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.
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 |
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 |
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) |
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 |