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Blaby District
Non-metropolitan district
Blaby, the village which the district is named after although Narborough is the administrative centre of the district.
Shown within Leicestershire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Administrative county	Leicestershire
Admin. HQ	Narborough
Government
• Type	Blaby District Council
• MPs:	Edward Argar, Alberto Costa
Area
• Total	50 sq mi (130 km)
• Rank	175th
Population
• Total	104,182
• Rank	Ranked 227th
• Density	2,100/sq mi (800/km)
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 86.2% White 8.3% Asian 2.7% Mixed 1.5% Black 1.3% other
Religion (2021)
• Religion	List 45.9% Christianity 45% no religion 7.6% other 1.5% Islam
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code	31UB (ONS) E07000129 (GSS)
Ethnicity	94.3% White

Blaby is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. The district is named after the village of Blaby, although the council is based in Narborough. The district covers an area lying south-west of the city of Leicester. Several of the district's settlements form part of the wider Leicester Urban Area, including Glenfield, where Leicestershire County Council has its headquarters at County Hall, and the town of Braunstone.

The neighbouring districts are Hinckley and Bosworth, Charnwood, Leicester, Oadby and Wigston, Harborough and Rugby.

History

The district traces its origins to the Blaby Poor Law Union, which had been created in 1836. Although named after Blaby, the union built its workhouse in Enderby. In 1872 sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing boards of guardians of poor law unions. In 1894 rural sanitary districts were redesignated as rural districts with their own councils, and so the Blaby Rural District came into being. At the same time, Wigston was removed from the district to become its own urban district. Oadby was subsequently also removed from the district in 1913 to become an urban district. In 1935 the district ceded some territory to Leicester and gained six parishes from the abolished Hinckley Rural District.

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the area was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district called Blaby.

Governance

Blaby District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Chair	Nick Chapman, Conservative since 21 May 2024
Leader	Terry Richardson, Conservative since 27 May 2015
Chief Executive	Julia Smith since November 2021
Structure
Seats	36 councillors
Political groups	Administration (19)   Conservative (19) Other parties (17)   Liberal Democrats (9)   Labour (6)   Green (2)
Elections
Voting system	Plurality block voting
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Council Offices, Desford Road, Narborough, Leicester, LE19 2EP
Website
www.blaby.gov.uk

Blaby District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Leicestershire County Council. The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

Political control

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 1999.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2004 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 36 councillors representing 17 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

The district straddles the parliamentary constituencies of South Leicestershire and Chanrnwood. There was a Blaby constituency between 1974 and 2010, which was represented by Nigel Lawson between 1974 and 1992.

Premises

Blaby District Council's main offices are on Desford Road in Narborough. The old part of the building was formerly a house called the Old Rectory, which had previously served as the rectory for the nearby All Saints Church. The house was bought in 1936 for £4,250 by Blaby Rural District Council to serve as its headquarters and has been significantly extended since then.

Geography

In 1994 a new development called Thorpe Astley in the parish of Braunstone was started, being built over the course of 15 years. This totalled over 2,000 homes during the phased construction. The development in Lubbesthorpe, approved in January 2014, is located to land west of Thorpe Astley, divided by the M1.

Blaby District contains several well-known developments in the county, centred around junction 21 of the M1. The most prominent is Fosse Shopping Park.

Demography

Parishes

The district contains 24 civil parishes. The parish council for Braunstone has declared its parish to be a town, allowing it to take the style "town council"; the area is often called "Braunstone Town" to distinguish it from the adjoining Braunstone estate which used to be in the parish but was transferred to Leicester in 1935. Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.

• Aston Flamville
• Blaby
• Braunstone
• Cosby
• Countesthorpe
• Croft
• Elmesthorpe
• Enderby
• Glen Parva
• Glenfields
• Huncote
• Kilby
• Kirby Muxloe
• Leicester Forest East
• Leicester Forest West
• Lubbesthorpe
• Narborough
• Potters Marston
• Sapcote
• Sharnford
• Stoney Stanton
• Thurlaston
• Whetstone
• Wigston Parva

Coat of arms

References

1. ^ UK Census (2021). "2021 Census Area Profile – Blaby Local Authority (E07000129)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
2. Higginbotham, Peter. "Blaby Workhouse". The Workhouse. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
3. Local Government Act 1894
4. Annual Report of the Local Government Board. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1895. p. 226. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
5. "Blaby Rural District". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
6. "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 22 August 2022
7. "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 22 August 2022
8. "Council minutes, 21 May 2024". Blaby District Council. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
9. "Chief Executive". Blaby District Council. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
10. "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
11. ^ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
12. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
13. "Blaby". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
14. "Council minutes". Blaby District Council. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
15. Martin, Dan (3 January 2018). "Longest-serving Leicestershire councillor Ernie White dies after 'brave fight' against illness". Leicestershire Live. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
16. "Local elections 2023: live council results for England". The Guardian.
17. "Blaby District Council". BBC News.
18. "The Blaby (Electoral Changes) Order 2022", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2022/1366, retrieved 27 October 2023
19. "Location details". Blaby District Council. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Council Offices, Desford Road, Narborough, Leicestershire, LE19 2EP
20. "Old Rectory to house Blaby Council". Leicester Evening Mail. 17 June 1936. p. 9. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
21. Vision of Britain through time
22. mid year estimate
23. ONS population projections 2014 base / projections uplifted by '21-200/'31-500 given underestimation at 2016 - 300/
24. "Parish and Town Councils". Blaby District Council. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
25. "East Midlands Region". Civic Heraldry of England. Retrieved 5 March 2021.

External links

• Blaby District Council

v t e Towns and villages of Blaby District
Towns	Braunstone (Thorpe Astley)
Large villages	Blaby Cosby Countesthorpe Enderby Glen Parva Glenfield Kirby Muxloe Leicester Forest East Narborough Stoney Stanton Whetstone
Small villages	Aston Flamville Croft Elmesthorpe Huncote Kilby Littlethorpe Potters Marston Sapcote Sharnford Thurlaston
Hamlets	Leicester Forest West Lubbesthorpe Wigston Parva

v t e Districts of the East Midlands region of England
Derbyshire	Amber Valley Bolsover Chesterfield Derby Derbyshire Dales Erewash High Peak North East Derbyshire South Derbyshire
Leicestershire	Blaby Charnwood Harborough Hinckley and Bosworth Leicester Melton North West Leicestershire Oadby and Wigston
Lincolnshire	Boston East Lindsey Lincoln North Kesteven South Holland South Kesteven West Lindsey
Nottinghamshire	Ashfield Bassetlaw Broxtowe Gedling Mansfield Newark and Sherwood Nottingham Rushcliffe
Northamptonshire	North Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire
Rutland	Rutland

52°34′23″N 1°12′00″W / 52.573°N 1.2°W / 52.573; -1.2

• Blaby
• Non-metropolitan districts of Leicestershire