Bath and North East Somerset Council | |
---|---|
Whole council elected every four years | |
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1996 |
Preceded by | Avon County Council District councils
|
Leadership | |
Will Godfrey [2] since October 2019 | |
Structure | |
Seats | 59 Councillors [3] |
Political groups |
|
Joint committees | West of England Combined Authority |
Length of term | 4 years |
Elections | |
First past the post | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Meeting place | |
Guildhall, Bath | |
Website | |
beta |
Bath and North East Somerset Council is the local council for the district of Bath and North East Somerset in Somerset, England.
It is a unitary authority, with the powers and functions of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The council consists of 59 councillors: 28 from Bath, 8 from Midsomer Norton & Radstock, 6 from Keynsham, and 17 from other areas.
Historically part of the county of Somerset, Bath was made a county borough in 1889 and thus was independent of the newly created administrative Somerset county council. [5] The area that would become Bath and North East Somerset became part of Avon when that non-metropolitan county was created in 1974. When Avon was abolished in 1996, its non-metropolitan districts of Wansdyke and Bath were combined into a new unitary authority named Bath and North East Somerset, with its principal offices at Bath. [6]
Before the Reform Act of 1832, Bath elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons. [7] Bath now has a single parliamentary constituency, with a Liberal Democrat, Wera Hobhouse, as Member of Parliament since 2017. The rest of the council's area falls within the North East Somerset constituency. [8] Previously, most of the area was in the Wansdyke constituency.
In 1999 the council housing in the area was transferred to the charitable Somer Community Housing Trust, which was later to become Curo. [9]
Following a successful petition, a referendum was held in 2016 proposing a directly elected mayor for the Bath and North East Somerset district. [10] The proposal was rejected by 78.1% of voters.
From the creation of the authority in 1995, no political party had overall control of the council until 2015. The Liberal Democrats quickly became the dominant party until the 2007 elections when the Conservative Party won 31 seats to become the largest party, though they did not have a majority. In the 2015 elections, the Conservatives won 37 seats to gain overall control of the council, then in 2019 the Liberal Democrats took control after winning 37 seats.
A boundary change in 2018 meant that the number of councillors elected in 2019 was reduced from 65 to 59, and the number of electoral wards from 37 to 33. Most wards had their boundaries adjusted so that the number of electors per councillor is roughly similar. [11] [12] [13]
The number of councillors by party was:
Date | Liberal Democrat | +/– | Conservative | +/– | Labour | +/– | Greens | +/– | Independent | +/– | Other | +/– | Control | ||||||
1995 | 27 | 16 | 22 | – | – | – | NOC | ||||||||||||
1999 | 30 | +3 | 16 | = | 17 | –5 | – | – | 2 | +2 | NOC | ||||||||
2003 [14] | 29 | –1 | 26 | +10 | 6 | –11 | – | 4 | +4 | 0 | –2 | NOC | |||||||
2007 [15] | 26 | –3 | 31 | +5 | 5 | –1 | – | 3 | –1 | – | NOC | ||||||||
2011 [16] | 29 | +3 | 29 | –2 | 5 | = | – | 2 | –1 | – | NOC | ||||||||
2015 [17] | 15 | –14 | 37 | +8 | 6 | +1 | 2 | +2 | 3 | +1 | 2 | +2 | Conservative | ||||||
2019 [18] | 37 [lower-alpha 1] | +22 | 11 | –26 | 5 | –1 | 0 | –2 | 6 | +3 | 0 | –2 | Liberal Democrat | ||||||
2023 [19] | 41 | +4 | 3 | –8 | 7 [lower-alpha 2] | +2 | 3 | +3 | 5 | -1 | 0 | –2 | Liberal Democrat | ||||||
Notes
References
Avon was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England that existed between 1974 and 1996. The county was named after the River Avon, which flows through the area. It was formed from the county boroughs of Bristol and Bath, together with parts of the administrative counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset.
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset.
Bath is a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom represented by Wera Hobhouse of the Liberal Democrats.
Wansdyke was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since it was created for the 2010 general election, by Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Conservative Party.
Freshford is a village and civil parish in the Avon valley 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Bath, in the county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 551. It is in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), within the Green Belt and is in a conservation area.
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.
North Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liam Fox, a Conservative who served as Secretary of State for International Trade, a new position in the Cabinet, from 2016 to 2019.
The city of Bristol, England, is a unitary authority, represented by four MPs representing seats wholly within the city boundaries. The overall trend of both local and national representation became left of centre during the latter 20th century. The city has a tradition of local activism, with environmental issues and sustainable transport being prominent issues in the city.
The region of South West England has, since the 2010 general election, 55 parliamentary constituencies which is made up of 15 borough constituencies and 40 county constituencies. At that election the Conservative Party held the largest number of constituencies, with 36. The Liberal Democrats had 15 and Labour had 4. At the 2015 general election the Liberal Democrats lost all of their seats, while the Conservatives gained one seat from Labour, leaving the Conservatives with 51 and Labour with 4. In the 2017 general election, the Conservatives remained, by far, the largest party with 47 seats, though losing three to Labour, who won 7, and one to the Liberal Democrats, who won 1. In the 2019 general election, the Conservatives increased their number of seats to 48 by regaining Stroud from Labour, who held their other six seats, while the Liberal Democrats retained their sole seat in Bath.
The 1991 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 2 May 1991. The results were a setback for the governing Conservative Party, who were left with their lowest number of councillors since 1973, though their popular vote was an improvement from the 1990 local elections.
Bath City Council was a non-metropolitan district in Avon, England, that administered the city of Bath, Somerset, from 1974 until 1996. The district council replaced the pre-1974 county borough council.
Wansdyke was a non-metropolitan district in Avon, England. It was abolished on 1 April 1996 and replaced by Bath and North East Somerset.
The 2019 Bath and North East Somerset Council election was held on 2 May 2019 to elect members of Bath and North East Somerset Council in England.
The 1995 Bath and North East Somerset Council election was held on Thursday 4 May 1995 to elect councillors to the new Bath and North East Somerset Council in England. It took place on the same day as other district council elections in the United Kingdom.
The 1994 Bath City Council election was held on Thursday 5 May 1994 to elect councillors to Bath City Council in England. It took place on the same day as other district council elections in the United Kingdom. One third of seats were up for election. Two seats were contested in Lambridge and Lansdown due to extra vacancies occurring.
The 1991 Wansdyke Council election was held on Thursday 2 May 1991 to elect councillors to Wansdyke District Council in England. It took place on the same day as other district council elections in the United Kingdom.
The 2023 Bath and North East Somerset Council election was held on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Bath and North East Somerset Council in England