Derby City Council is the local authority for the city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire in the East Midlands region of England. Derby has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. Since 2024 the council has been a member of the East Midlands Combined County Authority.
The council has been under no overall control since 2018. Following the 2023 election a minority Labour administration formed to run the council. The council is based at the Council House.
The town of Derby had been an ancient borough, with borough charters dating back to 1154.[4] It was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, governed by a corporate body called "the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Derby", generally known as the corporation or town council. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Derby was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services and so it was made a county borough, independent from Derbyshire County Council.[5]
In 1974 Derby was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district under the Local Government Act 1972; it kept the same boundaries but became a lower-tier district council with Derbyshire County Council providing county-level services to the town for the first time.[6] Derby retained its borough status, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Derby's series of mayors dating back to 1638.[7] The borough of Derby was awarded city status on 7 June 1977, allowing the council to change its name to Derby City Council.[8]
In 1997, Derby City Council regained responsibility for county-level services from Derbyshire County Council. The way this change was implemented was to create a new non-metropolitan county of Derby 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 Derby was a county borough prior to 1974.[9] Despite having been removed from the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire (the area administered by Derbyshire County Council), the city remains part of the wider ceremonial county of Derbyshire for the purposes of lieutenancy.[10]
In 2024 a combined county authority was established covering Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, called the East Midlands Combined County Authority. The combined authority is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the East Midlands and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across the area.[11]
Derby City Council provides all local government services in the area. As a unitary authority it provides both county-level and district-level services. There are no civil parishes in Derby, which is an unparished area.[12]
The council has been under no overall control since 2018. The council has been run by a Labour minority administration since the 2023 election.
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:[13][14][15]
Non-metropolitan district
Unitary authority
The role of Mayor of Derby is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2002 have been:[16]
Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:[18]
The next election is due in 2027.
The council is based at the Council House on Corporation Street, which was purpose-built for the council. Construction began in 1938 but was interrupted by the Second World War, with the building eventually being completed in 1949.[19]
Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 51 councillors, representing 18 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.[20]