Councillor Noel Bayley elected as the new Mayor of Bury

Whitefield Councillor Noel Bayley has been sworn in as the Mayor of Bury for the new municipal year (2025/26).

He took over the chains of office from North Mayor Councillor Khalid Hussein at the annual meeting of Bury Council yesterday (Wed 21 May).

The mayor was born in Withington, Manchester and grew up in Wythenshawe, where he went to school. After leaving sixth form college, he started work with the Keep Britain Tidy Group before moving to London to work at the Ministry of Defence, and has mainly worked in the Civil Service and local government ever since.

He moved to Bury in 1991 and has lived in both Radcliffe and Whitefield. He has two younger brothers.

Cllr Bayley came to local politics through the trade union movement. He was first elected to Bury Council as a Labour councillor for St Mary’s ward in Prestwich in 2011, and now serves as a ward councillor in Besses ward, Whitefield, where he has lived for more than 20 years.

He has served on a number of committees, including Licensing & Safety, Health Scrutiny and Overview & Scrutiny and has previously been a deputy cabinet member for the environment.

He has also been a governor at two primary schools in the borough and was a governor at Cloughside College, Prestwich for ten years. Other appointments have included being a board member at Six Town Housing and the East Lancashire Railway, a member of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, and he recently chaired the local Walking & Cycling Forum.

His Mayoral Charities this year will be Early Break and Bury Blind Society.

The mayoress will be Ms Gill Campbell, and his consort will be Cllr Elliot Moss.

Canon Steven Parkinson of St Michael’s & St Bernadette’s Parish in Whitefield will serve as the mayor’s chaplain.

Cllr Bayley said: “Although I am not from Bury, I chose to live here over 30 years ago and have lived here ever since. It is the honour of my life to be the Mayor of Bury for the mayoral year.

“I am looking forward to a busy year and meeting lots of people across Bury in their workplaces, offices and schools, factories and warehouses.

“I will also be encouraging primary school children to get creative - by drawing, painting and writing about the town in which they live - and we will be having a number of prize competitions borough-wide throughout the coming mayoral year.”

At the meeting, members also voted to install Cllr Tahir Rafiq, who represents Unsworth ward, as deputy mayor for the coming year.

Medallions were also presented to the outgoing mayor in recognition of the service he has given.

ENDS