Birmingham City Council Leader, Councillor Ian Ward, has been a Councillor since 1995. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Group from 2005-2017 and was Deputy Leader of the Council from 2012 until 2017 when he was elected Leader. 

In this time he has had political responsibility for many areas including budgets and finance, land and property, arts and culture and development.

As Leader, Ian is overseeing a new era of investment and development in the City, with ambitious growth plans set to deliver 51,000 homes, 253 hectares of employment space and 100,000 jobs.

Birmingham is experiencing record growth and Ian's focus is on ensuring people across the city benefit from major projects including High Speed 2 and the expansion of the Metro network.

Keen to promote Birmingham’s sporting profile, he spearheaded the successful 2022 Commonwealth Games bid, having already helped bring a number of high profile international sporting events to the city.

He has worked closely with Warwickshire Country Cricket Club over a number of years, supporting the hugely successful redevelopment of Edgbaston and bids to host major games including Cricket World Cup ties and Ashes Test Matches.

Ian has participated in many partnerships and boards during his varied political career ranging from Birmingham Royal Ballet and West Midlands Arts Council to the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.