Preston City Council
The Preston City Council was formally established in 2002 when Preston was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II. It is the governing body of the City of Preston and it is made up from 57 councillors who are elected by 22 Preston district council wards. 13 wards elect 3 councillors, while 9 wards elect 2 councillors who serve a 4 year term. The number of councillors wards elect depend on the number of their population. About 3600 electors are required for the ward to have the right to select two representatives in the Preston City Council and about 5400 electors to select three councillors. One third of the councillors is elected annually with every fourth year being non-elective. However, on the fourth year the electors of the City of Preston select their representatives in the Lancashire County Council.
The councillors meet every three months to discuss the most important issues related to the City of Preston although most of the decisions are made by the Cabinet, a smaller group of councillors from the party that has the most seats in the city council although this was not the case in 2007. That year the Labour Party had the most seats of all parties in the Preston City Council, however, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats joined their forces and formed the Cabinet. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats controlled the Preston Cabinet until the 2011 Preston Council election when the Labour Party managed to win the majority of seats in the city council and formed the Cabinet which is made up from five councillors and the Leader of the Council.
Decisions made by the councillors are implemented by the council employees who take care for daily running of the council which operates with three departments:
- Chief Executive
- Environment
- Community and Business Services
In addition to making important decisions about the City of Preston and its future development, the city council also provides a number of public services which employ over 1000 people. Some of the most important public services of the city council include:
- waste collection
- waste recycling
- management of Preston’s parks and open spaces
- hosting events at the Guild Hall
- running two leisure centres
- running the Tourist Information Centre and its official website
- providing a public access to the Preston’s collection of artworks and historical artefacts at the Art Gallery and Harris Museum
Every year, Preston’s councillors also select one of their colleagues as the Mayor of Preston who represents the City of Preston at various events both locally and internationally. In May 2011, the councillors selected Roberta Cartwright who has been a councillor for 14 years.