Guidlhall in Bath, headquarters of Bath and North East Somerset Council

Bath and North East Somerset Council is the local authority for the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset, England. The council is elected every four years by the first past the post system of election and currently consists of 59 councillors, representing 33 electoral wards. The Liberal Democrats are currently the largest party on the council, having gained majority control in the 2019 local elections. The council meets at The Guildhall in Bath.

Following the recommendations of the Local Government Commission for England the unitary authority replaced Bath City Council, Wansdyke District Council and Avon County Council.[1] The first elections to the new authority were in May 1995, and the council took office on 1 April 1996.

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 1995 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[2]

Party in control Years
No overall control 1995–2015
Conservative 2015–2019
Liberal Democrats 2019–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2002 have been:[3]

Councillor Party From To
Paul Crossley Liberal Democrats 9 May 2002 17 May 2007
Francine Haeberling Conservative 17 May 2007 19 May 2011
Paul Crossley Liberal Democrats 19 May 2011 21 May 2015
Tim Warren Conservative 21 May 2015 5 May 2019
Dine Romero[4] Liberal Democrats 21 May 2019 1 Apr 2021
Kevin Guy Liberal Democrats 4 May 2021

Council elections

Party 2023[9] 2019[10] 2015[11] 2011[12] 2007[7] 2003[13] 1999[14] 1995[5][15]
Liberal Democrats 41 +4 37 +22 15 –14 29 +3 26 –3 29 –1 30 +3 27
Conservative Party 3 –8 11 –26 37 +8 29 –2 31 +5 26 +10 16 = 16
Labour Party 7 +2 5 –1 6 +1 5 = 5 –1 6 –11 17 –5 22
Independent 5 –1 6 +3 3 +1 2 = 2 –2 4 +4 0 = 0
Green 3 +3 0 –2 2 +2 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 = 0
Village Voice 0 –2 2 +2
Independent Labour 0 –2 2 +2
Control: Liberal
Democrats 		Liberal
Democrats 		Conservative NOC
(Con/LD
Joint 1st) 		NOC
(Con 1st) 		NOC
(LD 1st) 		NOC
(LD 1st) 		NOC
(LD 1st)

District result maps

By-election results

By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of all by-elections;[16] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.

By-election Date Incumbent party Winning party
Abbey by-election 17 July 1997 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Weston by-election 19 February 1998 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Lansdown by-election 4 May 2000 Conservative Conservative
Bathavon North by-election 12 October 2000 Conservative Conservative
Lansdown by-election 11 July 2002 Conservative Conservative
Walcot by-election 11 July 2002 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Radstock by-election 29 July 2010 Independent Liberal Democrats
Chew Valley North by-election 15 November 2012 Conservative Conservative
Bathavon North by-election 22 May 2014 Conservative Conservative
Abbey by-election 17 November 2016 Green Conservative
Walcot by-election 6 April 2017 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Newbridge by-election 4 May 2017 Conservative Liberal Democrats
Kingsmead by-election 5 July 2018 Conservative Liberal Democrats

References

  1. ^ Rob Clements (10 May 1995). "The local elections of 4 May 1995". House of Commons Library. Research Paper 95/59. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Council minutes". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  4. ^ Sumner, Stephen (1 April 2021). "B&NES Council leader Dine Romero steps down with immediate effect". Somerset Live. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b Colin Rallings, Michael Thrasher (2011). Bath & North East Somerset Council Election Results 1995-2011 (PDF). The Elections Centre, Plymouth University (Report). Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  6. ^ legislation.gov.uk - The District of Bath and North East Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 1998. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Local Election – Thursday, 3rd May, 2007". Bath & North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  8. ^ legislation.gov.uk - The District of Bath and North East Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 2018. Retrieved on 20 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Bath and North East Somerset Council (All Wards) - Thursday, 4th May, 2023". Bath and North East Somerset. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Bath and North East Somerset Council (All Wards) - Thursday, 2nd May, 2019". Bath and North East Somerset. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Bath and North East Somerset Council (All Wards) - Thursday, 7th May, 2015". Bath and North East Somerset. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  12. ^ "Local Election – Thursday, 5th May, 2011". Bath & North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  13. ^ "Local Election – Thursday, 1st May, 2003". Bath & North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  14. ^ "Local Election – Thursday, 6th May, 1999". Bath & North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  15. ^ "Bath and North East Somerset Council results". Bath Chronicle. May 1995.
  16. ^ "Local Authority Byelection Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

External links

Council elections in Somerset
Unitary authorities of England
Categories