About the Council

Barrow Borough Council is situated in South West Cumbria.  The Borough has a population of 71,800 (2006) residents and covers approximately 7,796 hectares.  The main town is Barrow-in-Furness followed by Dalton-in-Furness and the parishes of Askam and Ireleth, and Lindal and Marton.  In total there are around 25,000 private households and 3,000 Council households within the Borough.  Over 81% of households are owner-occupied.

Barrow Borough Council is one of 6 district councils in Cumbria who provide a wide range of services for residents, businesses and visitors to the Borough.  These include: leisure and recreation, museum and arts, economic development and planning, refuse collection and street cleaning, environmental health, benefits for low income groups and private sector housing.  The Council’s annual net revenue budget is £13,742,000 and has a three year capital programme of £32,341,000.  The Council also operates a Housing Revenue Account with gross income of £9,212,000.

The Council is composed of 36 councillors who meet together quarterly and annually as the Council, and more often in smaller groups at committee meetings for most day-to-day decisions.  The Council operates the streamlined committee structure.

The Council’s Management Team consists of the Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), with primary responsibility for Civic Leadership and overall strategic management.  The Chief Executive has overall responsibility for the functional divisions managed by the Director of Regeneration and Community Services, the Director of Corporate Services (Monitoring Officer) and the Borough Treasurer (Section 151 Officer).