How the Council works

Preston City Council is a district council, working alongside Lancashire County Council as part of a two-tier local government system.

Council control

We have 48 elected councillors who are responsible for taking decisions about the future of Preston and important public services such as planning, housing, leisure and culture, and rubbish and recycling.

As well as representing the public, councillors also represent political parties. Currently, our councillors represent the following parties:

• 29 Labour
• 13 Liberal Democrat
• 6 Conservative

As the Labour Group has the most number of councillors, they have control of the council.

All councillors meet every two months at the Full Council meeting and consider and discuss important issues affecting the city.

Just like our national government, most of the decision making is made by a smaller number of councillors called a Cabinet.

The Cabinet

The Cabinet, which is made up of the Leader of the Council (currently Councillor Matthew Brown) and other councillors, meets every month and takes the majority of the decisions for the council.

Cabinet members

• Councillor M Brown - Leader
• Councillor Rawlinson - Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources
• Councillor Afzal - Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulation
• Councillor Hindle - Cabinet Member for Culture and Arts
• Councillor Khan - Cabinet Member for Communities and Social Justice
• Councillor Bailey - Cabinet Member for Environment and Community Safety
• Councillor Coupland - Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing
• Councillor Henshaw - Cabinet Member for Climate Change
• Councillor Desai - Cabinet Member for Service Transformation
• Councillor Valerie Wise - Cabinet Member for Community Wealth Building 

The Scrutiny Committee

Cabinet's decisions are monitored by a cross party committee called the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and they act to make sure that the right decisions are being made for Preston.

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee can ask for important decisions to be made at Full Council, where all elected councillors can have a say and a vote.

Once a decision is taken by councillors it is down to the council's departments and officers to put these decisions into action.

Council officers are managed by the Chief Executive as well as four other directors, which make up our Corporate Management Team.

Productivity Plan 2024

The Council is required by government to produce a productivity plan setting out its approach to delivering value for money and ensuring productivity.

This plan was approved by the Executive Leader on the 15 July 2024. 

View the Councils Productivity Plan