Blackburn with Darwen
| Borough of Blackburn with Darwen | |
|---|---|
| Borough and Unitary Authority | |
 Shown within ceremonial Lancashire |
|
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | North West England |
| Ceremonial county | Lancashire |
| Admin. HQ | Blackburn |
| Government | |
| • Type | Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council |
| • Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| • Executive: Labour Party | Labour |
| • MPs: |
Jake Berry (C) Kate Hollern (L) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 52.9 sq mi (137.0 km2) |
| Area rank | 196th |
| Population (mid-2015 est.) | |
| • Total | 146,800 |
| • Rank | Ranked 133rd |
| • Density | 2,800/sq mi (1,100/km2) |
| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | British Summer Time (UTC+1) |
| ONS code | 00EX (ONS) E06000008 (GSS) |
| Ethnicity | 69.1% White 28.1% Asian 1.2% Mixed 0.6% Black 0.8% Other |
| Website | blackburn.gov.uk |
Blackburn with Darwen is a unitary authority area in Lancashire, North West England. It consists of Blackburn, the small town of Darwen to the south of it, and the surrounding countryside. The population of the Unitary Authority taken at the 2011 census was 147,489.
It was founded in 1974 as the Lancashire borough of Blackburn, from the County Borough of Blackburn, the Borough of Darwen, parts of Turton Urban District (chiefly the villages of Belmont, Chapeltown and Edgworth) and parts of Blackburn Rural District. It was renamed in May 1997, in preparation for a split from Lancashire County Council. On 1 April 1998 it became a unitary authority.
The proportion of Muslim population (19.4% or 26,674 people) is the third highest among all local authorities in the United Kingdom and the highest outside London. 20.4% of the districts population belongs to any South Asian ethnic group, making it the highest percentage in the region, and almost four times higher than national average of South Asians.
According to the 2011 census, the proportion of Muslims increased to 27%.
There is a total of 64 seats on the council with the borough is divided up into 23 wards, all with three councillors with the exception of Earcroft, Whitehall, and North Turton and Tockholes, which have 2 members, and East Rural which has one.
The council was shaken in 2004 when six Labour councillors quit the ruling group one month after an election and became independent representatives, and the council temporarily fell into no overall control. The councillors, who eventually re-joined the party, left over an internal row reportedly sparked by the demotion of particular councillors in a post-election reshuffle. Allegations of vote-rigging and corruption have dogged the council, with members of the Muslim community reportedly being "strong-armed by mosque leaders and councillors to vote Labour" during elections. The possibility of corruption has been eased by reforms to postal voting which have made electoral fraud "childishly simple" in the UK according to a European watchdog. The number of postal votes registered in Blackburn in 2005 was 20,000, compared to 7,600 in 2001. In April 2005, local councillor Mohammed Hussain was jailed for three years for rigging the 2002 town hall election by stealing at least 230 postal vote ballots in his ward.
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Wikipedia