The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It is named after the town of

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

, which is an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

. The borough extends to several villages and hamlets including Adlington, Buckshaw Village, Croston, Eccleston, Euxton and Whittle-le-Woods. The neighbouring districts are West Lancashire,

South Ribble South Ribble is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The borough includes the towns and villages of Penwortham, Leyland, Farington, Farington Moss, Hutton, Longton, Walmer B ...

Blackburn with Darwen Blackburn with Darwen is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, North West England. The borough includes the towns of Blackburn and Darwen plus a wider rural area which includes the villages of ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

and

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

History

The town of Chorley had been governed by improvement commissioners from 1853. The commissioners were reconstituted as a local board in 1863. The board was in turn replaced in 1881 when the town was made a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

. The modern district was created on 1 April 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, covering the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time: * 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.

Governance

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 parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

es, which form a third tier of local government.

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:

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:

Composition

Following the 2024 election the composition of the council was: The next election is due in 2026, where a third of the council's seats will be contested.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2020 the council has comprised 42

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s 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. The wards are: # Adlington & Anderton # Buckshaw & Whittle #Chorley East #Chorley North East #Chorley North West #Chorley North & Astley #Chorley South East &

Heath Charnock Heath Charnock is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 it has a population of 2,065, reducing to 2,026 at the 2011 Census. Location Heath Charnock is next ...

#Chorley South West #Clayton East, Brindle & Hoghton #Clayton West & Cuerden # Coppull # Croston, Mawdesley & Euxton South # Eccleston, Heskin & Charnock Richard # 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 Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957) is a British politician who has served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons since 2019 and as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliamen ...

, who was first elected to the seat in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Premises

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

Parishes

The borough contains 23

es. The parish council for Adlington takes the style "town council". The central part of the borough, roughly corresponding to the pre-1974 borough of Chorley, is an

. # Adlington # Anderton # Anglezarke # Astley Village # Bretherton # Brindle # Charnock Richard # Clayton-le-Woods # Coppull # Croston # Cuerden # Eccleston # Euxton # Heapey #

# Heskin # Hoghton # Mawdesley # Rivington # Ulnes Walton # Wheelton # Whittle-le-Woods # Withnell

Settlements

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.

Military Units

* The Queen's Lancashire Regiment: 2005. * 5 General Medical Support Regiment RAMC: 2007. * The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment: 2007. * 3 Medical Regiment: 6 June 2015. * The Lancashire Constabulary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chorley, Borough of Local government in Chorley Non-metropolitan districts of Lancashire Boroughs in England