Biography of the current Mayor of Walsall
Councillor Louise Harrison, Mayor of Walsall 2025/26
Louise started life in the Pleck area of Walsall, she has great memories of growing up in “The Pleck” as her maternal grandparents lived there until the early 90’s. She moved to Pelsall as a small child attending Shelfield infants’ school and then to Great Wyrley in the early 80’s attending Landywood middle school and Great Wyrley High school. She studied science and health studies at Cannock College and in her early working career she worked at Cannock hospital and a local adult training centre.
In 1996 after a holiday to Las Vegas, although not a gambler Louise found great interest in the glamour and glitz of the casino industry and so trained to be a croupier at the Royal Casino, Walsall. Here she met her long-term partner Brad, they moved to Torquay and spent the summer working in the casino there. In 1998 their son Liam was born while they were living in Willenhall, Louise continued working in the casino industry until 2016 when she had a change of career becoming an office manager for a Mechanical and Electrical repairs & maintenance company working with both public and private sectors.
In 1999 Louise and her family moved from Short Heath to Bloxwich where she took great pleasure in joining in with local community events. She was encouraged to stand for election for the Bloxwich West Ward in 2004 by former Mayor Cllr Melvin Pitt and won, she then was subsequently re-elected in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Louise has held many positions at the council including cabinet member for leisure, culture and lifelong learning, cabinet member for clean and green, scrutiny chair for regeneration and scrutiny chair of Economy & Environment.
She has a real passion for the community she lives in and has worked on many projects in Bloxwich, one of the most memorable is working with residents to launch an official Bloxwich Flag in 2017. The “Bloxwich Flag” is registered with the flag institute and it has a great following on social media they have regular outings throughout Bloxwich raising awareness to the flag and collecting donations for different charities.
Louise has also been an active member of the Mossley Big Local Partnership alongside residents since 2012 and supported the purchase of the former Mossley Youth Club as a community asset, and community hub. The hub is the legacy of the partnership as the project has now ended, it is currently being refurbished and will open this year, and she will continue to support them as one of her charities.
Louise has chosen both her partner Brad and her son Liam to stand alongside her as consorts and together they have chosen the following charities to benefit from the Mayor’s Appeal 2025/2026.
The Mayor’s charities
The Stroke Association
The Stroke Association is the UK’s only charity dedicated to providing lifelong support for stroke survivors and their families. Every year, they work with tens of thousands of people to help them rebuild their lives after stroke.
The Local Hub (Bloxwich West Ltd)
The Local Hub has taken on a local community asset which was formerly ‘Mossley Youth Club’. Trustees of The Local Hub have sought to bring this community asset back into use by offering various activities, services, and opportunities for the local community to empower individuals to participate more fully in society, gain economic independence, and build resilience.
Local animal rescue centres
There are many dedicated teams of volunteers working throughout our borough, who give up their time and homes to care for abandoned, abused and unwanted animals.
