Cleckheaton is an unparished area and ward of Kirklees. The population of this ward as taken at the 2011 Census was 16,622. It elects three of the borough council's 69 councillors. In 2007 all three councillors were members of the Liberal Democrats. Under the borough council's decentralisation scheme, Cleckheaton's councillors and those from Heckmondwike and Liversedge and Gomersal form the Spen Valley Area Committee. In August 2014, it was announced that Cleckheaton councillor Kath Pinnock was to be elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer.