Canterbury (/ˈkæntərbəri/), also known as the City of Canterbury, is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Canterbury, where the council is based. The district also includes the towns of Fordwich, Herne Bay and Whitstable, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Parts of the district lie within the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of the Kent Downs.

The neighbouring districts (clockwise from east) are Thanet, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, Ashford and Swale, all of which are also in Kent. To the north the district has a coast onto the North Sea.

Canterbury itself was an ancient borough, which had held city status from time immemorial. The earliest known charter was issued by Henry II (reigned 1154–1189). A subsequent charter in 1448 gave the city the right to appoint a mayor. Another in 1461 declared the city to be a county corporate, appointing its own sheriff, making it administratively independent from the surrounding county of Kent. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Canterbury's independence was maintained by making it a county borough, independent from the new Kent County Council. Although administratively independent, Canterbury was still deemed part of Kent for the purposes of lieutenancy.

The modern district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:

• Bridge-Blean Rural District
• Canterbury County Borough
• Herne Bay Urban District
• Whitstable Urban District

The Bridge-Blean Rural District entirely surrounded the old city; the urban districts occupied the coastal area to the north. The new district was named Canterbury after its largest settlement. The district is a non-metropolitan district, with Kent County Council providing county-level services to the area. The district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Canterbury's series of mayors dating back to 1448. Canterbury's city status was extended to cover the whole of the new borough.

In 1988 the position of mayor was given the honorific title of lord mayor. The council continues to appoint a ceremonial sheriff; the sheriff no longer has any judicial functions, but the title is today taken by the deputy chair of the council.

Canterbury City Council
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Lord Mayor	Jean Butcher, Labour since 17 May 2023
Leader	Alan Baldock, Labour since 17 May 2023
Head of Paid Service	Tricia Marshall since 2022
Structure
Seats	39
Political groups	Administration (27)   Labour (18)   Liberal Democrats (9) Other parties (12)   Conservative (8)   Green (4)
Elections
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Guildhall, St Peter's Place, Canterbury, CT1 2DB
Website
www.canterbury.gov.uk

Canterbury City Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Kent County Council. The more rural parts of the district are covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government for their areas.

The council has been under no overall control since April 2023. Following the May 2023 elections a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition formed to run the council, led by Labour councillor Alan Baldock.

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

Party in control		Years
	Conservative	1974–1991
	No overall control	1991–2005
	Conservative	2005–2023
	No overall control	2023–present

The role of lord mayor in Canterbury is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council (formally the chair of the policy committee prior to 2002). The leaders since 1974 have been:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Arthur Porter		Conservative	1 Apr 1974	19 May 1982
Jim Nock		Conservative	19 May 1982	31 Aug 1986
Peter Lee		Conservative	1 Sep 1986	10 May 1987
Jim Nock		Conservative	21 May 1987	9 May 1990
David Pentin		Conservative	10 May 1990	16 May 1991
Jackie Hayes		Liberal Democrats	16 May 1991	21 Feb 1994
Terry Rees		Labour	11 Apr 1994	19 May 1994
Celia Rigden		Independent	19 May 1994	15 Aug 1994
Marion Attwood		Conservative	15 Aug 1994	3 Oct 1994
Iain Douglas		Labour	3 Oct 1994	21 Nov 1994
Celia Rigden		Independent	21 Nov 1994	7 May 1995
Peter Wales		Liberal Democrats	18 May 1995	1 Dec 1997
Martin Vye		Liberal Democrats	1 Dec 1997	20 May 1999
(no leader)			20 May 1999	8 May 2002
Alex Perkins		Liberal Democrats	8 May 2002	11 May 2005
Harry Cragg		Conservative	11 May 2005	16 May 2007
John Gilbey		Conservative	16 May 2007	10 May 2015
Simon Cook		Conservative	20 May 2015	5 May 2019
Rob Thomas		Conservative	22 May 2019	10 Sep 2020
Ben Fitter-Harding		Conservative	10 Sep 2020	7 May 2023
Alan Baldock		Labour	17 May 2023

Following the 2023 election the composition of the council was:

Party		Councillors
	Labour	18
	Liberal Democrats	9
	Conservative	8
	Green	4
Total		39

The next election is due in 2027.

Since the last full review of boundaries in 2015 the council has comprised 39 councillors representing 21 wards with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Council meetings are held at Canterbury Guildhall at the corner of St Peter's Place and St Peter's Street, adjoining the Westgate. The building was formerly the Church of the Holy Cross. It had been commissioned by Archbishop Simon Sudbury and was completed before his death in 1381. After the church was declared redundant and deconsecrated in 1972, it was acquired by the city council and converted for municipal use: it was officially re-opened by Prince Charles as the council's meeting place on 9 November 1978.

The council's main offices are the Council Offices on Military Road, Canterbury, which was built in the 1980s. During 2024 the council plans to vacate Military Road and move its offices to converted parts of the Whitefriars Shopping Centre.

Within the district are the towns of Herne Bay and Whitstable, which, with the rural parishes and the cathedral city itself, make up the district of the City of Canterbury. There are 27 parishes within the district, as follows:

Swalecliffe is an unparished area within the district.

The district is largely rural, with a coastal strip taken up by the almost unbroken spread of seaside towns and beaches from Seasalter, west of Whitstable, to Herne Bay. Between them and the city the hills rise into the wooded area of Blean, south of which the Great Stour flows from its source beyond Ashford.

Ethnic Group	1991		2001		2011
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
White: Total	121,942	98.4%	130,700	96.6%	140,620	93%
White: British	–	–	125,289	92.6%	132,269	87.5%
White: Irish	–	–	1,338		1,260
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller	–	–	–	–	374
White: Other	–	–	4,073	3%	6,717	4.4%
Asian or Asian British: Total	1,086	0.9%	1,964	1.5%	5,135	3.4%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	349		600		1,448
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	34		77		306
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	110		117		251
Asian or Asian British: Chinese	279		650		1,436
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	314		520		1,694
Black or Black British: Total	409	0.3%	610	0.5%	1,937	1.3%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	121		186		437
Black or Black British: African	149		384		1,338
Black or Black British: Other Black	139		40		162
Mixed or British Mixed: Total	–	–	1,362	1%	2,551	1.7%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean	–	–	331		680
Mixed: White and Black African	–	–	134		305
Mixed: White and Asian	–	–	494		897
Mixed: Other Mixed	–	–	403		669
Other: Total	510	0.4%	642	0.5%	902	0.6%
Other: Arab	–	–	–	–	405
Other: Any other ethnic group	510	0.4%	642	0.5%	497
Total	123,947	100%	135,278	100%	151,145	100%

The district participates in the Sister Cities programme, with links to Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, and Vladimir, Russia.

The Three Towns Association was founded in 1985 on the initiative of three local clergymen to promote person-to-person contact between ordinary people in the UK, the U.S. and Russia. The name was subsequently changed to the Three Cities Association. The Association chose Vladimir as the twin city in Russia because it is the seat of Christianity in that country as Canterbury is the seat of Christianity in England. Vladimir was already twinned with Bloomington-Normal. Among other activities, the Association arranged home-stay exchanges between the two Simon Langton Schools in Canterbury and School No. 23 in Vladimir, where the teaching was conducted in English.

Several towns and villages within the City of Canterbury have their own twinning arrangements: see the articles on Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

• List of mayors of Canterbury
• Sheriff of Canterbury

• Canterbury City Council

51°17′N 1°05′E / 51.28°N 1.08°E / 51.28; 1.08