What's happening with Lancashire's local elections?

The ballot boxes will need to come out of storage after seven Lancashire councils were told they will now be holding local elections this May.

People will be able to go to the polls that month following a U-turn by the government on its plan to postpone 30 council elections. Legal advice said not holding them could be unlawful.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed had approved the delay until 2027 after councils said they were worried about the cost of running elections and preparing for upcoming local government reorganisation.

Opposition parties have welcomed the move - Reform UK had taken legal action against the postponement, which had been due before the courts on Thursday.

Local authorities in Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Chorley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Preston and West Lancashire had all asked for a postponement and will all now be holding elections.

For Pendle, this news means it is now the second time it has been told it will hold elections, having initially been the only place in Lancashire to be denied a postponement - and then being told it could postpone not long after.

Liberal Democrat council leader David Whipp said: "It's laughable, elections in Pendle have been on, off, on, off and on, we've argued they should always have gone ahead - it's astonishing how the government has done U-turn after U-turn.

"In the end, they've been forced into holding elections and that's all well and good."

Blackburn with Darwen was one of the first councils to ask for a postponement - the Labour leader of the council Phil Riley said: "The case that we were making was not wrong - our overwhelming priority is to make sure we get the best deal possible out of the reorganisation, but here we've just got something else to do that we could have done without."

While the Labour leader of Chorley Council Alistair Bradley said: "We do recognise that it is a government decision, and will move forward in preparation for an election in May as directed."

The work to hold the elections will now begin, and next month will see the official start of the election period.

All seven councils are up by a third, which means a third of councillors will be up for election.

The government has said councils which asked for a postponement will be eligible for a share of £63m "additional capacity funding", but it is unclear as yet where exactly that money will be allocated.

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