Coventry City Council is the local authority for the city of Coventry in the West Midlands, England. Coventry has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 the council has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the majority of local government services in the city. The council has been a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority since 2016.
The council meets at the Council House and has its main offices at Friargate. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2010, with the leader of the council since 2016 being George Duggins.
Coventry was an ancient borough. The earliest known charter, concerning the establishment of St Mary's Priory and its relationship with the town, dates from 1043.[3] Coventry gained city status in 1102 when papal authorisation was given for the Bishop of Lichfield moving the seat of the diocese to the priory at Coventry.[4]
The city was administered in a fragmented fashion between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, with a "Prior's Half" controlled by the bishops and priory, and an "Earl's Half" controlled by the Earls of Chester. The halves were united in 1345 when a new charter was issued to the city by Edward III, which also granted the right to appoint a mayor. The city's powers were greatly increased in 1451 when Henry VI created the County of the City of Coventry, covering the city itself and a number of surrounding villages. The city's bailiffs acted as sheriffs within the county of the city, making the area a county corporate, administratively independent from Warwickshire.[3]
By the eighteenth century the city corporation had become inadequate to meet the needs of the growing city. A separate body of improvement commissioners was established in 1763 to pave, light and repair the streets, provide a watch, and supply water. Coventry was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how many boroughs operated across the country. The city was then governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city of Coventry", generally known as the corporation or city council.[5] The reformed corporation absorbed the functions of the improvement commissioners later in 1836.[6]
Shortly afterwards questions arose regarding the relationship of the reformed city to the county of the city and to the surrounding county of Warwickshire. These were resolved in 1842 when the county of the city was abolished and the area (including the city itself) was restored to Warwickshire as it had been prior to 1451.[7]
When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Coventry was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, independent from the new Warwickshire County Council.[8] The county borough was enlarged on several occasions, notably in 1932, 1956 and 1965.[9]
Alice Arnold, wearing Coventry's mayoral regalia
Coventry's first female mayor, appointed in 1937, was Alice Arnold.[10][11] In 1953 the city's mayor was raised to the status of a lord mayor.[12]
In 1974 the city gained two parishes on its north-western edge, and was reformed to become a metropolitan borough within the new West Midlands county.[13] From 1974 until 1986 Coventry City Council was a lower-tier authority, with the West Midlands County Council providing county-level services. Following the abolition of the county council in 1986, Coventry took on county-level functions in the area again.
Coventry City Council provides both county-level and district-level services, with some functions across the West Midlands provided via joint committees with the other West Midlands authorities, overseen by the combined authority and mayor. There are three civil parishes in the city, being Allesley, Finham and Keresley, which form another tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the city is an unparished area.[14]
Political control
The council has been under Labour majority control since 2010.
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[15][16]
The role of Lord Mayor of Coventry is largely ceremonial, with political leadership provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have been:[17]
Following the 2024 Coventry City Council election, which involved one of Coventry's wards' election taking place on 20 June 2024,[28] the composition of the council is:[29]
Since the last boundary changes in 2004 the council has comprised 54 councillors representing 18 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) being elected each time for a four-year term of office. Elections for the Mayor of the West Midlands are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no city council elections.[30]
Premises
1 Friargate, Coventry, CV12GN: Council's main offices.
The council meets at the Council House on Earl Street, which was completed in 1917.[31] In 2017 the council moved its main offices to 1 Friargate, a newly-built office building near Coventry railway station.[32][33]
Martin Reeves, Chief Executive 2008–2023, seen on 20 October 2012
^ ab"The City of Coventry: Local government and public services, Local government to 1451". A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8. London: Victoria County History. 1969. pp. 256–263. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
^"The City of Coventry: Local government and public services, Local government from 1451". A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8. London: Victoria County History. 1969. pp. 263–275. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
^Hunt, Cathy (2007). A Woman of the People : Alice Arnold of Coventry 1881-1955. Coventry and County Heritage Series. Coventry Branch of the Historical Association.
