Kirklees Metropolitan Council

Kirklees Council, also known as Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority for the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. As a metropolitan borough council it provides the majority of local government services in the borough. Since 2014 the council has been a constituent members of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The council has been under no overall control since 2024. It meets at Huddersfield Town Hall and has its main offices in the nearby Civic Centre.

History

Kirklees Council was established on 1 April 1974, when Kirklees and West Yorkshire were created under the Local Government Act 1972. The eleven former district councils within the area were abolished at the same time. Kirklees was awarded borough status, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.

The council was originally a district-level authority in a two-tier local government structure, alongside West Yorkshire County Council providing county-level services. However, the metropolitan county councils, including West Yorkshire County Council, were abolished in 1986 under the Local Government Act 1985. Since 1986 Kirklees Council has therefore been responsible for most local government functions in the borough.

Policing, fire services and public transport continued to be run on a county-wide basis by councillors from all five West Yorkshire boroughs. In 2012 responsibility for policing was transferred to the directly-elected West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, and then to the Mayor of West Yorkshire in 2021.

The council has been a constituent member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority since 2014. The members of Kirklees Council elect one member of the combined authority.

Following several years of funding cuts from national government, in 2016 the council started transitioning to a different service model which the cabinet called being a ''New Council''. The stated aim was to focus the reduced resources on services that only the council can provide, particularly those supporting vulnerable people, while encouraging communities to do more for themselves.

After the 2016 local elections the council was temporarily run without an elected leader. Labour councillors initially decided to replace incumbent leader David Sheard with Shabir Pandor, however Pandor's nomination to become leader at the council's AGM fell after Sheard and three other Labour councillors did not attend the meeting. With no leader, the council was run temporarily by the Chief Executive. Sheard was eventually re-elected as leader and appointed Pandor as his deputy. Pandor was subsequently elected leader of the council following the 2018 local elections.

In June 2016 the ''Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' exposed several councillors who had failed to pay their Council Tax in what it called the 'Ratesgate scandal'. Five serving councillors, four Labour and one Conservative, had been issued with court claims after previously receiving reminder letters. Two councillors who had denied the allegations, Deputy Leader Jean Calvert and Amanda Pinnock, were suspended by the Labour Party. All councillors subsequently paid their debts before facing the court.

At the 2021 local elections Joshua Sheard became the youngest councillor to be elected to Kirklees Council, at the age of 19.

In July 2023 Shabir Pandor resigned as council leader, reportedly before facing a vote of no confidence from Labour councillors. At the time Pandor was facing accusations from opposition councillors of misleading the council in his handling of Labour councillor Fazila Loonat, who had been convicted of perverting the course of justice.

History nearly repeated itself the following year, when Leader Cathy Scott faced a no-confidence vote following the local elections in which Labour lost control of the council, due to both a large drop in Labour's share in the vote as well as several Labour councillors resigning in early 2024 over the Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer's stance on the Gaza war. This group would go on to form a bloc on the council known as the ''Kirklees Community Independents Group''.

In the weeks following the election, several more Labour councillors resigned from the party, including Cllr Scott after she had been replaced as Labour Leader in the council. Cllr Scott stated she would continue as Leader of the Council as an independent, subsequently forming a new council cabinet with positions taken up by the other now-independent councillors, now known as the ''Community Alliance.'' However, on 18 July 2024 Scott was forced out of office by another vote of no-confidence, with Cllr Carole Pattison being named as the new Leader and leaving no party with a majority on the council.

Failings in children's services

In late 2016 Ofsted inspected Kirklees Council's services for vulnerable children and judged them to be inadequate. In response, Education Secretary Justine Greening appointed Eleanor Brazil as Children's Services Commissioner to make recommendations for improvement.

In her report published following the 2017 general election, Ms Brazil found that Kirklees did not have the leadership or management capacity to achieve the required standard. She recommended that Kirklees enter a formal partnership with Leeds City Council, a good neighbouring local authority. The Director of Children's Services in Leeds, Steve Walker, took overall responsibility for services in Kirklees.

In June 2019 Ofsted conducted another inspection and found all aspects of children's services still required improvement to be good.

Governance

Political control

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:

Leadership

The role of Mayor of Kirklees is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2000 have been:

Composition

Following the 2024 election, subsequent changes of allegiance later in May 2024, and a by-election in October 2024 the composition of the council was:

Of the independent councillors, six sit together as the 'Community Alliance' group, six form the 'Kirklees Community Independent' group and the other four do not belong to a group. The next election is due in May 2026.

Premises

The council generally meets at the Town Hall on Ramsden Street in Huddersfield, which had been built in 1881 for the old Huddersfield Borough Council. The council's main offices are at the Civic Centre, a complex of buildings lying to the west of the town hall between Albion Street and Market Street. The council also maintains a customer service centre on Town Hall Way in Dewsbury.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2004, the council has comprised 69 councillors representing 23 wards. Elections are held three years out of four, with one third of the councillors (one for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term.

Mayor

Councillors appoint a mayor each year. The mayor represents the council at civic engagements and supports the work of their designated charity. They chair council meetings and are expected to be politically impartial whilst they hold the post, although they do get a casting vote in the event of a tie.

References

{{Metropolitan districts of England

Metropolitan district councils of England
Local authorities in West Yorkshire
Leader and cabinet executives
Local education authorities in England
Billing authorities in England
1974 establishments in England
Politics of Kirklees