The local elections of 1 May 1997

The local elections of 1 May 1997 Research Paper 97/82 27 June 1997 The local elections that took place in many parts of England on 1 May were overshadowed by the general election and the results of them were poorly reported in the national press. This paper the thirteenth in an annual series provides a brief summary of the results of the May 1997 local elections. Elections took place for 34 county councils, for the whole of 19 shadow unitary councils, for a third of two existing unitary councils and for the whole of one district council. There were no elections in London, metropolitan districts, Wales or Scotland. Rob Clements, Susan Kielty Social & General Statistics Section House of Commons Library

Library Research Papers are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of these papers with Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public.

CONTENTS Page Introduction 5 Table 1: Councillors elected in 1997 local elections 6 Table 2: Net gains and losses of seats by authority 8 Table 3: Transfers of seats between the parties 10 Council control 11 Table 4: Councillors in Great Britain since 1979 13 Table 5: Council control in Great Britain since 1979 14

Introduction On 1 May 1997 there were elections for more than 3,000 seats on 56 councils in England. Elections took place for - all of the council in each of 34 county councils. These included the new shadow Worcestershire County Council, which covers the areas of the districts of Bromsgrove, Redditch, Worcester, Wychavon, Wyre Forest and the new district of Malvern Hills. There were no elections to either Berkshire or Hereford and Worcester County Councils, which will be abolished on 1 April 1998. - all of the council in 19 new unitary authorities. These will assume full powers on 1 April 1998. They include two new shadow authorities Herefordshire (which incorporates the whole of the existing city of Hereford and district of South Herefordshire and parts of the existing districts of Leominster and Malvern Hills) and Medway Towns (which combines Gillingham and Rochester). - one third of the council in two existing unitary authorities. - the whole of one district council Malvern Hills which incorporates parts of the existing districts of Leominster and Malvern Hills. This paper is intended as a brief summary of the elections. It includes details of the numbers of seats won by each party in each council together with their net gains or losses of council seats 1, and also a unique analysis by broad region of gross transfers of seats between the parties. This shows, for example, that Labour s net gain of one seat nationally is, in fact, the result of 91 seats gained and 90 lost. The paper also summarises the effects of the elections on the political control of the councils concerned and, finally, gives some estimates of the numbers of councillors from each party, and councils controlled by each party, in Great Britain as a whole at various dates since 1979. The final compilation of the results will take some time and full details, including votes cast, will be available in the autumn 2. 1 Gains and losses are as compared with the previous election in the appropriate ward or division. 2 In Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher Local elections handbook 1997 (Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth) 5

Table 1 Councillors elected in 1997 local elections Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Liberal Other Total English county councils (all out elections) Bedfordshire 25 14 10 49 Buckinghamshire 38 5 9 2 54 Cambridgeshire 33 10 16 59 Cheshire 20 20 8 48 Cornwall 7 8 39 1 24 79 Cumbria 23 44 12 4 83 Derbyshire 12 45 6 1 64 Devon 13 4 31 2 4 54 Dorset 15 5 21 1 42 Durham 2 53 2 4 61 East Sussex 21 7 16 44 Essex 40 23 15 1 79 Gloucestershire 19 18 22 4 63 Hampshire 43 8 21 2 74 Hertfordshire 38 30 9 77 Kent 46 23 15 84 Lancashire 23 48 7 78 Leicestershire 25 17 11 1 54 Lincolnshire 43 19 11 3 76 Norfolk 36 34 13 1 84 Northamptonshire 27 37 4 68 Northumberland 13 43 8 2 66 North Yorkshire 35 12 21 6 74 Nottinghamshire 17 42 4 63 Oxfordshire 27 22 19 2 70 Shropshire 17 7 14 6 44 Somerset 17 3 37 57 Staffordshire 20 40 2 62 Suffolk 31 33 15 1 80 Surrey 47 6 17 6 76 Warwickshire 22 31 8 1 62 West Sussex 37 9 24 1 71 Wiltshire 22 4 20 1 47 Worcestershire 25 22 8 2 57 All county councils 879 746 495 3 80 2,203 6

Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Liberal Other Total Unitary councils (all out elections for shadow councils) Blackburn 12 46 4 62 Blackpool 7 34 3 44 Bracknell Forest 23 17 40 Halton 1 47 8 56 Herefordshire 8 2 33 17 60 Medway Towns 20 39 21 80 Newbury 15 38 1 54 Nottingham 3 50 2 55 Peterborough 24 27 2 3 1 57 Plymouth 13 47 60 Reading 3 36 6 45 Slough 4 34 3 41 Southend-on-Sea 18 7 14 39 The Wrekin 8 38 4 4 54 Thurrock 3 46 49 Torbay 11 2 23 36 Warrington 4 45 11 60 Windsor & Maidenhead 22 29 7 58 Wokingham 31 23 54 All shadow unitaries 230 517 221 6 30 1,004 Unitary councils (third of council) Bristol 3 16 4 23 Kingston upon Hull 19 1 20 District council (whole council) Malvern Hills 9 1 20 12 42 All councils with elections 1,121 1,299 741 9 122 3,292 7

Table 2 Net gains and losses of seats Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Other English county councils (all out elections) Bedfordshire 0 0 1-1 Buckinghamshire 3 1-1 -3 Cambridgeshire 7-2 -4-1 Cheshire 0 2-2 0 Cornwall 1 1-2 0 Cumbria -5 5-1 1 Derbyshire -2 3-1 0 Devon 2-2 -1 1 Dorset -1 1 2-2 Durham 0 4-4 0 East Sussex 9 3-12 0 Essex 13-1 -12 0 Gloucestershire 9-2 -8 1 Hampshire 19 1-21 1 Hertfordshire 11 0-10 -1 Kent 8-1 -7 0 Lancashire -5 7-2 0 Leicestershire 1 1-2 0 Lincolnshire 11-6 -4-1 Norfolk 2 2-3 -1 Northamptonshire 0 1-1 0 Northumberland 0 3-3 0 North Yorkshire 9 0-7 -2 Nottinghamshire -5 6-1 0 Oxfordshire 4-2 -1-1 Shropshire -1-1 0 2 Somerset 4 1-4 -1 Staffordshire -1 8-4 -3 Suffolk 7 0-4 -3 Surrey 14-3 -12 1 Warwickshire 3 1-2 -2 West Sussex 11-1 -10 0 Wiltshire 6 0-7 1 Worcestershire 6-1 -4-1 All county councils 140 29-154 -15 8

Conserv- Liberal ative Labour Democrat Other Unitary councils (all out elections for shadow councils) Blackburn Blackpool 5-5 0 0 Bracknell Forest 11-5 -6 0 Halton Herefordshire Medway Towns Newbury Nottingham 2-1 0-1 Peterborough Plymouth 8-8 0 0 Reading -1 2-1 0 Slough (a) 3-3 0 0 Southend-on-Sea 8-4 -4 0 The Wrekin Thurrock Torbay 6-1 -5 0 Warrington Windsor & Maidenhead 5-2 -3 0 Wokingham 7 0-6 -1 All shadow unitaries (b) 54-27 -25-2 Unitary councils (third of council) Bristol -1-1 2 0 Kingston upon Hull 0 0 0 0 District council (whole council) Malvern Hills All councils with elections 193 1-177 -17 (a) Excludes one ward which has an additional councillor compared with previous elections. (b) Excluding councils with boundary changes. 9

Table 3 Gains and losses of seats by party (i) North (Six county councils and two unitary councils in North, North West and Yorkshire & Humberside regions) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con - 7 15 1 23 Lab 13-12 1 26 Lib Dem 5 3-2 10 Other 1-2 - 3 Total 19 10 29 4 62 Note: excludes three unitary councils with boundary changes. (ii) Midlands (Twelve county councils and one unitary council in West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia regions) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con - 23 29 7 59 Lab 19-12 7 38 Lib Dem 8 3-1 12 Other 2 1 1-4 Total 29 27 42 15 113 Note: excludes three unitary councils and one district council with boundary changes. (iii) South (Sixteen county councils and nine unitary councils in South East and South West regions) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con - 39 142 11 192 Lab 9-17 1 27 Lib Dem 22 11-6 39 Other 2 3 8 1 14 Total 33 53 167 19 272 Note: excludes three unitary councils with boundary changes. 10

(iv) All authorities with elections (excluding those with boundary changes) Gained by Gained from Con Lab Lib Dem Other Total Con - 69 186 19 274 Lab 41-41 9 91 Lib Dem 35 17-9 61 Other 5 4 11 1 21 Total 81 90 238 38 447 Note: excludes nine unitary councils and one district council with boundary changes. The 1997 local elections resulted in changes of political control in a number of councils, but these are complicated by the establishment of unitary councils in April 1997 and 1998. There was no change to the control of a number of councils, as follows. Of the county councils, Buckinghamshire remained Conservative; Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire remained Labour; Somerset remained Liberal Democrat; and Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Suffolk and Warwickshire remained with no overall control. The new county of Worcestershire has no overall control following the elections. Of the unitary authorities which will assume full powers in April 1998, Blackburn, Blackpool, Halton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Reading, Slough, The Wrekin, Thurrock and Warrington remained Labourcontrolled; Newbury and Torbay remained in the hands of the Liberal Democrats; and Southend continued to have no overall control. Labour continued to hold Bristol and Hull, and of the three new authorities, the Liberal Democrats now control Herefordshire while Medway Towns and Malvern Hills (district) have no overall control. The position elsewhere is a little more complicated. Bedfordshire is now Conservative whereas last year it had no overall control. The establishment of Luton as a unitary authority (UA) in April 1997 put the county into Conservative hands before this year's elections. Cambridgeshire, which formerly had no overall control, became Conservative. The establishment of Peterborough as a unitary council from April 1998 will have no effect on control of the county council. Cheshire, which had no overall control last year, is now Labour, but will revert to no overall control in April 1998 when Halton and Warrington UAs take over functions from the county council. Cornwall has become no overall control, from Liberal Democrat. 11

Cumbria has become Labour, from no overall control. Devon remains no overall control but will become Liberal Democrat in April 1998 when Plymouth and Torbay UAs take over. East Sussex, which became nominally Liberal Democrat controlled in April 1997 when the new Brighton and Hove UA took over, has reverted to no overall control. Essex remains no overall control but will become Conservative in April 1998 when Thurrock and Southend UAs take over. Hampshire, which nominally moved from no overall control to Liberal Democrat in April 1997 when the new Portsmouth and Southampton UAs took over, is now Conservative. Kent has become Conservative, from no overall control. The situation in Kent is unusual in that one Conservative councillor holds two seats on the council. One of these will disappear when the new Medway Towns UA takes over in April 1998. The result is that the Conservatives have 49 votes as do other parties combined, but the council and its committees are now chaired by Conservatives so the party has effective control. Lincolnshire has become Conservative, from no overall control. Surrey has become Conservative, from no overall control. West Sussex has become Conservative, from no overall control. Wiltshire, which became nominally Liberal Democrat controlled in April 1997 when the new Thamesdown UA took over, has reverted to no overall control. Bracknell Forest, which was a Labour district council, is now Conservative. Peterborough, which was a Labour district, now has no overall control. Windsor and Maidenhead, which was a Liberal Democrat district, is now no overall control. Wokingham, which was a Liberal Democrat district, is now Conservative. 12

Table 4 Councillors in Great Britain since 1979 Con Lab LDem (b) PC/SNP Other (c) Total Numbers of councillors (a) 1979 12,140 7,350 1,030 280 4,620 25,420 1982 10,220 8,680 2,030 160 4,280 25,360 1984 10,340 8,780 2,370 160 3,710 25,360 1986 9,030 8,710 3,090 200 3,570 24,590 1988 9,160 8,570 3,220 260 3,360 24,560 1989 9,150 8,630 3,170 270 3,290 24,520 1990 8,940 8,980 3,020 260 3,300 24,520 1991 8,070 9,460 3,670 300 3,030 24,520 1992 8,340 9,030 3,670 340 3,140 24,520 1993 7,830 9,110 4,080 340 3,150 24,510 1994 7,300 9,230 4,600 380 3,000 24,510 1995 (d) 5,490 12,440 5,380 670 3,330 27,310 1996 (d) 4,300 10,980 5,110 300 2,220 22,910 1997 (d) 4,550 10,840 4,960 300 2,230 22,880 Percentages of total 1979 48% 29% 4% 1% 18% 100% 1982 40% 34% 8% 1% 17% 100% 1984 41% 35% 9% 1% 15% 100% 1986 37% 35% 13% 1% 15% 100% 1988 37% 35% 13% 1% 14% 100% 1989 37% 35% 13% 1% 13% 100% 1990 36% 37% 12% 1% 13% 100% 1991 33% 39% 15% 1% 12% 100% 1992 34% 37% 15% 1% 13% 100% 1993 32% 37% 17% 1% 13% 100% 1994 30% 38% 19% 2% 12% 100% 1995 (d) 20% 46% 20% 2% 12% 100% 1996 (d) 19% 48% 22% 1% 10% 100% 1997 (d) 20% 47% 22% 1% 10% 100% (a) Following May elections. All figures approximate. (b) Includes Liberal and SDP/Alliance where appropriate. (c) Includes vacancies. (d) Figures include councillors for both shadow authorities and existing councils when they retain separate identities. For example, 1995 totals include Welsh districts and counties and shadow unitary councils. In the case of continuing authorities, only the new council is included. 13

Table 5 Council control in Great Britain since 1979 No Ind/ overall Con Lab LDem (a) PC/SNP other control Total Early 1979 257 78 1 5 102 79 522 Mid 1979 244 109 2 4 87 76 522 Mid 1983 199 154 4 0 78 87 522 Mid 1987 150 156 13 1 61 134 515 Spring 1992 104 182 27 1 64 137 515 Mid 1997 (b) 21 206 55 4 27 137 450 (a) (b) Includes Liberal and SDP/Alliance where appropriate. Figures include both shadow authorities and existing councils when they retain separate identities. They therefore include both Rochester and Gillingham, and Medway Towns which replaces them; Hereford & Worcester and the new county of Worcestershire; the new and old Malvern Hills districts; and both the new Herefordshire UA and the districts it will replace. 14

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