The last 16 years of local government have been among the most difficult in recent memory, with elected officials having to navigate everything from austerity to the Covid pandemic.
Few people have spent more of that period at the centre of Blackburn with Darwen Council than Councillor Damian Talbot, who has stepped down from the authority's executive after a record 16 years on the ruling body.
During that time, he oversaw some of the borough's most publicly visible services, first as executive member for leisure, culture and young people, and later for housing and public health.
Sitting down with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Labour stalwart reflected on a political career shaped by spending cuts, community campaigns and the biggest public health emergency for a generation.
Born and raised in Blackburn, Talbot attended Pleckgate High School before moving on to Clitheroe Grammar School sixth form. He later studied Economics, Government and Social Policy at the University of Manchester.
The experience exposed him to people from very different backgrounds, and who in politics seminars, struggled to see how their start in life had made things easier for them.
“You only notice it when you're disadvantaged, you don't notice it when you're advantaged,” he said.
Like many people of his generation in East Lancashire, Talbot's political awareness developed during the Thatcher years, as the formerly industrial areas of the region saw widespread losses of textiles and engineering jobs.
He said: “I grew up in the 1980s in a single-parent family. Thatcher was the Prime Minister, Blackburn was in the doldrums.
“Everyone on the side of my family who brought me up was always complaining about the state of everything, and I said I wanted to do something about it.”
As a teenager, he was inspired by the speeches of veteran Labour left-winger Tony Benn, but it was Labour's surprise defeat at the 1992 General Election that convinced him to become politically active.
After graduating, Talbot applied for a parliamentary casework job that unexpectedly turned out to be in Blackburn MP Jack Straw’s office.
Working for the Foreign Secretary brought him deeper into Labour politics. He joined local party meetings, campaigned in elections and repeatedly stood in wards where Labour had little chance of success.
The political backdrop at the time was challenging. The BNP were making gains in parts of East Lancashire and won a seat on Blackburn with Darwen Council in a Mill Hill by-election in 2002.
After several unsuccessful attempts to win office, Talbot finally secured election in Mill Hill in 2007 by defeating the Liberal Democrats, who had taken over the seat after the BNP.
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But the victory came with a catch. “I got onto the council in the year that we went into opposition for the first time in 25 years,” he recalled, calling this time ‘a good learning experience’.
With the Labour group forming a united front in order to oppose the Conservative administration, he noted: “That was in the era when meetings went on past midnight.”
In 2010, Talbot became Labour's shadow member for leisure. Within months, Labour had regained control of Blackburn with Darwen Council, while nationally the party was swept from power after 13 years in government.
“The irony is that I became a councillor just as we went into opposition locally, and then when I became an executive member, we went into opposition nationally,” he reflected.
The timing could hardly have been more difficult. As the coalition government introduced austerity policies following the financial crisis, councils across the country experienced severe reductions in funding.
In Blackburn with Darwen, these cuts hit Talbot's leisure, culture and young people portfolio particularly hard. While services such as adult social care were protected by legal obligations, leisure budgets faced some of the deepest cuts.
Across England, hundreds of libraries closed and many community facilities disappeared altogether. But that was not the case in the borough.
Talbot said he remains proud of how Blackburn with Darwen responded despite seeing his budget fall from around £10m to £3m.
Unlike many authorities, every library remained open, albeit with reduced opening hours and an increased reliance on volunteers.
“I think I approached it, and we as a council approached it, in the sense that we'd rather it was a Labour council going through this than a Conservative council, because they would do it very differently,” he said.
“One of the reasons we took power in 2010 was that the Conservative administration had threatened to close Shadsworth Leisure Centre and were looking at asset transfers for community centres, which would have effectively closed them.”
Having witnessed the effects of economic decline during the Thatcher years, Talbot knew the damage that closing these vital services would have on the borough.
“Once you've lost these facilities, they just never come back,” he said.
“In a lot of places community centres disappeared. We've still got all the community centres in Blackburn with Darwen open.”
One other challenge during this time involved the future of Turton Tower after Lancashire County Council withdrew from funding the historic site.
The Grade I listed manor house required significant investment and Talbot initially explored whether the National Trust could take over responsibility.
But instead, he established a charitable funds committee, supported by volunteers, which enabled the attraction to remain open.
“I wanted to keep Turton Tower because it's a huge asset and tourist attraction,” he said.
“And also, from a socialist point of view, it shouldn't be in private hands. It should be accessible to local children so that they can get a taste of their own history and culture.”
Another source of pride from his time in this brief is the refurbishment of Blackburn Central Library.
The building's distinctive art deco facade required extensive repairs and there were concerns over the cost. Talbot argued the investment was about more than maintaining a depository of books.
He said: “My view was that we should send a message that our library services and literacy are very important in Blackburn with Darwen.
“We, the Labour Party, believe in this, and this was an opportunity to invest in a town centre building that would also benefit the wider town centre.”
While much of his executive career was defined by council-wide projects, Talbot viewed his part in the revival of the Mill Hill Festival as one of his greatest achievements.
Following his work with a committee of residents, the event returned after years of uncertainty and has become a regular fixture in the community calendar.
“We wanted to bring the community together in Mill Hill,” he said.
“People were sceptical that it would happen ever again, and we've now had three festivals.
“The festival this year was our best one yet.
“Seeing the people there enjoying themselves and lots of children, in an area where there isn't lots of money, that was massively rewarding for me.”
After almost a decade overseeing leisure and culture, Talbot moved into a new role in 2019 as executive member for housing and public health.
Just months later, the Covid pandemic arrived.
Blackburn with Darwen experienced some of the highest infection rates in the country during parts of the crisis, attracting national attention and placing enormous pressure on public services.
Talbot argues one of the council's most important decisions was establishing a local testing and tracing system when the national programme struggled to keep pace with outbreaks.
“We decided to bring in our own test and trace arrangements because the arrangements being put in place by the Government were not quick enough,” he said.
The local approach even went on to receive praise from then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Beyond the pandemic response, Talbot points to oral health programmes for young children and his work as chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board as achievements he is particularly proud of.
The board brings together representatives from health, social care and other public services to coordinate responses to issues affecting communities across East Lancashire, but will now be chaired by the next executive member for health.
Although he has stepped down from council’s ruling body, Talbot said he is not leaving politics.
He will continue representing Mill Hill on the council while taking his role as parliamentary secretary to Hyndburn and Haslingden MP Sarah Smith to full-time, after his employer recently joined the government as a junior minister in the Department for Education.
Yet despite working for three Labour MPs during his career, Talbot remains unconvinced that Westminster would offer the same opportunities to make a difference as local government.
With MPs facing constant public scrutiny, often while having limited influence over local issues, he believes his years in Blackburn's town hall have delivered tangible results.
“I could argue that I've made more of an impact in Blackburn with Darwen Council over the last 16 years than I ever would have as an MP,” he said.
“That's because I have been able to lead on decisions and influence the outcomes.”
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