Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Leader | Keith Wakefield |
Lord Mayor | Alan Taylor |
| Seats | 99 |
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
Last election | 6 May 2010 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Leeds Civic Hall | |
| Website | |
| http://www.leeds.gov.uk/ | |
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.
History
The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the area of the County Borough of Leeds was combined with those of the Municipal Borough of Morley, the Municipal Borough of Pudsey, Aireborough Urban District, Horsforth Urban District, Otley Urban District, Garforth Urban District, Rothwell Urban District and parts of Tadcaster Rural District, Wetherby Rural District and Wharfedale Rural District from the West Riding. The new Leeds district was one of five metropolitan districts in West Yorkshire. It was granted a borough and city status to become the City of Leeds.
Until 1986 the city council was a second-tier authority, with West Yorkshire County Council providing many key services. However, the metropolitan county councils were abolished under the Local Government Act 1985 and the council took responsibility for all former County Council functions except policing, fire services and public transport which continue to be run on a joint basis by councillors from the former boroughs of West Yorkshire County Council.
Council Services
Leeds City Council is responsible for providing all statutory local authority services in Leeds, except for those it provides jointly in conjunction with other West Yorkshire Authorities. This includes education, housing, planning, transport and highways, social services, libraries, leisure and recreation, waste collection, waste disposal, environmental health and revenue collection. The council is one of the largest employers in West Yorkshire, with around 33,000 employees[1].
Education Leeds
Education Leeds was set up in 2001 as a non-profit making company wholly owned by Leeds City Council to provide education support services for the council[2]. For its first five years it operated as a public-private partnership between the Council and Capita. The senior councillors of the council's Executive Board voted in March 2010 to stop using Education Leeds to provide services from 31st March 2011[3], thereby effectively causing it to cease operation.
Housing
Leeds City Council's housing stock has been managed and operated by three Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) since 2007. They are wholly owned by the council but operate as autonomous and self-governing organisations. The ALMOs, which are arranged on a regional basis are:
In addition to the ALMOs, management of more than 2000 homes in Belle Isle is carried out by Belle Isle Tenant Management Organisation, the largest tenant management organisation in the UK outside London[7].
West Yorkshire Joint Services
West Yorkshire Joint Services provides services for the five district local authorities in West Yorkshire (Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield) in the areas of archaeology, archives, ecology, materials testing, public analyst, and trading standards.[8]
Council structures
Leadership
The council operates a Leader and Cabinet executive as defined under section 11 of the Local Government Act 2000. The Executive Board of the Council currently consists of seven executive members with portfolio responsibilities and one non-voting advisory member from the ruling Labour group, and the leader of each of the other groups currently on the Council.[9]
This is an incomplete list of Leaders of Leeds City Council.
- 2010 to date: Keith Wakefield (Labour)
- 2007 to 2010: Andrew Carter (Conservative) and Richard Brett (Liberal Democrat)
- 2004 to 2007: Andrew Carter (Conservative) and Mark Harris (Liberal Democrat)
- 2003 to 2004: Keith Wakefield (Labour)
- 1996 to 2003: Brian Walker (Labour)
- 1989 to 1996: Jon Trickett (Labour)
- 1980 to 1989: George Mudie (Labour)
- to 1980: Peter Sparling (Conservative)
Elected Mayor
On 3rd May 2012 a referendum will be held to determine whether or not to replace the current executive arrangments with a directly elected mayor.
The question that is to be asked in the referendum has been set by central government, and will read as follows:[10]
- How would you like Leeds City Council to be run?
- By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors. This is how the council is run now.
- Or
- By a mayor who is elected by voters. This would be a change from how the council is run now.
The proposal for an elected mayor has been opposed by the leaders of the four largest groups on the Council. It is supported by Leeds Conservative MPs Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) and Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell).
Overview and scrutiny
The executive and workings of the council are overseen by six scrutiny boards. These panels involve councillors from all parties and some independent members. Scrutiny boards are able to review decisions taken by the executive or by officers of the council and to refer them for further consideration.
Regulatory
The licensing committee of the council is drawn from councillors from all parties and is responsible for entertainment, refreshment, personal and premises licenses established under the Licensing Act 2003. Three plans panels are responsible for determining planning applications which have not been delegated to officers for decision, such as large or controversial applications or those in which a councillor or officer has a personal interest.
Area committees
Ten area committees are responsible for managing certain area-specific budgets and responsibilities, such as community centres and CCTV, in partnership with local communities. Committees also exert considerable influence over other areas of local interest such as street-cleansing and community policing.
Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor of Leeds is a ceremonial position elected annually by and from the councillors. As well as acting as the chair of the council, the Lord Mayor represents the City of Leeds at events within and outside the city. During the mayoralty period, the Lords Mayor's Charity Appeal raises funds for one or more charities of the mayor's choice.
The first Mayor of Leeds was Thomas Danby in 1661, and the first Lord Mayor was James Kitson in 1897.[11]
Wards
The local election boundaries for Leeds City Council which had been in use since 1979 were reviewed by the Boundary Committee for England between February 2002 and July 2003[12]. The review receommended the retention of 99 councillors representing 33 wards, but with substantial alterations to ward boundaries to reduce the level of variance between different wards. Prior to the boundary review, based on the 2001 electorate the largest and smallest wards respectively were Morley South (22,167 electors) and Hunslet (10,955 electors), whereas following the review all wards had an electorate within 10% of the average for the city.
The new boundaries were adopted in time for the local elections held in May 2004, where all seats were up for election. Following the review, the district was divided into the following 33 wards:[13]
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Political composition
The council is composed of 99 councillors, three for each of the city's wards. Following the 2011 Local Elections, the Council is run by a Labour administration. Between 2004 and 2011 elections in resulted in no overall control. The council was run by a coalition of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats until 2010, latterly with support from the Morley Borough Independents. During this period the leaders of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats took turns to hold the office of Leader for six months. From 2010 to 2011 the council was run by a minority Labour administration with support from two Green Party councillors[14]. It was under no overall control until 1976 when the Conservatives took control until 1979, when it returned to no overall control. From 1980 to 2004 it was under Labour control. Elections are usually by thirds: 2004 saw all seats up for election due to boundary changes.
| Year | style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" | | Labour | style="background-color: Template:Liberal Democrats/meta/color; width: 3px;" | | Liberal Democrats | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" | | Conservative | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011[15] | 55 | 16 | 21 | 7 | |||
| 2010 | 48 | 21 | 22 | 8 | |||
| 2009[16] | 42 | 23 | 23 | 10 | |||
| 2008[17] | 43 | 24 | 22 | 10 | |||
| 2007[18] | 43 | 24 | 22 | 10 | |||
| 2006[19] | 40 | 26 | 24 | 9 | |||
| 2004 | 40 | 26 | 24 | 9 | |||
| 2003 | 52 | 22 | 20 | 5 | |||
| 2002 | 57 | 20 | 18 | 4 | |||
| 2000 | 61 | 19 | 16 | 3 | |||
| 1999 | 71 | 14 | 12 | 2 | |||
| 1998 | 80 | 9 | 9 | 1 | |||
References
- ^ "About Leeds: the facts and figures". Yorkshire Forward. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "About Education Leeds". Education Leeds. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "EXECUTIVE BOARD WEDNESDAY, 10TH MARCH, 2010". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "About Us". East North East Homes. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "About Us". West North West Homes. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "About Us". Aire Valley Homes. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "Belle Isle Tenant Management Organisation (BITMO)". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ "West Yorkshire Joint Services". Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- ^ "Executive Board". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "Schedule 1, The Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums)(England) Regulations 2012". Legislation.gov.uk. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ "Lord Mayors & Aldermen of Leeds since 1626" (pdf). Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "Leeds". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
- ^ "Constituencies and Wards". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "New political leadership announced for Leeds City Council". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ "Leeds Local Election Results 2011". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
- ^ As at the end of 2009. No Leeds City Council elections were held in 2009, but changes are due to by elections and defections. One seat was vacant at the end of the year due to the death of Liberal Democrat Councillor Kabeer Hussain.
- ^ "Leeds City Council Election Results - 1st May 2008". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ "Leeds City Council Election Results - 3rd May 2007". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
- ^ "Leeds City Council Election Results - 4th May 2006". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
