Your council

Bury: 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.

Bury 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 E08000002.

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 Bury for 2026–27: £2,115.90 of a £2,555.15 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

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 8 opened (7 academy converter, 1 new provision), 8 closed (7 academy converter, 1 closure)

Christ Church Ainsworth Church of England Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 January 2026
Fairfield Community Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 March 2026
Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 June 2026
Holcombe Brook Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 March 2026
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 June 2026
Prestwich Preparatory School — closed; reason recorded: closure, 27 March 2026
St Marie's Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 June 2026
The Derby High School (secondary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 June 2026
Christ Church Ainsworth Church of England Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 February 2026
Fairfield Community Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 April 2026
Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 July 2026
Holcombe Brook Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 April 2026
Imagine Wellbeing Primary Ltd — open; reason recorded: new provision, 15 September 2026
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 July 2026
St. Marie's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 July 2026
The Derby High School (secondary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 July 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 Bury reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Bury: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£151.5 million
Highways and transport services	£3.4 million
Children's social care	£65.7 million
Adult social care	£95.3 million
Public health	£13.1 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£8.1 million
Cultural and related services	£6.1 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£8.7 million
Planning and development services	£2.0 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£8.3 million
Other services	£8.1 million
Total service expenditure	£370.3 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).

Bury in numbers

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

Total population: 198,921 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 40 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £23,068 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £625 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 29.7% 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: 4.3% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £242,437 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 6.9 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 58.2 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: 57.4 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: 4.2 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 94.2% 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: 8,625 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

51 seats in 2026. Run by: Labour, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Labour Party 30, Radcliffe First 7, Reform UK 6, Conservative and Unionist 3, Together for Bury 2, Vacant 1, Workers Party of Britain 1, Independent / Other 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 51 councillors, by ward

Lucy Smith (Labour Party) — Besses
Miriam Rahimov (Labour Party) — Besses
Noel Bayley (Labour Party) — Besses
Ayesha Arif (Labour Party) — Bury East
Gavin McGill (Labour Party) — Bury East
Ummrana Farooq (Labour Party) — Bury East
David Hill (Reform UK) — Bury West
Dene Vernon (Together for Bury) — Bury West
Shahbaz Arif (Conservative and Unionist) — Bury West
Charlotte Morris (Labour Party) — Elton
Jack Rydeheard (Reform UK) — Elton
Martin Hayes (Labour Party) — Elton
Adnan Chaudhry (Labour Party) — Holyrood
Imran Rizvi (Labour Party) — Holyrood
Lynn Ryder (Labour Party) — Holyrood
Babar Ibrahim (Labour Party) — Moorside
Ciaron Boles (Labour Party) — Moorside
Vacancy (Vacant) — Moorside
John Southworth (Labour Party) — North Manor
Julie Southworth (Labour Party) — North Manor
Khalid Hussain (Conservative and Unionist) — North Manor
Elizabeth FitzGerald (Labour Party) — Pilkington Park
Michael Rubinstein (Labour Party) — Pilkington Park
Shadman Zaman (Reform UK) — Pilkington Park
Carol Birchmore (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe East
Ken Simpson (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe East
Mary Walsh (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe East
Andrea Booth (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe North & Ainsworth
Jo Lancaster (Together for Bury) — Radcliffe North & Ainsworth
Paul Davies (Reform UK) — Radcliffe North & Ainsworth
Des Duncalfe (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe West
Judi Sheppard (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe West
Mike Smith (Radcliffe First) — Radcliffe West
Charlotte Hunt (Labour Party) — Ramsbottom
Gareth Staples-Jones (Labour Party) — Ramsbottom
Tom Pilkington (Labour Party) — Ramsbottom
Shabaz Shamim (Workers Party of Britain) — Redvales
Shaheena Haroon (Labour Party) — Redvales
Tamoor Tariq (Labour Party) — Redvales
Alan Quinn (Labour Party) — Sedgley
Debbie Quinn (Labour Party) — Sedgley
Richard Gold (Labour Party) — Sedgley
Debra Green (Labour Party) — St. Mary's
Eamonn O'Brien (Labour Party) — St. Mary's
Sean Thorpe (Labour Party) — St. Mary's
George Martin (Reform UK) — Tottington
Iain Gartside (Conservative and Unionist) — Tottington
Yvonne Wright (Independent / Other) — Tottington
Jerome Roith (Reform UK) — Unsworth
Jodie Hook (Labour Party) — Unsworth
Tahir Rafiq (Labour Party) — Unsworth

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.