About Preston City Council

Preston City Council is a district council, working alongside Lancashire County Council as part of a two-tier local government system.

What Preston City Council does

The council spends more than £100million a year providing a range of public services from pest control to planning. It is one of the largest employers in the area with 996 employees.

During an average year, the council:

• Collects rubbish from approx 59,000 households every week
• Regularly inspects more than 1,400 food premises in the area
• Cleans all Preston's streets, collecting 7,600 tonnes of litter each year
• Recycles and composts 15,000 tonnes of rubbish
• Maintains more than 550 hectares of parks and open spaces
• Runs two leisure centres, with almost one million people using the facilities every year
• Hosts more than 360 shows, events and attractions at the Guild Hall
• Handles around 80,000 enquiries at the Tourist Information Centre and 152,00 hits on the Tourist Information website www.visitpreston.com
• Has a wide collection of artwork and local historical treasures on display at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery

What Lancashire County Council does

Lancashire County Council is the main authority for the following services in Preston:

• Schools and colleges 
• Health and social care
• Libraries and record office
• Roads

Departments

Council employees (or officers) are responsible for the day-to-day running of the council and implementing the policies and decisions taken by councillors.

The council's internal structure has recently been reorganised and the council now operates with three departments (or directorates). These are:

• Chief Executive
• Community and Business services
• Environment

A full department structure diagram is available to download.

Also, find out more about where you can find information on each council department and to see the corporate management team select the links from the left hand menu.

Council control

The Labour party have overall control of the council. To find out more about the make-up of the council please see How the council works

Chief Executive

The Chief Executive of Preston City Council is responsible for the overall management of the council and achieving its aim and corporate priorities (programmes), as well as delivering quality and value for money services.

Mayor

Preston also has a Mayor to represent the city at civic and ceremonial events locally, nationally and internationally. The Mayor changes each year and is a councillor who has to be selected to serve in office by their colleagues.

For more information about the Mayor of Preston and the council's civic history see our The Mayor

Third City Vision

The council and its partners through the Preston Strategic Partnership are working to make Preston the third city of the North West, alongside Manchester and Liverpool.

Priorities

In 2010 the council reviewed its corporate priorities and developed a set of four new priorities.

The council's vision is: Our vision sees Preston as a growing vibrant city in the North West.

• Brighter futures
• Safe and strong neighbourhoods
• Well run
• City Vision

Logo

The current modernised logo was adapted from the original historic version in 2002, when Preston became a city.

The distinct logo depicts the Lamb of St Wilfred - Preston's patron saint - with its flag and two swooshes, in the corporate blues, surrounding the words 'Preston City Council'. The top swoosh symbolises the city's nearby countryside, hills and fells, while the bottom swoosh represents the River Ribble.