North East Lincolnshire Council is the local authority of North East Lincolnshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a county council and district council combined. It was established on 1 April 1996 on the abolition of Humberside County Council, Great Grimsby Borough Council and Cleethorpes Borough Council.^[2] The council provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority.^[3]

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, North East Lincolnshire is within a non-metropolitan area of England. As a unitary authority, North East Lincolnshire Council has the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a local education authority, responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal.

In July 2017 it was announced that the Council and the local Clinical Commissioning Group would have a joint chief executive.^[4]

Council meetings are held at Grimsby Town Hall, which had been built in 1863 for the old borough council of Great Grimsby.^[9] The council's main offices are in the Municipal Buildings opposite the town hall, which had been completed in 1941.^[10][11]

Since the last boundary changes in 2003 the council has comprised 42 councillors representing 15 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council elected each time for a four-year term of office.^[12]