Bury Metropolitan Borough Council

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Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Bury Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority since 2011.

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council
Coat of arms
Council logo
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 1974
Leadership
Khalid Hussain,
Conservative
since 5 May 2024[1]
Eamonn O'Brien,
Labour
since 20 May 2020
Lynne Ridsdale
since 16 May 2018
Structure
Seats51 councillors[2]
The make-up of Bury Council following the 2024 local elections
Political groups
Administration (32)
  Labour (32)
Other parties (19)
  Conservative (10)
  Radcliffe First (8)
  Independent (1)
Joint committees
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Greater Manchester Police, Fire and Crime Panel
Elections
Last election
2 May 2024
Next election
7 May 2026
Meeting place
Town Hall, Knowsley Street, Bury, BL9 0SW
Website
www.bury.gov.uk

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2011. It is based at Bury Town Hall.

History

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The town of Bury had been governed by improvement commissioners from 1846. They were replaced in 1876 when the town was incorporated as a municipal borough, after which it was governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Bury', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council.[3] When elected county councils were established in 1889, Bury was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it became a county borough, independent from the new Lancashire County Council, whilst remaining part of the geographical county of Lancashire.[4]

The larger Metropolitan Borough of Bury and its council were created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as one of ten metropolitan districts within the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. The first election was held in 1973. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's six outgoing authorities, being the borough councils of Bury, Prestwich and Radcliffe, and the urban district councils of Ramsbottom, Tottington and Whitefield. The new metropolitan district and its council formally came into being on 1 April 1974, at which point the old districts and their councils were abolished.[5]

The metropolitan district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Bury's series of mayors dating back to 1876.[6] The council styles itself Bury Council rather than its full formal name of Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council.[7]

From 1974 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to Greater Manchester's ten borough councils, including Bury, with some services provided through joint committees.[8]

Since 2011 the council has been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. The combined authority provides strategic leadership and co-ordination for certain functions across Greater Manchester, notably regarding transport and town planning, but Bury Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.[9][10]

Governance

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Bury Council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; the leader of Bury Council sits on the combined authority as Bury's representative.[11] There are no civil parishes in the borough; the whole area is unparished.[12]

Political control

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The council has been under Labour majority control since 2011.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:[13][14]

Party in control Years
No overall control 1974–1975
Conservative 1975–1986
Labour 1986–1992
No overall control 1992–1995
Labour 1995–2006
No overall control 2006–2008
Conservative 2008–2010
No overall control 2010–2011
Labour 2011–present

Leadership

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The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Bury. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2002 have been:[15]

Councillor Party From To
John Byrne Labour pre-2002 18 May 2005
Wayne Campbell Labour 18 May 2005 16 May 2007
Bob Bibby Conservative 16 May 2007 18 May 2011
Mike Connolly Labour 18 May 2011 18 May 2016
Rishi Shori Labour 18 May 2016 10 Jul 2019
David Jones Labour 10 Jul 2019 20 May 2020
Eamonn O'Brien Labour 20 May 2020

Composition

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Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:[16]

Party Councillors
Labour 32
Conservative 10
Radcliffe First 8
Independent 1
Total 51

The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections

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Since the last boundary changes in 2022, the council has comprised 51 councillors representing 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) elected each time for a four-year term of office.[17]

Wards and councillors

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Each ward is represented by three councillors.[18]

 
Council Wards
1 Ramsbottom
2 North Manor
3 Tottington
4 Elton
5 Moorside
6 Bury West
7 Bury East
8 Redvales
9 Radcliffe North & Ainsworth
10 Radcliffe East
11 Radcliffe West
12 Unsworth
13 Pilkington Park
14 Besses
15 St. Mary's
16 Holyrood
17 Sedgley
Parliamentary constituency Ward Councillor Party Term of office
Bury North constituency Bury East Ayesha Arif Labour 2022-26
Ummrana Farooq Labour 2023-27
Gavin McGill Labour 2024-28
Bury West Shahbaz Arif Conservative 2023-27
Jackie Harris Conservative 2022-26
Dene Vernon Conservative 2024-28
Elton Martin Hayes Labour 2024-28
Charlotte Morris Labour 2023-27
Jack Rydeheard Conservative 2022-26
Moorside Ciaron Boles Labour 2024-28
Babar Ibrahim Labour 2023-27
Sandra Walmsley Labour 2022-26
North Manor Roger Brown Conservative 2022-26
Khalid Hussain (Mayor) Conservative 2023-27
John Southworth Labour 2024-28
Radcliffe North and Ainsworth Donald Berry Radcliffe First 2022-26
Andrea Booth Radcliffe First 2024-28
Jo Lancaster (Conservative Group Deputy Leader) Conservative 2023-27
Ramsbottom Clare Cummins Labour 2022-26
Tom Pilkington Labour 2024-28
Gareth Staples-Jones Labour 2023-27
Redvales Nikki Frith Labour 2022-26
Shaheena Haroon Labour 2023-27
Tamoor Tariq (Labour Group Deputy Leader) Labour 2024-28
Tottington Iain Gartside Conservative 2023-27
Luis McBriar Conservative 2024-28
Yvonne Wright Independent 2022-26
Bury South constituency Besses Noel Bayley Labour 2022-26
Miriam Rahimov Labour 2024-28
Lucy Smith Labour 2023-27
Holyrood Elliot Moss Labour 2022-26
Imran Rizvi Labour 2024-28
Lynn Ryder Labour 2023-27
Pilkington Park Russell Bernstein (Conservative Group Leader) Conservative 2022-26
Elizabeth Fitzgerald Labour 2024-28
Michael Rubinstein Labour 2023-27
Radcliffe East Carol Birchmore Radcliffe First 2022-26
Ken Simpson Radcliffe First 2024-28
Mary Walsh Radcliffe First 2023-27
Radcliffe West Des Duncalfe Radcliffe First 2024-28
Glyn Marsden Radcliffe First 2022-26
Mike Smith (Radcliffe First Group Leader) Radcliffe First 2023-27
Sedgley Richard Gold Labour 2022-26
Alan Quinn Labour 2024-28
Debbie Quinn Labour 2023-27
St. Mary's Debra Green Labour 2024-28
Eamonn O'Brien (Labour Leader and Leader of the Council) Labour 2022-26
Sean Thorpe Labour 2023-27
Unsworth Nathan Boroda Labour 2024-28
Joan Grimshaw Labour 2022-26
Tahir Rafiq Labour 2023-27

Premises

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The council is based at the Town Hall on Knowsley Street in Bury. The building was officially opened in 1954 for the old Bury Borough Council; construction had begun fifteen years earlier but had been interrupted by the Second World War.[19] In 2023 the council announced plans to refurbish the building, allowing the council to consolidate its other offices into the Town Hall, notably from Knowsley Place opposite.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Oldman, Isabel (24 May 2024). "Bury: North Manor councillor Khalid Hussain sworn in as Mayor". Bury Times. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Councillor information - Bury Council".
  3. ^ "Records of Bury Improvement Commissioners/Bury County Borough". Bury Archives Catalogue. Metropolitan Borough of Bury. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2008.
  4. ^ "Bury Municipal Borough / County Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Local Government Act 1972: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70 (sch. 1), retrieved 30 May 2024
  6. ^ "District Councils and Boroughs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 28 March 1974. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Find your local council". gov.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  8. ^ "Local Government Act 1985", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1985 c. 51, retrieved 5 April 2024
  9. ^ "The Greater Manchester Combined Authority Order 2011", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2011/908, retrieved 30 May 2024
  10. ^ "Understand how your council works". gov.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  11. ^ "GMCA Members". Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Bury". BBC News Online. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  15. ^ "Council minutes". Bury Council. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England". The Guardian. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  17. ^ "The Bury (Electoral Changes) Order 2022", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2022/131, retrieved 30 May 2024
  18. ^ "Your Councillors". bury.gov.uk. Bury MBC. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  19. ^ Frain, Sean (2013). The Bury Book of Days. History Press. ISBN 9780752489629. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  20. ^ Mutch, James (13 April 2023). "Plans to refurb Bury Town Hall to 'develop single service hub'". Bury Times. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
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