Council structure
Lancaster City Council is made up of 61 democratically elected councillors (also known as elected members).
Councillors are responsible for taking decisions about the provision of important public services such as planning, housing, waste and recycling, street cleaning, leisure and culture.
- For more information on what the council does and doesn't do, see what does the council do?
Political makeup of the council
Lancaster City Council is currently under no overall control, meaning that no single political group achieves a majority of seats.
| Group | Seats |
| Labour | 23 |
| Green | 21 |
| Liberal Democrat | 7 |
| Conservative | 5 |
| Morecambe Bay Independents | 3 |
| Non-aligned Independent Member | 1 |
| Vacant | 1 |
| Total | 61 |
Whipping policy
Whipping ensures that members of a particular political party (a) vote, and (b) vote in accordance with the party's wishes
| Group | Council | Cabinet | Overview and scrutiny | Regulatory committees |
| Labour | The whip will be used apart from agreement on free votes | No whip | No whip | No whip |
| Green | No whip | No whip | No whip | No whip |
| Liberal Democrats | No whip | - | No whip | No whip |
| Conservative | No whip | - | No whip | No whip |
| Morecambe Bay Independents | No whip | - | No whip | No whip |
Council
All councillors meet together as 'Council' (also known as 'Full Council'). Here councillors approve the constitution and main policies and set the annual budget. Meetings of Council are normally open to the public, except where personal or confidential matters are being discussed.
Council elects the Leader and agrees the representation on council committees.
Cabinet and decision making
Cabinet (also known as the Executive) is the part of the council responsible for most day-to-day decision making.
Cabinet meetings are open to the public, although part of the meeting may have to be held in private if there are confidential items to be discussed. If any part of a Cabinet meeting is going to be held in private, a notice of intention to conduct business in private is always published in advance.
Cabinet agendas (listing what is to be discussed at forthcoming meetings) are published at least seven days in advance of the meeting date.
Cabinet decisions are monitored by a cross-party committee called the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has the power to 'call-in' decisions made by Cabinet, and can refer such decisions to Full Council if they are considered to be in contravention of budget or policy frameworks.
Some decisions as a matter of law may not be taken by Cabinet, including planning and licensing decisions. The council has regulatory committees to deal with these - the Planning Regulatory Committee and the Licensing Committee.
Cabinet members each have responsibility for a specific area of council business (also known as being a 'portfolio holder').
| Cabinet member | Role and Portfolio |
| Councillor Phillip Black | Leader |
| Councillor Tim Hamilton-Cox | Finance and Resources |
| Councillor Joanne Ainscough | Environmental Services |
| Councillor Gina Dowding | Climate Action |
| Councillor Jean Parr | Planning & Placemaking |
| Councillor Peter Jackson | Communities, Well-Being and Partnerships |
| Councillor Caroline Jackson | Housing & Homelessness (Deputy Leader) |
| Councillor Jason Wood | Corporate Services |
| Councillor Catherine Potter | Visitor Economy, Community Wealth Building & Culture |
| Councillor Nick Wilkinson | Regeneration, Skills and Digital Innovation |
Council officers
The council employs staff to give advice, implement its decisions and manage the day-to-day delivery of council services. Council employees are known as 'officers' and they are led by the chief executive.
Chief executive
- Chief Executive - Mark Davies
Chief officers
| Chief officer role | Postholder |
| Environment and place | Will Griffith |
| Housing and property | Jo Wilkinson |
| Governance | Luke Gorst |
| People and policy | Alex Kinch |
| Planning and climate change | Mark Cassidy |
| Resources | Paul Thompson |
| Sustainable growth | Jonathan Noad |
Statutory officers
- Section 151 officer - Paul Thompson
- Monitoring officer - Luke Gorst
Other roles
|
Anti-Money Laundering Officer |
Paul Thompson, Andrew Kipling (as deputy) |
|
Fraud |
Haley Baron |
|
Audit |
Supplied by MIAA (miaa.nhs.uk) |
|
Returning Officer |
Mark Davies |
|
Election Manager |
Lisa Vines |
Organisational structure
Officer pay scales
As a publicly funded organisation the council is committed to openness and transparency on how it spends tax-payers’ money and publishes details of its pay scales for senior officers.
- View senior officer pay scales
- View transparency data
Corporate plan
The corporate plan provides details of the council's corporate priorities, how these will be achieved and how achievement will be measured.
- View the corporate plan
Council expenditure
Details of all council expenditure over £500 are publicly available. The data includes payments to suppliers for goods and services, grant payments and payments to other public bodies. For data protection reasons some personal data is excluded from the information published.
Last updated: 03 June 2024