Councillors selected the new first citizen for Chorley with the Mayor becoming a first for Lancashire. Councillor Hasina Khan will become the first female Asian Mayor in Lancashire after being the first Asian woman elected to serve as a councillor in Lancashire, back in 2006. Councillor Khan, who represents the Chorley East ward, is very much looking forward to the year with a focus on promoting inclusion across the borough. “It’s a great honour for me and I am really excited to start my year as Mayor,” said Councillor Khan.“I’m really looking forward to meeting lots of different people and having grown up in Chorley it’s going to be great to learn more about what’s happening in the borough as you don’t always get to hear about all the brilliant things that are going on here.
“I’ll be continuing the work we’ve been doing to unite communities, as well as the promoting of equality across the Chorley Borough.” Hasina moved to Chorley from India in the mid-60s with her mother to meet her father who was working in the mills here in Chorley. She attended local schools St James’s Primary School and Albany High School (now Albany Academy), before starting her career as a freelancer for Radio Lancashire and for Pakistan-based newspaper Daily Jang.
In the mid to late 90s, Hasina trained as a Youth Officer working for Lancashire County Council. She went on to manage the advice centre for young people and trained at Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) as a generalist advisor and first outreach officer. Before being elected as councillor in 2006, she also served as governor at both her former primary and secondary school as well as chairing the Duke Street Children’s Centre.
In 2015, Hasina received much deserved credit for her work in the community and particularly for her focus on community cohesion; when she was awarded the High Sheriff Award by, the then High Sheriff, Amanda Parker. The award follows 13 years of work as the founder of the Saheliyaan Asian Women’s Forum, a group setup to provide support to address women’s needs. In 2017 she was also then elected onto Lancashire County Council. “We are a very close-knit family, and the support my family has shown has really helped me to achieve what I have over the years,” said Councillor Khan. “It’s a really exciting time to be in Chorley with all the new developments that will open during my Mayoral year and I will do my best to represent the borough and continue the good work of the previous Mayor who has done a fantastic job.”
One of Hasina’s children is already well-known in local politics as her daughter Zara who, works in the NHS as a nurse by day, was elected as a councillor back in 2016.
The Mayor’s Consort will be her husband Zafar and her chosen charities for the year are: Derian House Children’s Hospice, Home-Start Central Lancashire, Royal British Legion (Chorley branch) and EPIC.