Borough of Chorley

This article is about the local government district formed in 1974. For the borough between 1881 and 1974, see Municipal Borough of Chorley.

The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. It covers the towns Adlington and Chorley. The borough also extends to several villages and hamlets including Buckshaw Village, Croston, Eccleston, Euxton and Whittle-le-Woods.

Borough of Chorley
Borough and non-metropolitan district
From left to right Top: Chorley town hall Middle: Adlington war memorial and Eccleston village centre Bottom: Whittle-le-Woods village centre and part of Buckshaw Village crossing the Chorley and South Ribble boundaries
Coat of arms
Shown within Lancashire and England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Lancashire
Founded	1 April 1974
Admin. HQ	Chorley
Government
• Type	Chorley Borough Council
• MPs:	Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker) Katherine Fletcher
Area
• Total	78.3 sq mi (202.8 km^2)
• Rank	144th
Population  (2021)
• Total	117,937
• Rank	Ranked 202nd
• Density	1,500/sq mi (580/km^2)
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Postcode areas	PR6–PR7-PR25-PR26, BL6, L40
Area code(s)	01257, 01204, 01254, 01704, 01772
ISO 3166-2	–
ONS code	30UE (ONS) E07000118 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SD5817
NUTS 3	–
Ethnicity	95.1% White British 1.6% Asian^[1]

The neighbouring districts are West Lancashire, South Ribble, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton and Wigan.

History

The town of Chorley had been governed by improvement commissioners from 1853.^[2] The commissioners were reconstituted as a local board in 1863.^[3] The board was in turn replaced in 1881 when the town was made a municipal borough.^[4]

The modern district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:^[5]

• Adlington Urban District
• Chorley Municipal Borough
• Chorley Rural District
• Withnell Urban District

The new district was named Chorley, and the borough status previously held by the town was passed to the new district on the day that it came into being, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Chorley's series of mayors dating back to 1881.^[6][7]

Governance

Chorley Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Mayor	Tommy Gray, Labour since 16 May 2023^[8]
Leader	Alistair Bradley, Labour since 15 May 2012
Chief Executive	Chris Sinnott since January 2023^[9]
Structure
Seats	42 councillors
Political groups	Administration (37)   Labour (37) Opposition (5)   Conservative (5)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	2 May 2024
Meeting place
Town Hall, Market Street, Chorley, PR7 1DP
Website
www.chorley.gov.uk

Chorley Borough Council, which styles itself "Chorley Council", provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[10]

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2012.

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

Party in control		Years
	No overall control	1974–1976
	Conservative	1976–1983
	No overall control	1983–1990
	Labour	1990–1991
	No overall control	1991–1995
	Labour	1995–2000
	No overall control	2000–2006
	Conservative	2006–2011
	No overall control	2011–2012
	Labour	2012–present

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Chorley. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1990 have been:^[12]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Jack Wilson		Labour	1990	16 May 2006
Peter Goldsworthy		Conservative	16 May 2006	15 May 2012
Alistair Bradley		Labour	15 May 2012

Composition

Following the 2023 election and a by-election in September 2023, the composition of the council was:^[13][14]

Party		Councillors
	Labour	37
	Conservative	5
Total		42

The next election is due in 2024.

Elections

See also: Chorley Borough Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2020 the council has comprised 42 councillors representing 14 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. Lancashire County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.^[15]

The wards are:

1. Adlington & Anderton
2. Buckshaw & Whittle
3. Chorley East
4. Chorley North East
5. Chorley North West
6. Chorley North & Astley
7. Chorley South East & Heath Charnock
8. Chorley South West
9. Clayton East, Brindle & Hoghton
10. Clayton West & Cuerden
11. Coppull
12. Croston, Mawdesley & Euxton South
13. Eccleston, Heskin & Charnock Richard
14. Euxton

The Chorley constituency was coterminous with the borough from 1997 until 2010 when Croston, Eccleston, Bretherton and Mawdesley were transferred to the South Ribble constituency. The current Member of Parliament for Chorley is Lindsay Hoyle, who was first elected to the seat in 1997.

Premises

 

Civic Offices, Union Street

The council's main offices are at the Civic Offices on Union Street in Chorley.^[16] Council meetings are held at Chorley Town Hall on Market Street, which had been completed in 1879 for the old local board.^[17][18][19]

Parishes

 

Parishes in Chorley Borough

The borough contains 23 civil parishes. The parish council for Adlington takes the style "town council".^[20] The central part of the borough, roughly corresponding to the pre-1974 borough of Chorley, is an unparished area.^[21]

1. Adlington
2. Anderton
3. Anglezarke
4. Astley Village
5. Bretherton
6. Brindle
7. Charnock Richard
8. Clayton-le-Woods
9. Coppull
10. Croston
11. Cuerden
12. Eccleston
13. Euxton
14. Heapey
15. Heath Charnock
16. Heskin
17. Hoghton
18. Mawdesley
19. Rivington
20. Ulnes Walton
21. Wheelton
22. Whittle-le-Woods
23. Withnell

Settlements

 

 

Chorley

 

Adlington

 

Abbey Village

 

Anderton

 

Astley Village

 

Bolton Green

 

Bretherton

 

Brindle

 

Brinscall

 

Buckshaw Village

 

Charnock Richard

 

Clayton Brook

 

Clayton-le-Woods

 

Coppull

 

Croston

 

Cuerden

 

Eccleston

 

Euxton

 

Heapey

 

Heath Charnock

 

Heskin

 

Hoghton

 

Mawdesley

 

Riley Green

 

Rivington

 

Ulnes Walton

 

Wheelton

 

White Coppice

 

    Whittle-le-Woods

 

Withnell

 

Withnell Fold

 

Grain Pole Hill

 

Great Hill

 

Hurst Hill

 

Winter Hill

class=notpageimage|

Towns, villages and hills in the Borough of Chorley

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Chorley.

Individuals

• Sir Henry Hibbert: 25 September 1922.
• James Winder Stone: 25 September 1922.
• Arnold Gillett: 17 June 1931.
• J. Fearnhead: 12 July 1944.
• Douglas Hacking, 1st Baron Hacking: 30 November 1946.
• Bertha Maude Gillett: 24 November 1960.

^[22]

Military Units

• The Queen's Lancashire Regiment: 2005.
• 5 General Medical Support Regiment RAMC: 2007.^[22]
• The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment: 2007.^[23]
• 3 Medical Regiment: 6 June 2015.^[24]
• The Lancashire Constabulary.

•  North West England portal

References

1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Chorley Local Authority (E07000118)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
2. "Chorley Improvement Act 1853". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
3. "No. 22786". The London Gazette. 6 November 1863. p. 5240.
4. "Chorley Municipal Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
5. "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 22 August 2022
6. "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 22 August 2022
7. "District Councils and Boroughs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 28 March 1974. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
8. "Council minutes, 16 May 2023". Chorley Council. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
9. Aldred, Tim (22 April 2022). "Chorley Council and South Ribble Borough Council appoint shared chief executive". Lancashire Business View. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
10. "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
11. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
12. "Council minutes". Chorley Borough Council. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
13. "Local elections 2023: live council results for England". The Guardian.
14. Faulkner, Paul (15 September 2023). "Chorley by-elections: Labour leader says party's county win points to 'red tsunami' in Lancashire at the general election". Lancashire Post. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
15. "The Chorley (Electoral Changes) Order 2019", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2019/1124, retrieved 5 October 2023
16. "Other ways to get in touch". Chorley Borough Council. Retrieved 26 August 2022. Our address is: Civic Offices, Union Street, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 1AL
17. "Executive Cabinet agenda, 14 July 2022". Chorley Borough Council. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022. Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Chorley
18. "1875 – Town Hall, Chorley, Lancashire". Archiseek. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
19. "Chorley, Lancashire". The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
20. "Parish councils contact information". Chorley Council. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
21. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
22. Clewlow, Stuart (7 October 2021). "The Freedom of Chorley: Who were the people granted this title and were they really allowed to have grazing rights in the town?". The Chorley Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
23. "Freedom of the Borough 2017". Government of the United Kingdom.
24. "3 Medical Regiment to be presented with the Freedom of the Borough". Chorley Council. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2020.

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