11 May 2009, 09/101
West Lancs to become a Borough Council
West Lancashire District Council will become a
Borough Council with the presentation of a Royal Charter by the
Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, Lord Shuttleworth JP, at 7.30pm in
the Council Chamber on Wednesday 20 May.
Following the presentation of the Charter, the
first Annual Meeting of the Borough Council will be held at which
the new Borough’s first Mayor – Cllr Geoff M. Roberts – will be
installed, along with the Deputy Mayor, Cllr John Baldock.
West Lancashire has for many years been the
only district in Lancashire without borough status and although the
Council’s Chairman did officially have the same status as a Mayor,
the position of the Council and its Chairman was sometimes wrongly
regarded as being inferior. In October 2008 the Council submitted a
petition praying for the grant of a Royal Charter by Her Majesty
the Queen conferring on the District the status of a Borough. The
petition was successful and the charter is being sealed.
The current Chairman of the Council, Cllr
Cyril Ainscough, will be presented with the Royal Charter by Lord
Shuttleworth. Cllr Ainscough will then open the Annual Meeting and
invite nominations for the positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of
the new Borough Council.
Cllr Geoff M. Roberts said: “I am extremely
proud to have been selected to serve as the first Mayor of West
Lancashire Borough Council. West Lancashire is a wonderful area,
and having borough status will give us the prestige and status that
we deserve. I look forward to my installation as Mayor and to
serving the people of the borough in the year ahead.”
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