Chief Executive Jo Turton Labour 38 / 84 Liberal Democrats 6 / 84 Leader Jenny Mein | Chairman Janice Hanson, Labour Conservatives 34 / 84 Independent 3 / 84 | |
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Next election United Kingdom local elections, 2017 Type of business Unicameral / Non-metropolitan county council of Lancashire Profiles | ||
Pinsafe lancashire county council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, and is under no overall control as of the Lancashire County Council election, 2013, after four years of Conservative control and 20 years of Labour control. The council has 39 Labour Party councillors, 35 Conservative Party councillors, 6 Liberal Democrats, three independents and 1 Green Party councillor.
Contents
The Council leader, County Councillor Jenny Mein, chairs a cabinet of eight councillors - the others being Azhar Ali, David Borrow (also Deputy Leader), John Fillis, Janice Hanson, Marcus Johnstone, Tony Martin and Matthew Tomlinson. The eight cabinet members each have responsibility for particular functions of the council. The Chief Executive is Jo Turton who was appointed in February 2014 and heads the Council's 40,000-strong workforce.
History
The council was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, covering the administrative county. It was reconstituted under the Local Government Act 1972 to cover a different territory. In the 1990s, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool left the area covered by the council.
Political makeup
Elections are held every four years.
County Library
Lancashire adopted the Public Libraries Act, 1919, in 1924. Library services were slow to develop as the average ratable value of the area outside the county boroughs and the other local authorities which had already adopted the act was relatively low. In 1938/39 the average expenditure on urban libraries per head was 1s. 9d., but that on county libraries was only 8 1/4d. (about two fifths of the former amount). Another disadvantage was that government of libraries was by a libraries sub-committee of the education committee of the council (the librarian having to report to the education officer who might not have been sympathetic to libraries). The central administration of the county library is at Preston where there are special services, special collections and staff to maintain a union catalogue.