Leicestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Leicester. The county council was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county is divided into 53 electoral divisions, which return a total of 55 councillors. The council is controlled by the Conservative Party. The leader of the county council is currently Deborah Taylor, who has been serving as acting leader of the County Council since July 2024 in the place of Nick Rushton, who was elected to the post in September 2012 and is currently undergoing cancer treatment.[3] The headquarters of the council is County Hall beside the A50 at Glenfield, just outside the city of Leicester in Blaby district.
History
Elected county councils were created under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by magistrates at the quarter sessions. From its establishment in 1889 to 1974, the county council covered the administrative county of Leicestershire. The administrative county differed from the geographic county in that it excluded Leicester itself, which was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services and so was made a county borough, independent from the county council.[4]
The first elections were held in January 1889, and the council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at Leicester Town Hall. Henry St John Halford was appointed the first chairman of the council.[5]
In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 reconstituted Leicestershire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, adding the former county borough of Leicester, and the small county of Rutland to the area.[6] On 1 April 1997 these were removed from the county council area again, to become unitary authorities.[7]
Governance
Leicestershire County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the area's seven district councils.[8] Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[9][10] The seven district councils are:[11]
Following the 2021 election and subsequent by-elections up to May 2024, the composition of the council was as follows:[16]
The next election is due in 2025.
Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 55 councillors representing 53 electoral divisions. Most divisions elect one councillor, but two divisions elect two councillors. Elections are held every four years.[17]
Premises
The council is based at County Hall in Glenfield, on the outskirts of Leicester but just outside the city boundary in the Blaby district.[18]
County Rooms, 16 Hotel Street, Leicester: County council's meeting place until 1967, since renamed City Rooms
Having held its first meeting in 1889 at Leicester Town Hall, later that year the council moved its meetings to the County Rooms on Hotel Street in the centre of Leicester, which had been built in 1800.[19][20] It continued to meet there until County Hall at Glenfield was completed in 1967.[21]
Cabinet
The council's cabinet has, as of May 2021, the following members, with the following portfolios:
Deborah Taylor – Acting Leader.[3] Children and Family Services (the designated lead member for children and young people), Community Safety and Safeguarding, Regulatory Services, County Council representative on Police and Crime Panel.
Peter Bedford - Post-Covid Recovery and Ways of Working. (The portfolio includes responsibilities for Transformation previously within the Resources portfolio).
Lee Breckon - Resources i.e. Functions of the Corporate Resources Department: finance, property, ICT and human resources, and the operational aspects of those functions.
Ozzy O'Shea – Highways, Transportation and Flooding (This includes the flooding responsibilities of the Environment and Transport Department, and the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy).
Blake Pain - Environment and the Green Agenda. (Responsibility for waste management and disposal sits with this portfolio, as does the County planning function, the Environment Strategy and related strategies).
Pam Posnett - Community and Staff Relations (Includes Broadband).
Christine Radford - Adults and Communities
Louise Richardson - Health. Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board.
Richard Shepherd - Support for Resources portfolio.
Robert Ashman - Growth & Infrastructure.
Departments
There are six departments:
Corporate Resources (including property, finance, HR, communications, country parks and traded services)
Environment and Transport (including highways, transport and waste)
Adults and Communities (including adult social care, museums, libraries and adult learning)
Children and Family Services (including children's social care and school support)
Public health (which commissions a wide range of public health services, including smoking cessation, school nurses and sport and fitness programmes)
In the five years to 2015, the council's roles and responsibilities changed significantly, due to austerity savings, the transfer of public health from the NHS to the council and many schools becoming academies, independent of the council.
However, that still left a number of key responsibilities. As of December 2015, these are: social care for adults and children; support for schools; highways and transport; public health; waste disposal; economic development; libraries and museums; strategic planning; trading standards; country parks; registration of births, marriages and deaths; and community leadership.
Financial situation
The council claims to be the lowest-funded county council,[22] yet one of the top three best performers, across a wide range of indicators.[23]
From 2010–2015, the council has had to save £100 million – two-thirds as efficiency savings and the remainder from services. The council has predicted it will have to save more from services as austerity continues, with a further £100 million-plus of savings required over the next four years.
As of 2015/16, the council's annual budget was £348 million and it had just over 5,000 full-time equivalent staff.
^Rennie, Nick (16 May 2024). "Old Dalby man appointed council chairman". Melton Times. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^Pegden, Tom (25 September 2017). "Leicestershire's most influential people in charity, religion, politics and the public sector 2017". Leicestershire Live. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
^ a b"Nick Rushton – Leader of Leicestershire County Council | Leicestershire County Council". www.leicestershire.gov.uk. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
^"The Leicestershire (City of Leicester and District of Rutland) (Structural Change) Order 1996", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1996/507, retrieved 5 November 2023
^"Local Authority Profiles". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
^"Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
^"Last meeting in County Rooms after 79 years: 'Historic moment' for the council". Leicester Mercury. 8 November 1967. p. 17. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
^"Statement on the Council's Budget Situation". Leicestershire County Council. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
^"Leicestershire County Council Annual Performance Report 2015 – Dashboards". LeicesterShire Statistics & Research. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
^Webster, Richard (5 January 1999). "Manners maketh man". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
