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Worcestershire County Council

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Worcestershire County Council
Coat of arms or logo
Logo
Type
Type
History
Succeeded by
Leadership
Paul Bennett,
Liberal Democrats
since 14 May 2026[1]
Matt Jenkins,
Green
since 14 May 2026
Paul Robinson
since March 2018
Structure
Seats57 councillors
Graph of the party split among 57 seats.
Political groups
Administration (30)
  Conservative (13)
  Liberal Democrats (8)
  Green (7)
  Independent (2)
Other parties (27)
  Reform UK (21)
  Labour (2)
  Independent (4)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
First past the post
First election
January 1889
Last election
1 May 2025
Website
www.worcestershire.gov.uk

Worcestershire County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire in England. The council is based in Worcester, the county town.

The council has been under no overall control since the 2025 election. Following that election, a Reform UK minority administration ran the council until May 2026, when it was replaced by a coalition of the Conservative Party, Green Party, Liberal Democrats and some of the independent councillors, led by Green Party councillor Matt Jenkins.

The county council was first created in 1889. In 1974 the council was abolished when Worcestershire and neighbouring Herefordshire were merged to form a new county called Hereford and Worcester. In 1998 Worcestershire and Herefordshire became separate counties again, and Worcestershire County Council was re-established.

The county council is due to be abolished in 2028 as part of upcoming structural changes to local government in England.

History

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Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions which had previously been performed by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. The boroughs of Worcester and Dudley were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs, independent from Worcestershire County Council. The county council was elected by and provided services to the rest of the county, which area was termed the administrative county. The 1888 Act also said that any urban sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries were to be placed entirely in the county which had the majority of that district's population, which saw Worcestershire gain the part of Redditch which had been in Warwickshire.[2]

The first elections to the county council were held in January 1889 and it formally came into being on 1 April 1889. On that day it held its first official meeting at Worcester Guildhall. The first chairman was George Hastings, who was the Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for East Worcestershire.[3]

There were a number of changes to the boundaries of the administrative county over the years. It ceded territory in the north-east to Birmingham on several occasions, and the complicated boundaries in the south with Gloucestershire and Warwickshire were simplified in the 1930s. In 1966 Oldbury was transferred to the new County Borough of Warley, which was ceremonially associated with Worcestershire but outside the administrative county controlled by the county council.

The administrative county of Worcestershire was abolished in 1974. The boroughs of Halesowen and Stourbridge were transferred to the new West Midlands county, and the rest of administrative county merged with Herefordshire and the county borough of Worcester to form a new non-metropolitan county called Hereford and Worcester. Hereford and Worcester County Council therefore took over the old Worcestershire County Council's functions for most of its area.[4]

Hereford and Worcester only existed as a county for 24 years. It was abolished in 1998 as part of the 1990s United Kingdom local government reforms and divided into separate counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, with Worcestershire County Council being re-established as the upper-tier local authority for Worcestershire.[5]

In 2026 the government announced that Worcestershire's county and district councils would be abolished with effect from April 2028. The county will then be split into two unitary authorities called North Worcestershire and South Worcestershire.[6]

Governance

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Worcestershire County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the six district councils:

Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[7]

Political control

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The council has been under no overall control since the 2025 election, with Reform UK being the largest party. They subsequently formed a minority administration after that election.[8]

On 14 May 2026, a multi-party power sharing agreement between the Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats, and Independents ousted the Reform minority leadership with Green Matt Jenkins becoming leader of the council.[9] The national Conservative leadership disagreed with the agreement and suspended their councillors' group leader.[10][11]

The first elections to the re-established Worcestershire County Council were held in 1997, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1998. Political control of the council since 1998 has been as follows:[12]

PartyTenure
No overall control1998–2005
Conservative2005–2025
No overall control[13]2025–

Leadership

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The leaders of the council since 1998 have been:

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Carol Warren[14][15]Labour1 Apr 19982001
George Lord[16][17][18]Conservative20016 Nov 2010
Adrian Hardman[19][20]Conservative18 Nov 201014 Jan 2016
Simon Geraghty[21][13]Conservative14 Jan 2016May 2025
Jo Monk[22][1]Reform22 May 202514 May 2026
Matt Jenkins[10][1]Green14 May 2026

Composition

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Following the 2025 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to August 2026, the composition of the council was:[23]

Party Seats
Reform21
Conservative13
Liberal Democrats8
Green7
Labour2
Independent6
Total 57

Two of the independent councillors sit with the Green Party as the "Green and Independent Group", which forms part of the council's administration alongside the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The other four independent councillors sit together as the "Worcestershire Independent Group".[23]

Elections

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Since the last boundary changes in 2005 the council has comprised 57 councillors representing 52 electoral divisions, with each division electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years.[24]

Premises

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County Hall, Worcester: Completed 1978 for Hereford and Worcester County Council, then served as Worcestershire County Council's headquarters 1998–2024

Since 2024, the council has had its main offices at Wildwood, a modern office building on Wildwood Drive on the outskirts of Worcester.[25][26] Council meetings and committees are held at various venues around the county, with full council meetings generally held at the Wychavon District Council offices in Pershore.[27]

Until 2024, the council was based at County Hall on Spetchley Road, also on the outskirts of Worcester. County Hall was purpose-built as the headquarters of Hereford and Worcester County Council, and had been completed in 1978.[28] The building transferred to the re-established Worcestershire County Council as part of the 1998 reforms.[5] County Hall closed in June 2024 after significant structural issues were identified with the building.[26]

Shire Hall: Meeting place of the first incarnation of the county council
County Buildings, St Mary's Street: County Council's headquarters 1930–1974

Having held its first meeting in 1889 at Worcester Guildhall, the first Worcestershire County Council later established its usual meeting place at Shire Hall, Worcester, a courthouse which had been built in 1835.[29] County Buildings was built alongside Shire Hall in 1930 to house the council's administrative offices.[30][31] County Buildings and Shire Hall continued to be used by the successor Hereford and Worcester County Council until the new County Hall at Spetchley Road was completed in 1978.[32]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 Wilkinson-Jones, Phil (14 May 2026). "LIVE: Worcestershire County Council to elect new leader". Worcester News. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  2. ↑ "Local Government Act 1888", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1888 c. 41, retrieved 27 August 2023
  3. ↑ "Worcestershire County Council". Berrow's Worcester Journal. 6 April 1889. p. 7. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  4. ↑ Local Government Act 1972
  5. 1 2 "The Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1996/1867, retrieved 17 November 2023
  6. ↑ Edwards, Tom (16 July 2026). "Worcestershire gets two new councils in north-south split". BBC News.
  7. ↑ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  8. ↑ Pearson, James; Gupta, Tanya (22 May 2025). "Reform UK takes over leadership of county council". BBC News. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  9. ↑ Edwards, Tom; Ball, Elliot (14 May 2026). "Reform UK loses control of Worcestershire County Council". BBC News.
  10. 1 2 "Reform UK loses control of Worcestershire County Council". BBC News. 14 May 2026. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  11. ↑ Okundaye, Jason (25 May 2026). "To understand Britain's new politics, look no further than this Shakespearean saga in Worcestershire". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "Compositions Calculator". The Elections Centre. University of Exeter. Retrieved 21 May 2025. (Put "Worcestershire" in search box to see specific results.)
  13. 1 2 Kermack, Gavin (2 May 2025). "Reform makes big gains in Worcestershire". BBC News. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  14. ↑ McVey, Clare (1 April 1998). "Fiasco on eve of counties' long-awaited separation". Birmingham Post. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  15. ↑ "Severn - Carol Warren (Labour)". Worcester News. 25 May 2001. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  16. ↑ "Lord is new leader". Worcester News. 4 July 2001. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  17. ↑ Paine, David (12 November 2010). "Councillors focus on leadership after resignation of Dr George Lord". Worcester News. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  18. ↑ "Worcestershire sex assault council leader dies". BBC News. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  19. ↑ "County Council selects Adrian Hardman as leader". Worcester News. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  20. ↑ Farrington, Dayna (29 December 2015). "Adrian Hardman to quit as Worcestershire County Council leader after drink drive charge". Bromsgrove Advertiser. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  21. ↑ "Council minutes, 14 January 2016". Worcestershire County Council. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  22. ↑ "Council minutes, 22 May 2025" (PDF). Worcestershire County Council. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  23. 1 2 "Worcestershire". Local Councils. Thorncliffe.
  24. ↑ "The County of Worcestershire (Electoral Changes) Order 2005", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2005/174, retrieved 2 February 2024
  25. ↑ "Visitors to Wildwood". Worcestershire County Council. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  26. 1 2 Wilkinson Jones, Phil; Dawkins, Andrew (28 June 2024). "Council to make temporary move to office near HQ". BBC News. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  27. ↑ "Calendar". Worcestershire County Council. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visits Worcester County Hall". Getty Images. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  29. ↑ Historic England. "Shire Hall, Worcester (1389831)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  30. ↑ "Adding a New Layer: 20th Century Heritage in Worcestershire - Civil Buildings". Explore the Past. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  31. ↑ Local List of Heritage Assets (PDF). Worcester City Council. 2017. p. 16. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  32. ↑ The Municipal Year Book. London: Municipal Journal. 1976. p. 517.
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