The City of Lancaster, or simply Lancaster, is a local government district with city status in Lancashire, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, and also includes the towns of Carnforth, Heysham and Morecambe and a wider rural hinterland. The district has a population of, and an area of undefined km2. Much of the district's rural area is recognised for its natural beauty; it includes part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and parts of the designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty of Arnside and Silverdale and the Forest of Bowland. The neighbouring districts are Westmorland and Furness, North Yorkshire, Ribble Valley and Wyre.

History

The town of Lancaster was an ancient borough, with its earliest known charter dating from 1193. A later charter in 1337 gave it the right to appoint a mayor. It was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836, governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Lancaster", but generally known as the corporation or town council. In 1937 the borough was awarded city status. The modern district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the territory of five former districts which were abolished at the same time: The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Lancaster's series of mayors dating back to 1337. The city status which had been held by the old municipal borough of Lancaster since 1937 was also transferred to the new district on its creation. Since 1 August 2016 the district has included a small part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Governance

Lancaster City Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council. Much of the district is covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government. In the part of the district within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. The city council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 25-person National Park Authority.

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since 2019. An administration led by the Green Party formed in November 2024, with cabinet positions being shared between the Greens, Liberal Democrats and local party the Morecambe Bay Independents. The first election to the city council as enlarged by the Local Government Act 1972 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 Lancaster, with political leadership instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1993 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections up to 4 October 2024, the composition of the council was: The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 61 councillors representing 27 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. The district comprises two parliamentary constituencies: Lancaster and Fleetwood, and Morecambe and Lunesdale. Since 2015, Lancaster and Fleetwood has been held by Labour, and Morecambe and Lunesdale has been held by the Conservatives since 2010.

Premises

The council has two main meeting places, both inherited from predecessor authorities: Lancaster Town Hall and Morecambe Town Hall. Full council meetings are held in the larger council chamber of Morecambe Town Hall, but Lancaster Town Hall is also used for committee meetings and houses administrative functions.

Demography

At the 2011 UK census, the City of Lancaster had a total population of 138,375. Of the 57,822 households in the city, 33.5% were married couples living together, 31.9% were one-person households, 7.8% were co-habiting couples and 10.0% were lone parents. These figures were similar to the national averages. The population density was 233 /km2 and for every 100 females, there were 91.8 males. Of those aged 16–74 in Lancaster, 26.7% had no academic qualifications, lower than 28.9% in all of England. The city of Lancaster had a higher proportion of white people than England.

Population change

The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the City of Lancaster has existed as a district since 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the city.

Religion

At the 2011 UK census, 65.9% of Lancaster's population reported themselves as Christian, 1.3% Muslim, 0.4% Buddhist, 0.3% Hindu, 0.1% Jewish, and 0.1% Sikh. 24.5% had no religion, 0.5% had an alternative religion and 7.1% did not state their religion. The city is covered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster, and the Church of England Diocese of Blackburn.

Economy

At the United Kingdom Census 2001, the City of Lancaster had 97,365 residents aged 16 to 74. Of these people, 4.0% were students with jobs, 9.6% students without jobs, 5.1% looking after home or family, 6.0% permanently sick or disabled and 2.8% economically inactive for other reasons. In 2001, of the 55,906 residents of the City of Lancaster in employment, the industry of employment was 16.7% retail and wholesale, 14.2% health and social work, 11.4% education, 11.2% manufacturing, 7.8% property and business services, 6.7% construction, 6.7% hotels and restaurants, 6.5% transport and communications, 5.7% public administration and defence, 2.5% finance, 2.4% energy and water supply, 2.2% agriculture, 0.4% mining, and 5.3% other. This was roughly in line with national figures, although the proportion of jobs in agriculture which was more than the national average of 1.5% and the percentage of people working in finance was below the national average of 4.8%; the proportion of people working in property was well below the national average of 13.2%.

Media

The area is served by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Radio stations for the area are BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Cumbria, Heart North West, Smooth North West, and Greatest Hits Radio Lancashire. Beyond Radio is a voluntary, non-profit community radio station for Lancaster and Morecambe.

Settlements

Civil parishes

Most of the district's area is covered by civil parishes. The parish councils for Carnforth and Morecambe have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". Most of the area of the pre-1974 city of Lancaster is an unparished area, as is the Heysham area of the former borough of Morecambe and Heysham.

Twin towns

Associate towns