South Ribble

South Ribble Borough Council
South Ribble Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Peter Mullineaux, ; Conservative ; since 15 May 2024
Leader	Jacky Alty, ; Labour ; since 17 July 2024
Chief Executive	Chris Sinnott ; since January 2023
Structure
Seats	50 councillors
Political groups	Administration (29) Labour (29) Other parties (21) Conservative (15) Liberal Democrats (5) Independent (1)
Elections
Voting system	Plurality block voting
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
	Civic Centre, West Paddock, Leyland, PR25 1DH
Website
	www.southribble.gov.uk

South Ribble
South Ribble
Borough and non-metropolitan district
	From left to right; Top: Leyland Motors Clock; Middle: Bamber Bridge and Lostock Hall; Bottom: Penwortham parish church and South Ribble Borough Council offices;
	Shown within the ceremonial county of Lancashire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Lancashire
Founded	1 April 1974
Admin. HQ	Leyland
Government
• Type	South Ribble Borough Council
• MPs:	Paul Foster, Maya Ellis
Area
• Total	44 sq mi (113 km2)
• Rank	183rd
Population (2022)
• Total	112,166
• Rank	Ranked 214th
• Density	2,600/sq mi (990/km2)
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 95.4% White ; 2.1% Asian ; 1.7% Mixed ; 0.5% Black ; 0.3% other ;
Religion (2021)
• Religion	List 61.8% Christianity ; 30.8% no religion ; 5% not stated ; 0.9% Islam ; 0.7% Hinduism ; 0.3% other ; 0.2% Buddhism ; 0.1% Sikhism ; 0.1% Judaism ;
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code	30UN (ONS); E07000126 (GSS)

South Ribble is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The borough also includes the towns and villages of Penwortham, Leyland, Farington, Hutton, Longton, Walmer Bridge, Salmesbury, Lostock Hall, Walton le Dale and Bamber Bridge. Many of the built-up areas in the borough form part of the wider Preston built-up area.

The neighbouring districts are Preston, Ribble Valley, Blackburn with Darwen, Chorley, West Lancashire and Fylde.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of two former districts and parts of a third, which were abolished at the same time:^[2]

Leyland Urban District
Preston Rural District (parishes of Cuerdale, Farington, Hutton, Little Hoole, Longton, Much Hoole, Penwortham and Samlesbury only, rest split between Preston and Ribble Valley)
Walton-le-Dale Urban District (which included Bamber Bridge)

The new district was named South Ribble, reflecting the fact that the River Ribble forms its northern boundary.^[3] The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[4]

Governance

South Ribble Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council. Parts of the borough are covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[9]^[10]

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since the 2023 election.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Since 1974 political control of the council has been as follows:^[11]^[12]

Party in control		Years
	Conservative	1974–1995
	Labour	1995–1999
	No overall control	1999–2007
	Conservative	2007–2019
	No overall control	2019–2023
	Labour	2023–present

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in South Ribble. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2007 have been:^[13]

Councillor		From	To
Margaret Smith^[14]	Conservative	2007	20 Jul 2016
Peter Mullineaux	Conservative	15 Sep 2016	17 May 2018
Mary Green	Conservative	17 May 2018	15 Oct 2018
Paul Foster^[15]	Labour	15 Oct 2018	1 Nov 2018
Margaret Smith^[16]	Conservative	1 Nov 2018	15 May 2019
Paul Foster	Labour	15 May 2019	17 Jul 2024
Jacky Alty	Labour	17 Jul 2024

Composition

Following the 2023 election and a subsequent change of allegiance in February 2024, the composition of the council was:^[17]^[18]

Party		Councillors
	Labour	29
	Conservative	15
	Liberal Democrats	5
	Independent	1
Total		50

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2015 the council has comprised 50 councillors representing 23 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[19]

The borough straddles the parliamentary constituencies of Ribble Valley and South Ribble.^[10]

Premises

The council is based at the Civic Centre on West Paddock in Leyland. The building was built in the early 1970s for the former Leyland Urban District Council.^[20]

Parishes

There are eight civil parishes in the borough. The parish council for Penwortham has declared its parish to be a town, allowing it to take the style "town council". The parishes of Samlesbury and Cuerdale share a grouped parish council.^[21] The former urban districts of Leyland and Walton-le-Dale are unparished areas.^[10]

The parishes are: