in 1875, the district including part of Great Marsden, on the south side of Colne Water between Fox Clough and Swinden Clough. This area was made an urban district in 1894 and designated a Municipal Borough in 1895. In 1935 the borough absorbed an area to the east around Barnside, historically a detached part of Foulridge. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Colne became part of the Borough of Pendle. Initially Colne formed part of an unparished area, in 1992 a new civil parish of Laneshaw Bridge was created from what had been the eastern side of the municipal borough. A new Colne civil parish was formed in 2008. A town council was re-established at that time; it meets in Colne Town Hall, which was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1894. After boundary changes in 2020 which reduced the number of wards in the borough to 12, three cover parts of Colne parish – Boulsworth & Foulridge, Waterside & Horsfield, and Vivary Bridge. The town is represented on Lancashire County Council in two divisions: Pendle Central and Pendle Rural. The Member of Parliament for Pendle, the constituency into which the town falls, is Andrew Stephenson (Conservative), who was first elected in 2010. Demography The town's population declined during the 20th century, as was the case in many Lancashire mill towns, from 26,000 in 1911 to just 19,000 in 1961. The United Kingdom Census 2011 showed a total resident population for Colne civil parish of 17,855. The town forms part of a wider urban area, which had a population of 149,796 in 2001. A similar but larger, Burnley Built-up area defined in the 2011 census had a population of 149,422. The racial composition of the town in 2011 was 95.8% White (93.9% White British), 3.0% Asian, 0.1% Black, 0.9% Mixed and 0.1% Other. The largest religious groups were Christian (58.5%) and Muslim (2.5%). 68.5% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 were classed as economically active and in work. Economy Colne's former cotton industry has all but disappeared. Many of the textile weaving mills that used to punctuate the landscape have been demolished to make way for new retail outlets and modern housing. Others lie semi-derelict, but the best examples continue to provide jobs for local residents by accommodating new manufacturing and service businesses. Strong growth has been experienced in precision engineering, particularly associated with