Full Lancaster City Council cabinet team is announced

There are 10 seats on cabinet, being shared by the parties in the cooperative alliance in numbers proportional to the seats each group hold on council.

The Labour Party hold five seats, the Green Party four and the Liberal Democrats hold one.

Coun Black, as leader of the council, will take the role of principle spokesperson, as well as emergency response duties, levelling up, establishment and achievement of council priorities and principles and the Frontierland site redevelopment.

Green Party councillor Caroline Jackson will take the role of deputy leader of the council as well as leading on the housing and homelessness portfolio on cabinet.

This will see her taking responsibility for council, private sector and social housing, caravan and traveller sites and refugee/asylum seeker housing, as well household support and resilience.

The Labour Party’s Coun Joanne Ainscough takes on environmental services, leading on waste and recycling, parks and green paces, nature conservation, biodiversity, street cleansing, environmental health and enforcement, allotments, food production and food waste.

Coun Tim Hamilton-Cox of the Green Party will take the finance and resources portfolio, which makes him responsible for strategic control of financial resources, procurement and fair trade, revenues and benefits and ICT.

Green Party politician Coun Gina Dowding will lead on climate action including flood prevention, low carbon energy generation and energy conservation, climate emergency response (which crosses portfolios held by other cabinet members), retrofitting and electrification, EV charging and active travel (implementation and monitoring).

Coun Jean Parr, deputy leader of the Labour group, will hold the planning and placemaking portfolio on cabinet.

This will see her responsible for the strategic development of the active travel programme, planning including the local plan (which details how the council will meet its responsibilities for ensuring that sufficient housing is available for the growing population), conservation and urban design, transport policy and parking including air quality and the South Lancaster development.

Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Jackson’s cabinet brief is communities, well-being and partnerships.

This will see him lead on rural communities and Arnside & Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, partnerships with Police, NHS and events, public order and antisocial behaviour, voluntary, faith and community groups, health and well-being, sport and leisure, Salt Ayre leisure centre, the Community Safety Partnership and the Community Connectors team.

Coun Jason Wood of the Labour Party retains the corporate services portfolio he held in the last administration and is looking to build on the Fair Work Charter he developed and championed earlier this year which promises a fair deal for city council employees.

He also takes responsibility for operational facilities management, democratic services including elections, customer and advice services, equalities and social justice, and human resources.

Coun Nick Wilkinson of the Green Party is taking on the cabinet responsibility for regeneration, skills and digital innovation, leading on Lancaster and Morecambe Business Improvement Districts, high streets, regeneration, jobs and skills – including green skills, digital strategy and implementation, Canal Quarter, business recovery (response to economic shocks) and markets.

Newly elected Labour councillor Catherine Potter will be portfolio holder for economy, community wealth building and culture.

She’ll be looking after economic development and growth, theatres, museums and visitor information, arts, culture and festivals, Eden North, and sustainable business innovation.