| Borough of Pendle | |
| Type: | Borough |
| Blank Emblem Type: | Coat of Arms |
| Subdivision Type: | Sovereign state |
| Subdivision Name: | United Kingdom |
| Subdivision Type1: | Constituent country |
| Subdivision Name1: | England |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | North West England |
| Subdivision Type3: | Ceremonial county |
| Subdivision Name3: | Lancashire |
| Seat Type: | Admin. HQ |
| Seat: | Nelson |
| Government Type: | Pendle Borough Council |
| Leader Title: | Leadership |
| Leader Name: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Leader Title2: | MPs |
| Leader Name2: | Andrew Stephenson |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Area Rank: | |
| Population Rank: | Ranked |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | Greenwich Mean Time |
| Utc Offset: | +0 |
| Timezone Dst: | British Summer Time |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +1 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postcode |
| Blank Name: | ISO 3166-2 |
| Blank1 Name: | ONS code |
| Blank1 Info: | 30UJ (ONS) E07000122 (GSS) |
| Blank2 Name: | OS grid reference |
| Blank3 Name: | NUTS 3 |
| Blank3 Info: | UKD46 |
| Demographics Type1: | Ethnicity (2021) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Ethnic groups |
| Demographics Type2: | Religion (2021) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Religion |
Pendle is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Nelson, the borough's largest town. The borough also includes the towns of Barnoldswick, Brierfield, Colne and Earby along with the surrounding villages and rural areas. Part of the borough lies within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The neighbouring districts are Burnley, Ribble Valley, North Yorkshire, Bradford and Calderdale.
The name Pendle comes from "Penhill", combining the Cumbric "pen" meaning hill and the Saxon "hill", also meaning hill. The name was used for Pendle Hill (literally "hill hill hill"), a prominent outlier of the Pennines. The name was then also used for the ancient Forest of Pendle around the hill, and for Pendle Water, a river which rises on the hill and flows into the River Calder.[1] The name also became associated with the Pendle witches, tried for witchcraft in 1612, as the accused were all from the area.[2]
The modern local government district of Pendle was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the whole area of seven former districts and parts of another two, all of which were abolished at the same time:[3]
The Barnoldswick, Earby and Skipton parts were in the West Riding of Yorkshire prior to 1974. The term West Craven is sometimes used for this area transferred from Yorkshire to Lancashire in 1974. The new district was named Pendle after the hill, forest and river.[4] The district was awarded borough status on 15 September 1976, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.[5]
| Pendle Borough Council | |
| Logo Pic: | Pendle Borough Council.svg |
| Logo Res: | 220px |
| House Type: | Non-metropolitan district |
| Foundation: | 1 April 1974 |
| Leader1 Type: | Mayor |
| Leader1: | Mohammad Aslam |
| Party1: | Conservative |
| Election1: | 16 May 2024[6] |
| Leader2 Type: | Leader |
| Leader2: | Asjad Mahmood |
| Party2: | Independent |
| Election2: | 18 May 2023 |
| Leader3 Type: | Chief Executive |
| Leader3: | Rose Rouse |
| Election3: | 2021[7] |
| Seats: | 33 councillors |
| Structure1: | Pendle_Borough_Council_2024.svg |
| Structure1 Res: | 250px |
| Political Groups1: |
|
| Voting System1: | First past the post |
| Last Election1: | 2 May 2024 |
| Next Election1: | 7 May 2026 |
| Session Room: | Nelson Town Hall.jpg |
| Meeting Place: | Town Hall, Market Street, Nelson, BB97LG |
Pendle Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council.[8] The whole borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[9]
Brian Cookson retired in March 2013 from his position as executive director for Regeneration, a post he had held for nine years, in parallel (after 2007) with that of President of British Cycling.[10] Subsequently, becoming the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body for sports cycling.
In June 2017, a Conservative councilor, Rosemary Carroll,[11] was suspended after sending a racist post on social media comparing Asians to dogs. This controversy expanded after the local elections in 2018, when the councilor was readmitted into the Conservative Party, allowing the Conservative party to gain a majority on the council. The Pendle Labour party accused the Pendle Conservative Party of condoning racism after the reinstatement. The Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Dawn Butler, called upon the Conservative Party Chairman, Brandon Lewis, to issue a statement saying that the councillor in question would not be part of the Conservative group on the council. This followed a statement from Lewis congratulating the Pendle Conservatives on winning a majority on the council.[12] [13]
In April 2024, all of Labour’s 11 borough councillors in Pendle, including the leader of the council, quit the party.[14] [15]
The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election. A coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat formed to run the council after that election.[16] Following the Labour group all leaving their party, the coalition became an independent and Liberal Democrat coalition in April 2024.[17]
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[18] [19]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1974–1976 | ||
| 1976–1979 | ||
| 1979–1987 | ||
| 1987–1990 | ||
| 1990–1991 | ||
| 1991–1994 | ||
| 1994–1995 | ||
| 1995–1999 | ||
| 1999–2004 | ||
| 2004–2008 | ||
| 2008–2018 | ||
| 2018–2019 | ||
| 2019–2021 | ||
| 2021–2023 | ||
| 2023–present | ||
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Pendle. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2015 have been:[20]
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Cooney | 2015 | |||
| Mohammed Iqbal | 2015 | 17 May 2018 | ||
| Paul White | 17 May 2018 | 5 May 2019 | ||
| Mohammed Iqbal | 16 May 2019 | 20 May 2021 | ||
| Nadeem Ahmed | 20 May 2021 | 18 May 2023 | ||
| Asjad Mahmood | 18 May 2023 | 1 Apr 2024 | ||
| 1 Apr 2024 | ||||
Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:[21]
| Party | Councillors | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 8 | |||
| Total | 33 | ||
The council meets at Nelson Town Hall on Market Street in the centre of Nelson, which had been completed in 1881 for the old Nelson Local Board, predecessor of the Nelson Borough Council created in 1890.[23] It has its main administrative offices in a modern building at 1 Market Street, opposite the town hall.[24]
See also: Pendle Borough Council elections. Since the last full review of boundaries took effect in 2021 the council has comprised 33 councillors representing 12 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council being elected each time for a four-year term. Lancashire County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.[25]
Following the 2023 election, the councillors were:[26]
| Ward | Name | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnoldswick | Tom Whipp | ||
| Chris Church | |||
| Mick Strickland | |||
| Barrowford and Pendleside | Martyn Stone | ||
| Nadeem Ahmed | |||
| David Gallear | |||
| Boulsworth and Foulridge | Sarah Cockburn-Price | ||
| David Cockburn-Price | |||
| Kevin Salter | |||
| Bradley | Mohammad Aslam | ||
| Mohammed Iqbal | |||
| Mohammad Kaleem | |||
| Brierfield East and Clover Hill | Naeem Hussain Ashraf | ||
| Sajjad Ahmed | |||
| Zafar Ali | |||
| Brierfield West and Reedley | Mohammad Hanif | ||
| Yasser Iqbal | |||
| Earby and Coates | Susan Land | ||
| Rosemary Carroll | |||
| David Whipp | |||
| Fence and Higham | Brian Newman | ||
| Marsden and Southfield | Yvonne Tennant | ||
| Mohammed Adnan | |||
| Mohammed Ammer | |||
| Vivary Bridge | Kieran McGladdery | ||
| Tom Ormerod | |||
| David Albin | |||
| Waterside and Horsfield | Neil Butterworth | ||
| Dorothy Lord | |||
| Ash Sutcliffe | |||
| Whitefield and Walverden | Faraz Ahmad | ||
| Ruby Anwar | |||
| Asjad Mahmood |
The Pendle constituency is represented in Parliament by the Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrew Stephenson, since 2010. The constituency covers the same area as the borough.
The three main employers in the borough are Rolls-Royce plc, Silentnight and the Daisy Group.
In terms of television, the area is served by BBC North West and ITV Granada which broadcast from Salford. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter and the local relay TV transmitter located in the Forest of Pendle.[27] A small part of the borough around Barnoldswick and Earby is served by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire broadcasting from Leeds. This area is served by a local transmitter in Skipton which is relayed from the Emley Moor TV transmitter.[28]
Radio stations for the area are:
The area is served by the regional newspaper, Lancashire Telegraph. Other local newspapers including Pendle Express and The Nelson Leader.
The borough is entirely covered by civil parishes. The parish councils for Barnoldswick, Brierfield, Colne, Earby and Nelson take the style "town council".[29]
| Contemporary civil parish | Medieval jurisdiction | Medieval jurisdiction | Early modern jurisdiction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forest of Blackburnshire | Whalley, Lancashire once a much larger parish than today. | ||
| Barrowford | 3 | |||
| Blacko | 4 | |||
| Old Laund Booth | 15 | |||
| Goldshaw Booth | 10 | |||
| Reedley Hallows | 16 | |||
| Roughlee Booth | 17 | |||
| Higham-with-West Close Booth | 11 | |||
| Trawden Forest | 19 | Trawden Forest, manor of Colne | ||
| Nelson | 14 | manor of Ightenhill, not in Forest | Blackburnshire, not in Forest | |
| Brierfield | 6 | |||
| Colne | 7 | manor of Colne, not in Forest | ||
| Foulridge | 9 | |||
| Laneshaw Bridge | 13 | |||
| Barnoldswick | 2 | Now referred to as "West Craven". This is a part of Lancashire, which was once in the neighbouring West Riding of Yorkshire. (Within the Wapentake of Staincliffe, Deanery of Craven.) | ||
| Bracewell and Brogden | 5 | |||
| Salterforth | 8 | |||
| Kelbrook and Sough | 12 | |||
| Earby | 18 | |||
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Pendle.