Your council

West Lancashire: 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.

West Lancashire Borough Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, North West; within the county of LAN. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Lancashire County Council. ONS code E07000127.

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

Band D set by West Lancashire for 2026–27: £245.71 of a £2,456.23 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

Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic High School (secondary) — open, but proposed to close; reason recorded: for academy; proposed date 30 September 2026
Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic High School (secondary) — proposed to open; reason recorded: new provision; proposed date 1 October 2026

In the last twelve months: 1 opened (1 new provision), 0 closed

Moss View School — open; reason recorded: new provision, 20 November 2025

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 West Lancashire reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

West Lancashire: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	−£421,000
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£1.2 million
Cultural and related services	£1.7 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£8.0 million
Planning and development services	£976,000
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£1.3 million
Other services	£10.0 million
Total service expenditure	£22.8 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).

West Lancashire in numbers

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

Total population: 121,995 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 44 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £24,532 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £658 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 24.1% 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: 2.8% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £236,194 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 6.3 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Greenhouse gas emissions: 7.8 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 85.6% 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: 76.2 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: 4,630 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

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

Councillors by party: Labour Party 13, Conservative and Unionist 12, Our West Lancashire 11, Reform UK 7, Independent / Other 2.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 45 councillors, by ward

Anne Hughes (Our West Lancashire) — Aughton & Holborn
Gordon Johnson (Our West Lancashire) — Aughton & Holborn
Sarah Lawton (Labour Party) — Aughton & Holborn
Alison Jones (Reform UK) — Burscough Bridge & Rufford
John Gordon (Conservative and Unionist) — Burscough Bridge & Rufford
Paul Hesketh (Our West Lancashire) — Burscough Bridge & Rufford
Jess Riding (Our West Lancashire) — Burscough Town
Judy Abbott (Labour Party) — Burscough Town
Patricia Burnside (Labour Party) — Burscough Town
Ian Eccles (Conservative and Unionist) — North Meols & Hesketh Bank
John Howard (Conservative and Unionist) — North Meols & Hesketh Bank
Thomas De Freitas (Conservative and Unionist) — North Meols & Hesketh Bank
Donna West (Labour Party) — Old Skelmersdale
Ella Worthington (Reform UK) — Old Skelmersdale
Neil Furey (Our West Lancashire) — Old Skelmersdale
Janet Ingman (Our West Lancashire) — Ormskirk East
Michael Crompton (Our West Lancashire) — Ormskirk East
Nikki Hennessy (Independent / Other) — Ormskirk East
Anne Fennell (Labour Party) — Ormskirk West
Charles Berry (Our West Lancashire) — Ormskirk West
Mark Anderson (Labour Party) — Ormskirk West
David Whittington (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural North East
Katie Juckes (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural North East
Robert Bailey (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural North East
Adrian Owens (Our West Lancashire) — Rural South
Ian Rigby (Our West Lancashire) — Rural South
Linda Webster (Our West Lancashire) — Rural South
Alexander Blundell (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural West
Gareth Oakes (Reform UK) — Rural West
Marilyn Westley (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural West
Lizzie Urquhart (Reform UK) — Skelmersdale North
Melissa Parlour (Labour Party) — Skelmersdale North
Yvonne Gagen (Labour Party) — Skelmersdale North
Julian Finch (Independent / Other) — Skelmersdale South
Nigel Hudson (Reform UK) — Skelmersdale South
Terry Aldridge (Labour Party) — Skelmersdale South
Aaron Body (Reform UK) — Tanhouse & Skelmersdale Town Centre
Carl Coughlan (Labour Party) — Tanhouse & Skelmersdale Town Centre
Maureen Nixon (Labour Party) — Tanhouse & Skelmersdale Town Centre
Joan Witter (Conservative and Unionist) — Tarleton Village
John Mee (Conservative and Unionist) — Tarleton Village
Norma Goodier (Conservative and Unionist) — Tarleton Village
Gaynar Owen (Labour Party) — Up Holland
John Fillis (Labour Party) — Up Holland
Richard Lee (Reform UK) — Up Holland

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.