Staffordshire County Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Leader (acting) | |
Pat Flaherty since July 2023[2] | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 62 councillors |
 | |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 4 years |
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
Last election | 1 May 2025 |
Next election | 3 May 2029 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| County Buildings, Martin Street,Stafford, ST16 2LH | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Staffordshire County Council is the upper-tierlocal authority for thenon-metropolitan county ofStaffordshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than theceremonial county, which additionally includesStoke-on-Trent.
The council has been underReform majority control since 2025. It meets atCounty Buildings inStafford and has its main offices nearby at Staffordshire Place on Tipping Street.
Elected county councils were created in 1889 under theLocal Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by unelectedmagistrates at thequarter sessions. The four boroughs ofHanley,Walsall,West Bromwich andWolverhampton were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were madecounty boroughs, independent from the new county council. Conversely the city ofLichfield, which had been a self-governingcounty corporate since 1553 with its own sheriffs and quarter sessions, was not considered large enough to be a county borough and so it was included in the county council's area. The county council was elected by and provided services to the part of the county outside the county boroughs, which area was termed theadministrative county.[3]
The 1888 Act also said thaturban sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries were to be placed entirely in the county which had the majority of their population, and so Staffordshire gained the parts ofBurton upon Trent which had been inDerbyshire and the parts ofTamworth which had been inWarwickshire, but lost the parts ofDudley which had been in Staffordshire toWorcestershire.[4]
The first elections to the county council were held in January 1889. The council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at theShire Hall in Stafford, the courthouse which had served as the meeting place for the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. The first chairman of the council wasDudley Ryder, 3rd Earl of Harrowby, aConservative peer and formermember of parliament.[5]
Additional county boroughs were later created atBurton upon Trent in 1901 andSmethwick in 1907, removing them from the administrative county.[6] In 1910 the administrative county cededBurslem,Fenton,Longton,Stoke-upon-Trent andTunstall to the newCounty Borough of Stoke on Trent, which also took in the previous county borough of Hanley. Territory was also transferred on a number of occasions from Staffordshire to the neighbouring county borough ofBirmingham, which gainedHarborne in 1891,[7]Handsworth in 1911,[8] andPerry Barr in 1928.[9] In 1966 the administrative county ceded elevenurban districts and onemunicipal borough in theBlack Country area at the southern end of the county to become parts of county boroughs.[10]
Staffordshire was reconstituted as anon-metropolitan county in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972. The county council regained authority over Burton and Stoke, but lost theAldridge-Brownhills Urban District to the newWest Midlands county (which also covered the county boroughs in the area that were already outside the administrative county).[11] The lower tier of local government was reorganised as part of the same reforms. Previously it had comprised numerousboroughs,urban districts andrural districts; they were reorganised into ninenon-metropolitan districts.[12]
Stoke-on-Trent regained its independence from the county council in 1997, when its city council became aunitary authority, leaving eight districts in the county council's area.[13]
Staffordshire County Council providescounty-level services.District-level services are provided by the area's eight district councils:[14]
Much of the county is also covered bycivil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[15]
The council has been underReform UK majority control since the2025 election.[16]
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[17]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 1974–1977 | |
| Conservative | 1977–1981 | |
| Labour | 1981–2009 | |
| Conservative | 2009–2025 | |
| Reform | 2025–present | |
Theleaders of the council since 1974 have been:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Westwood[18][19] | Labour | 1 Apr 1974 | May 1977 | |
| Rex Roberts[20][21] | Conservative | May 1977 | May 1981 | |
| Bill Austin[22][23] | Labour | May 1981 | May 1996 | |
| Terry Dix[23][24] | Labour | May 1996 | 17 May 2007 | |
| John Taylor[25][26] | Labour | 17 May 2007 | Jun 2009 | |
| Philip Atkins[27][28] | Conservative | 18 Jun 2009 | 23 Jul 2020 | |
| Alan White[29][16] | Conservative | 23 Jul 2020 | May 2025 | |
| Ian Cooper[1][30][31] | Reform | 22 May 2025 | 9 Dec 2025 | |
Ian Cooper had his membership of Reform UK revoked on 5 December 2025 and stood down as council leader on 9 December 2025. The deputy leader, Martin Murray, is now serving as acting leader pending the formal appointment of a new leader early in 2026.[32]
Following the2025 election and subsequent changes,[33][34] the composition of the council is:[35]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Reform | 47 | |
| Conservative | 11 | |
| Green | 1 | |
| Labour | 1 | |
| Stafford Borough Independents | 1 | |
| Independent | 1 | |
| Total | 62 | |
The next full council election is due in May 2029.[36]
Since the last boundary changes in 2013 the council has comprised 62councillors representing 60electoral divisions, with each division electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years.[37]
The council has its main offices at Staffordshire Place, a modern office development off Tipping Street in Stafford.[38] Staffordshire Place was purpose-built for the council in 2011.[39][40]
When the county council was first created in 1889 it met at the Shire Hall in the Market Place in Stafford, which had been completed in 1798.[41] Shortly after the council's creation it built itself a new meeting place and offices atCounty Buildings on Martin Street, adjoining the side of Shire Hall, with the new building opening in 1895.[42] The council later outgrew County Buildings, and by the early 21st century its offices were spread across seventeen different buildings.[39] The construction of Staffordshire Place in 2011 allowed for the consolidation of most of the council's offices at the one site, although the nearby County Buildings was retained by the council, with the council chamber there continuing to serve as the council's meeting place.[43]