Your council

Bolton: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council: Metropolitan district (unitary), England, North West; part of the GMCA combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E08000001.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Bolton for 2026–27: £1,953.08 of a £2,399.74 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

Westhoughton High School (secondary) — proposed to open; reason recorded: new provision; proposed date 1 January 2027
Westhoughton High School (secondary) — open, but proposed to close; reason recorded: for academy; proposed date 31 December 2026

In the last twelve months: 4 opened (3 academy converter, 1 new provision), 3 closed (3 academy converter)

Egerton Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 August 2026
Johnson Fold Community Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 January 2026
Walmsley CofE Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 December 2025
Egerton Community Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 September 2026
Johnson Fold Community Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 February 2026
Lake House School — open; reason recorded: new provision, 13 August 2026
Walmsley CofE Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 January 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Bolton reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Bolton: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£313.5 million
Highways and transport services	£7.3 million
Children's social care	£107.2 million
Adult social care	£146.2 million
Public health	£23.1 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£14.4 million
Cultural and related services	£11.7 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£18.1 million
Planning and development services	£5.8 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£12.7 million
Other services	£25.7 million
Total service expenditure	£685.6 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Bolton in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 310,085 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 38 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £20,182 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £560 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 36.7% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 5.4% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £204,379 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 6.0 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 55.3 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 54.6 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 3.7 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 95.0% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 54.8 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 11,700 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

60 seats in 2026. Run by: Labour, as a minority administration. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Labour Party 20, Conservative and Unionist 11, Reform UK 10, Liberal Democrats 5, Independent / Other 4, Horwich & Blackrod First Independents 4, Farnworth and Kearsley First Party 3, Green Party (E&W) 3.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 60 councillors, by ward

Hilary Fairclough (Conservative and Unionist) — Astley Bridge
Ryan Bailey (Reform UK) — Astley Bridge
Toby Hewitt (Conservative and Unionist) — Astley Bridge
Jackie Schofield (Labour Party) — Bradshaw
James Moller (Conservative and Unionist) — Bradshaw
Les Webb (Conservative and Unionist) — Bradshaw
Mike Tucker (Reform UK) — Breightmet
Robert Morrisey (Labour Party) — Breightmet
Sean Fielding (Labour Party) — Breightmet
Charlotte Cadden (Conservative and Unionist) — Bromley Cross
Nadim Muslim (Conservative and Unionist) — Bromley Cross
Samantha Connor (Conservative and Unionist) — Bromley Cross
Hamid Khurram (Labour Party) — Farnworth North
Nadeem Ayub (Labour Party) — Farnworth North
Susan Haworth (Reform UK) — Farnworth North
Julie Pattison (Reform UK) — Farnworth South
Maureen Flitcroft (Farnworth and Kearsley First Party) — Farnworth South
Paula Connor-Bennett (Farnworth and Kearsley First Party) — Farnworth South
Karen Hon (Labour Party) — Great Lever
Mohammed Ayub (Labour Party) — Great Lever
Mohammed Iqbal (Labour Party) — Great Lever
Baggy Khan (Green Party (E&W)) — Halliwell
Hanif Alli (Independent / Other) — Halliwell
Rabiya Jiva (Labour Party) — Halliwell
Andrew Morgan (Conservative and Unionist) — Heaton, Lostock & Chew Moor
Anne Galloway (Conservative and Unionist) — Heaton, Lostock & Chew Moor
Martyn Cox (Conservative and Unionist) — Heaton, Lostock & Chew Moor
Andrea Finney (Horwich & Blackrod First Independents) — Horwich North
Ryan Bamforth (Independent / Other) — Horwich North
Victoria Rigby (Horwich & Blackrod First Independents) — Horwich North
David Grant (Horwich & Blackrod First Independents) — Horwich South & Blackrod
Peter Wright (Horwich & Blackrod First Independents) — Horwich South & Blackrod
Samantha Williamson (Independent / Other) — Horwich South & Blackrod
Derek Bullock (Reform UK) — Hulton
Fazeelah Khan (Labour Party) — Hulton
Shafaqat Shaikh (Labour Party) — Hulton
Debbie Newall (Labour Party) — Kearsley
Roger Pedley (Reform UK) — Kearsley
Sylvia Crossley (Farnworth and Kearsley First Party) — Kearsley
Andrea Taylor-Burke (Conservative and Unionist) — Little Lever & Darcy Lever
Derek Wunderley (Reform UK) — Little Lever & Darcy Lever
Liam Barnard (Labour Party) — Little Lever & Darcy Lever
Akhtar Zaman (Labour Party) — Queens Park & Central
Linda Thomas (Labour Party) — Queens Park & Central
Zan Arif (Green Party (E&W)) — Queens Park & Central
Abdul Atcha (Labour Party) — Rumworth
Ayyub Patel (Independent / Other) — Rumworth
Ismail Ibrahim (Green Party (E&W)) — Rumworth
Garry Veevers (Liberal Democrats) — Smithills
Roger Hayes (Liberal Democrats) — Smithills
Susan Priest (Liberal Democrats) — Smithills
Emily Mort (Labour Party) — Tonge with the Haulgh
Martin Donaghy (Labour Party) — Tonge with the Haulgh
Trevor Jones (Reform UK) — Tonge with the Haulgh
Arthur Price (Liberal Democrats) — Westhoughton North & Hunger Hill
David Lewis (Reform UK) — Westhoughton North & Hunger Hill
Deirdre McGeown (Liberal Democrats) — Westhoughton North & Hunger Hill
David Chadwick (Labour Party) — Westhoughton South
Glen Clarke (Reform UK) — Westhoughton South
John McHugh (Labour Party) — Westhoughton South

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.