West Somerset District Council elections

West Somerset District Council in Somerset, England was elected every four years. The first elections to the council were held in 1973, ahead of it coming into being in 1974. The last election was held in 2015. The council was abolished in 2019 when the district merged with neighbouring Taunton Deane district to become Somerset West and Taunton. West Somerset had 28 councillors following its final boundary changes in 2011, 28 elected from 16 wards.[1]

Map showing the composition of West Somerset Council as of the last election in 2015. Conservatives in blue, independents in grey, UK Independence Party in purple and Labour in red.

Political control

From the first election to the council in 1973 until its abolition in 2019, political control of the council was held by the following parties:[2]

Party in controlYears
Independent1973–1995
No overall control1995–2003
Conservative2003–2007
Independent2007–2011
Conservative2011–2019

Leadership

The leaders of the council from 1998 to 2019 were:[3][4]

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Steven Pugsley Independent19982003
Conservative20032006
Christine Lawrence Conservative20062007
Keith Ross IndependentMay 2007May 2010
Tim Taylor Conservative19 May 201010 May 2015
Anthony Trollope-Bellew Conservative20 May 201531 Mar 2019

Council elections

Summary of the council composition after each council election, click on the year for full details of each election.

Year Conservative Independent UK Independence Party Labour Liberal Democrats (including predecessor parties) Independent Conservative Residents Vacant Notes
1973[5] 3 27 0 1 1 0 0 0
1976[5] 4 28 0 0 0 0 0 0
1979[5] 3 25 0 0 1 0 3 0 New ward boundaries[6]
1983[5] 4 27 0 0 1 0 0 0
1987[5] 6 26 0 0 0 0 0 0
1991[7] 5 22 0 3 1 0 0 1
1995[8] 9 12 0 8 2 1 0 0
1999[9] 15 8 0 5 1 0 0 2 New ward boundaries[10]
2003[11] 18 9 0 2 2 0 0 0
2007[12] 13 16 0 1 1 0 0 0
2011[2] 19 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 New ward boundaries[13]
2015[14] 21 3 3 1 0 0 0 0

District result maps
  • 1999 results map
    1999 results map
  • 2003 results map
    2003 results map
  • 2007 results map
    2007 results map
  • 2011 results map
    2011 results map
  • 2015 results map
    2015 results map

By-elections

By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of recent by-elections;[15] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.

By-electionDateIncumbent partyWinning party
Minehead South by-election 14 November 1996 Ind. Conservative Conservative
Quantock Vale by-election 17 July 1997 Conservative Independent
Minehead North by-election 23 April 1998 Independent Conservative
Porlock and Oare by-election 23 October 1998 Conservative Independent
Williton by-election 8 December 1999 Labour Conservative
Aville Vale by-election 13 July 2000 Labour Conservative
Old Cleeve by-election 7 July 2005 Independent Independent
Alcombe East by-election 1 May 2008 Conservative Conservative
Minehead South by-election 16 April 2009 Independent Independent
Dunster and Timberscombe by-election 23 March 2017 Conservative Liberal Democrats

References
  1. "Councillors — General Information". West Somerset Council. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  2. "England council elections". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  3. "Council minutes". Somerset West and Taunton Council. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  4. "Leaders' names". What do they know?. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  5. "West Somerset District Council Election Results 1973 -2011" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  6. The District of West Somerset (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976
  7. "Complete round-up of results from Thursday's local council elections". The Times. 4 May 1991.
  8. "Complete list of results from thursday's council elections". The Times. 6 May 1995.
  9. "West Somerset". BBC News Online. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  10. legislation.gov.uk - The District of West Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 1998. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
  11. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  12. "West Somerset". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  13. legislation.gov.uk - The West Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 2011. Retrieved on 3 November 2015.
  14. "District Election Results 2015". West Somerset Council. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  15. "Local Authority Byelection Results". Retrieved 27 November 2011.
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