North Somerset Council | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1996 |
Preceded by | Avon County Council Woodspring District Council |
Leadership | |
Jo Walker since January 2019[2] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 50 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | Whole council elected every four years |
Elections | |
First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Meeting place | |
Town Hall, Walliscote Grove Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1UJ | |
Website | |
www |
North Somerset Council is the local authority of North Somerset, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. The council meets at Weston-super-Mare Town Hall.
North Somerset Council provides both county-level and district-level services. The whole area is also covered by civil parishes, which form a second tier of local government.[3]
The council has been under no overall control since 2019.
The first election to Woodspring District Council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[4][5]
Woodspring district
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Conservative | 1974–1995 | |
No overall control | 1995–1996 |
North Somerset unitary authority
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | 1996–1999 | |
Conservative | 1999–2003 | |
No overall control | 2003–2007 | |
Conservative | 2007–2019 | |
No overall control | 2019–present |
The leaders of the council since 2005 have been:[6]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alan Hockridge[7] | Liberal Democrats | 2005 | 14 Apr 2007 | |
Nigel Ashton[8] | Conservative | 2007 | 14 May 2019 | |
Don Davies | Independent | 14 May 2019 | 10 May 2022 | |
Steve Bridger | Independent | 10 May 2022 | 12 May 2023 | |
Mike Bell[9] | Liberal Democrats | 12 May 2023 |
Following the 2023 North Somerset Council election and a by-election in November 2023, the composition of the council was:
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Conservative | 13 | |
Labour | 10 | |
Liberal Democrats | 9 | |
Green | 8 | |
Independent | 7 | |
Portishead Independents | 3 | |
Total | 50 |
Of the independent councillors, three sit in a group with the Liberal Democrats, one sits with the Portishead Independents, two sit with the Conservatives and the other does not belong to a group.[10] The next election is due in 2027.
See also: North Somerset Council elections |
Since the last boundary changes in 2015 the council has comprised 50 councillors representing 35 wards, with each ward electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years.[11]
The council is based at Weston-super-Mare Town Hall on Walliscote Grove Road. The building had been the headquarters of the old Weston-super-Mare Borough Council, one of Woodspring's predecessors, having been built in 1856 for the town's improvement commissioners, predecessors of the borough council.[12]