Guildhall.

References

References

1. Spence, Andrew. (15 May 2025). "Hull City Council elects new Lord Mayor and Admiral of the Humber". Hull Live.
2. (12 May 2022). "Who's who in new Liberal Democrat cabinet on Hull City Council". Hull Daily Mail.
3. (19 November 2015). "Ex-ABP exec confirmed as Hull council chief". Insider Media.
4. "Your Councillors". Hull City Council.
5. (2017). "Charters: The Making of Hull". Hull History Centre.
6. (1835). "Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales: Appendix 3".
7. (2017). "Charters: The Making of Hull". Hull History Centre.
8. (1798). "The Statutes at Large". M. Baskett.
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10. "Yorkshire East Riding: Diagram showing administrative boundaries, 1971". Ordnance Survey.
11. (1835). "Municipal Corporations Act".
12. (1832). "Parliamentary Boundaries Act".
13. "The Tyndall Wildridge Collection". Hull History Centre.
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15. (1969). "A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 1, The City of Kingston upon Hull". Victoria County History.
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18. (28 March 1974). "District Councils and Boroughs".
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26. (6 February 2025). "Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority to begin work". This is the Coast.
27. {{cite legislation UK. (1972)
28. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
29. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
30. (29 November 1929). "Complete control". Hull Daily Mail.
31. (3 November 1930). "The Hull City Council changes over". Hull Daily Mail.
32. (2 November 1934). "Labour control of Hull". Hull Daily Mail.
33. (2 November 1938). "Labour lose control of Hull Council". Hull Daily Mail.
34. (3 November 1945). "Hull City Council". Hull Daily Mail.
35. (9 May 1969). "Hull's Conservatives come in from the cold". Hull Daily Mail.
36. (14 May 1971). "Labour's grand old men back". Hull Daily Mail.
37. (6 May 2022). "Kingston-upon-Hull election result". [[BBC News]].
38. (14 May 1979). "Sir Leo to give up leadership". Hull Daily Mail.
39. (22 May 1969). "Grasp chance urges new First Lady". Hull Daily Mail.
40. (28 April 1970). "Alderman Dixon Tories' new deputy leader". Hull Daily Mail.
41. (23 June 2025). "Conservatives aim to bring prosperity". Hull Daily Mail.
42. (14 May 1971). "Rents pledge as Labour sweep back". Hull Daily Mail.
43. (22 May 1979). "Coun. Pat Doyle new leader of council". Hull Daily Mail.
44. (18 November 2022). "Former Hull council leader Pat Doyle receives freedom of the city in moving ceremony at the Guildhall". Hull Live.
45. (30 August 2001). "'Idiot minority' blamed for Hull's asylum seeker violence". The Guardian.
46. (30 July 2002). "How the wealthiest council in Britain ended up with a debt after squandering a £263m windfall". The Independent.
47. (5 March 2003). "Housing boss defends himself over sacking". BBC News.
48. (11 March 2005). "Takeover threat to worst council's leader". The Guardian.
49. (16 May 2005). "Leader of worst council ousted". The Guardian.
50. (20 April 2007). "Close race in Hull as turbulent council rebuilds reputation". The Guardian.
51. (7 May 2011). "I'm devastated: Ousted leader plans new life". Yorkshire Post.
52. "Council minutes, 19 May 2011".
53. (10 May 2021). "Hull City Council leader Steve Brady announces he is stepping down". Hull Live.
54. "Council minutes, 20 May 2021".
55. (6 May 2022). "Election results 2022: Hull Lib Dems end Labour's 10-year rule". BBC News.
56. "Council minutes, 19 May 2022".
57. (4 May 2024). "Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England". The Guardian.
58. "Kingston upon Hull". Thorncliffe.
59. Young, Angus. (26 February 2025). "I'm hearing two Hull Lib Dem councillors - cabinet member Julia Conner and Longhill & Bilton Grange ward colleague Sherilee Jepmond - have quit the ruling group to become independents. Annual council budget-setting meeting tomorrow.".
60. Spence, Andrew. (21 May 2025). "Senior Hull Labour councillor leaves party". Hull Daily Mail.
61. Spence, Andrew. (21 September 2025). "Labour councillor resigns from party". BBC News.
62. {{cite legislation UK. (2017)
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