The Borough of Luton is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Luton, its namesake and principal settlement. The borough contains most of one large urban area, the 31st largest in the United Kingdom the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area. This urban area (which includes the adjacent towns of Dunstable and Houghton Regis) had a population at the 2011 census of 258,018.[7]
There are 48 councillors on Luton Borough Council, representing 19 wards. The Council is controlled by the Labour group, who have 36 Local Councillors compared to the Liberal Democrats with eight seats and the Conservative Party with four.[8] In mid-2019, the district had an estimated population of 213,052 (mid-2019 est.)[5]
On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the pre-existing county borough was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district with the same boundaries as the county borough,[9][10] on 1 April 1997 Luton became a unitary authority area.[11]
See also: Luton Borough Council and 2019 Luton Borough Council election |
Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 32 | 0 | 3 | ![]() |
66.7 | 56.7 | 55,649 | ||
Liberal Democrats | 12 | 4 | 0 | ![]() |
25.0 | 17.2 | 16,944 | ||
Conservative | 4 | 0 | 1 | ![]() |
8.3 | 19.2 | 18,897 | ||
Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.0 | 3.9 | 3,796 | ||
UKIP | 0 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.0 | 1.5 | 1,440 | ||
Best4Luton | 0 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.0 | 1.1 | 1,057 | ||
Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
0.0 | 0.5 | 445 |
The borough is divided into 19 wards:[12]