Councillor Chaman Lal
Lord Mayor of Birmingham (Lord Mayor 2023 – 2024)
Councillor Chaman Lal is the first British Indian, Ravidassia, and from a Sikh family to become Lord Mayor of Birmingham. He was born in a village called Pakhowal, in the Hoshiar Pur District, Punjab, India.
His father Sardar Harnam Singh (Banga) was a British/Indian army officer who in the second world war served in the Italian campaign; and his uncle Sardar Ram Singh (Banga) was also a British/Indian army officer during the second world war, he was taken as a prisoner of war and was killed in the Burma Campaign.
His father came to England in 1954 and settled in Birmingham taking employment in various industries including several years with British Steel.
Chaman came to England with his mother Sardarni Jai Kaur to join his father in 1964 and like his father the Lord Mayor has always lived in Birmingham, so he is truly a Brummie.
Chaman attended Wattville Secondary Modern School and continued with his studies in evening classes at Sandwell and Matthew Boulton Colleges. He believes in lifelong learning, and he continued his academic studies in economics and law on part time degree courses at the local Polytechnic.
He married Vidya Wati in 1971 and they had three daughters and two sons. Chaman and Vidya supported all their children into higher education.
He qualified as an engineer in electronics and became an apprentice with an electronics company. He progressed to becoming their youngest chief engineer in the service department and was later promoted to the post of manager of the service department. He left their employment to set up his own electronics business and moved on to set up other businesses.
Chaman joined the Labour Party in 1989 and he has taken part in many social justice campaigns to challenge inequality and all forms of discrimination. He was first elected as a Councillor in 1994 for the Soho Ward and is now Councillor for the Soho and Jewellery Quarter Ward. He has served on most of the Council’s committees in the past 29 years; as well as being a cabinet advisor for major transport projects and recently as the Chair of the Sustainability and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
He has served many years on the West Midlands Transport Authority and has a keen interest in improving public transport. As Chair of the Transport Scrutiny Committee, he led several Task and Finish Groups including making the recommendations for the best e-ticketing solution for the WMPTA which led to the introduction of the contactless travel (Swift Card) in the West Midlands area. His other policy reviews resulted in more late night and early morning bus services to meet the needs of the night economy as well as early morning workers.
He is looking forward to serving the people of the great city of Birmingham not just as their Lord Mayor but as Birmingham’s first citizen.
The Lord Mayor’s interests include cricket, live music and performing arts.