Your council

St. Helens: 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.

St Helens Council: Metropolitan district (unitary), England, North West; part of the LCR combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E08000013.

Council website

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

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: 2 opened (2 academy converter), 2 closed (2 academy converter)

Oakdene Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 October 2025
St Cuthbert's Catholic High School (secondary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 August 2026
Oakdene Primary Academy (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 November 2025
St Cuthbert's Catholic Academy (secondary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 September 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 St. Helens reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

St. Helens: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£181.8 million
Highways and transport services	£7.0 million
Children's social care	£72.6 million
Adult social care	£94.1 million
Public health	£21.0 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£6.0 million
Cultural and related services	£7.4 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£16.5 million
Planning and development services	£5.3 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£10.9 million
Other services	none budgeted
Total service expenditure	£422.5 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).

St. Helens in numbers

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

Total population: 188,861 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 42 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £21,753 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £629 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 26.3% 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: 3.8% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £185,154 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 5.1 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 56.0 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: 55.7 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: 5.4 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 96.9% 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: 71.5 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: 5,110 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

48 seats in 2026. Run by: Reform UK, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Reform UK 34, Liberal Democrats 3, Newton-le-Willows Independents 3, Rainhill Independents 3, Labour Party 2, Vacant 2, Conservative and Unionist 1.

Next scheduled council election: 2 May 2030.

All 48 councillors, by ward

Jennifer Gerrard (Reform UK) — Billinge & Seneley Green
John Porter (Reform UK) — Billinge & Seneley Green
Matt Kent (Reform UK) — Billinge & Seneley Green
Eileen Fleming (Reform UK) — Blackbrook
Nigel Brown (Reform UK) — Blackbrook
Victor Floyd (Reform UK) — Blackbrook
David Hawley (Reform UK) — Bold & Lea Green
Mark Hitchen (Reform UK) — Bold & Lea Green
Samson Egbike (Reform UK) — Bold & Lea Green
Geoff Pearl (Liberal Democrats) — Eccleston
Michael Haw (Liberal Democrats) — Eccleston
Philip Cass (Liberal Democrats) — Eccleston
Michael Chesworth (Reform UK) — Haydock
Stephen Claybrook (Reform UK) — Haydock
Stephen Mousdell (Reform UK) — Haydock
David Kent (Reform UK) — Moss Bank
Gary Edgerton (Reform UK) — Moss Bank
Jack Styles (Reform UK) — Moss Bank
George Woodward (Reform UK) — Newton-le-Willows East
Ian Mills (Labour Party) — Newton-le-Willows East
Keith Laird (Labour Party) — Newton-le-Willows East
Craig Smith (Newton-le-Willows Independents) — Newton-le-Willows West
Karl Collier (Newton-le-Willows Independents) — Newton-le-Willows West
Terence Maguire (Newton-le-Willows Independents) — Newton-le-Willows West
Daniel Axworthy (Reform UK) — Parr
Janet Rowlands (Reform UK) — Parr
Malcolm Webster (Reform UK) — Parr
Sharon Roughley (Reform UK) — Peasley Cross & Fingerpost
Linda Mussell (Conservative and Unionist) — Rainford
Philip Corden (Reform UK) — Rainford
Donna Greaves (Rainhill Independents) — Rainhill
James Dunn (Rainhill Independents) — Rainhill
James Tasker (Rainhill Independents) — Rainhill
Vacancy (Vacant) — St Helens Town Centre
Vacancy (Vacant) — St Helens Town Centre
Anthony Johnson (Reform UK) — Sutton North West
Mark Johnson (Reform UK) — Sutton North West
Brendan Moss (Reform UK) — Sutton South East
John Pinnington (Reform UK) — Sutton South East
Emma Beck (Reform UK) — Thatto Heath
Jack Benyon (Reform UK) — Thatto Heath
James Long (Reform UK) — Thatto Heath
Mark King (Reform UK) — West Park
Michael Gibson (Reform UK) — West Park
Stephen Little (Reform UK) — West Park
Alex Twist (Reform UK) — Windle
Clayton Ede (Reform UK) — Windle
Tony Keogh (Reform UK) — Windle

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.