Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is the local authority of Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.

The town of Blackburn was made a municipal borough in 1851. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 Blackburn was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it became a county borough, independent from Lancashire County Council.^[5]

A larger Blackburn district was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, gaining the neighbouring town of Darwen and several other rural parishes, and becoming a non-metropolitan district, with Lancashire County Council providing county-level services.^[6][7] The district was renamed Blackburn with Darwen in 1997 and became a unitary authority on 1 April 1998, becoming independent from the county council.^[8][9]

The first election to the reformed borough council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[10][11]

Non-metropolitan district

Unitary authority

The council is based at Blackburn Town Hall on King William Street in the centre of Blackburn. The building was built for the old Blackburn Borough Council and completed in 1856. A tower block annexe was added in 1969, linked to the old building by a bridge. The council also maintains an area office at Darwen Town Hall, completed in 1882 for the old Darwen Borough Council.^[16]

Since the last boundary changes in 2018, the council has comprised 51 councillors elected from 17 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) being elected each time for a four-year term.^[17]