Council Structure and Overview
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) is your major local authority, providing services for education, social services, highways, waste collection, environmental health, planning and licensing. Most of the council tax you pay to the Borough Council is used in order to pay for these services.
A small part of your council tax, known as the ‘precept’, is allocated directly to Penistone Town Council in order to fund its activities. You can see the breakdown of your council tax payment on the Annual Council Tax Statement sent out by BMBC every year.
BMBC consists of 63 Local Borough Councillors, three for each Borough Ward. Our area has two such Wards – Penistone East and Penistone West, giving us a total of 6 Borough Councillors. In respect of National Government, Barnsley is split into three areas, each of which is represented by one Member of Parliament (MP).
The Penistone East and West areas are then sub divided into various Parishes each covered by a Parish council, and Penistone Town Council, which covers the main Penistone area.
Above: diagram of Penistone Town Council Structure. Click the image to enlarge or click here to view or download a PDF copy for reference.
Penistone Town Council
Penistone Town Council is the successor body to the Penistone Urban District Council, which was abolished in the local government re-organisation of 1974. As such, the chair of Penistone Town Council keeps the title of Mayor of Penistone. In addition to chairing Town Council meetings, the Town Mayor carries out various civic duties during his/her year of office. A new Mayor is elected at the annual Town Council meeting each May. Our current Mayor is Cllr Mandy Lowe-Flello and the Deputy Mayor is Cllr Jonathan Cutts. A list of past Penistone Mayors is on a plaque in the Main Hall of St Johns Community Centre.
Penistone Town Council consists of 15 seats covering the greater Penistone area which, since 2007 has been split into four ‘Wards’, with specific Councillors being elected from each ward. The wards are:
- Penistone with 6 seats.
- Thurlstone (including Millhouse Green) with 3 seats.
- Hoylandswaine with 2 seats.
- Springvale and Cubley with 4 seats.
A full listing of each of your Town Councillors can be seen in the Councillors section.
Every four years all 15 seats on the Town Council come up for election, the most recent being May of 2023. The next Town Council elections will take place in 2027.
Penistone Town Council is a minor authority, operating the Penistone Paramount, (used for cinema, theatre, and concert productions) and St John’s Community Centre, which is a vital community resource. The Town Council has an important role in commenting on all local planning applications before they go to the Planning Officers in Barnsley. Please see our ‘Council Committees’ page for how we allocate specific responsibilities to smaller committees.
Key Staff
The day-to-day operation of the Council is undertaken by its staff, based at St John’s Community Centre.
Town Clerk: Nigel Bailey
Assistant to the Town Clerk: Elaine Miller
Finance: Alison Fleetwood