Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Third of council elected three years out of four
Type
Type	Metropolitan borough council
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Mayor	John Clarke, Labour since 17 May 2024[1]
Leader	Stephen Houghton, Labour since 1996
Chief Executive	Sarah Norman since July 2019
Structure
Seats	63 councillors[2][3]
Political groups	Administration (48)   Labour (48) Other parties (15)   Liberal Democrat (11)   Independents (2)   Conservative (1)   Reform UK (1)
Joint committees	South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
Elections
Voting system	Plurality-at-large
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Meeting place
Town Hall, Church Street, Barnsley, S70 2TA
Website
www.barnsley.gov.uk

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council is a member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.

The council has been under Labour majority control since the modern borough was created in 1974. Council meetings are held at Barnsley Town Hall, and the council's main offices are in the adjoining Westgate Plaza One building.

The first elected council for the town of Barnsley was a local board of health established in 1853.^[4] This replaced a body of improvement commissioners which had previously administered the town under a local Act of Parliament passed in 1822.^[5] The local board in turn was replaced in 1869 when the town was made a municipal borough. In 1913 the borough was elevated to county borough status, making it independent from West Riding County Council.^[6]

The current metropolitan borough of Barnsley was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the former county borough of Barnsley plus parts of 13 other districts, which were all abolished at the same time.^[7][8] The enlarged Barnsley district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Barnsley's series of mayors dating back to 1869.^[9]

The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley was initially a district-level authority, with South Yorkshire County Council providing county-level services. However, the metropolitan county councils, including South Yorkshire County Council, were abolished in 1986 under the Local Government Act 1985. Since 1986 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council has therefore been responsible for most local government functions.^[10]

Since 2014 the council has been a constituent member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (called the Sheffield City Region until 2021), led by the directly-elected Mayor of South Yorkshire since 2018.

The first election to the reconstituted borough council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into force on 1 April 1974. Labour has held a majority of the seats on the council since its creation.^[11][12]

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Barnsley. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have been:

Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council is:^[13]

The next election is due in May 2026.

Council meetings are held at Barnsley Town Hall on Church Street, which had been completed in 1933 for the old borough council.^[14] In 2007 the council moved most office staff to a new building called Westgate Plaza One on Westgate, just west of the Town Hall.^[15]

Since the last boundary changes in 2004, the council has comprised 63 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council being elected at a time (one councillor for each ward) to serve a four-year term.^[16]