Colchester Borough Council elections

Map showing the composition of Colchester Borough Council after the Wivenhoe Quay by-election in July 2014. Liberal Democrats in yellow, Conservatives in blue, Labour in red and independent in grey.

One third of Colchester Borough Council in Essex, England is elected each year, followed by one year without election. Since the last boundary changes in 2002, 60 councillors have been elected from 27 wards.^[1] From 2016 elections, the council will consist of 51 councillors from 17 wards, a reduction of 9 councillors and 10 wards.

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:^[2][3]

Party in control	Years
No overall control	1973 - 1976
Conservative	1976 - 1986
No overall control	1986 - 1994
Liberal Democrats	1994 - 1998
No overall control	1998 - 2007
Conservative	2007 - 2008
No overall control	2008 - present

Council elections

Summary of the council composition since the 1976 election. Boundary changes took place for the 1990, 2003 and 2016 elections leading to the whole council being elected on those years.^[4]

• Colchester Borough Council election, 1973

Year	SDP-Liberal/Liberal Democrats	Conservative	Labour	Tiptree Residents	Independent	Vacant	Notes
1976	-	39	18	2	1	-	New ward boundaries[5]
1978	-	37	21	1	1	-
1979	-	38	19	2	1	-
1980	-	37	21	3	1	-
1982	2	37	18	3	1	-
1983	5	37	15	3	1	-
1984	10	35	12	3	1	-
1986	16	30	11	3	1	-	Borough boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same[6]
1987	22	27	9	3	1	-
1988	24	26	8	3	1	-
1990	28	17	10	3	-	-	New ward boundaries & borough boundary changes also took place[7][8]
1992[9]	30	21	7	3	-	-
1994[10]	34	19	6	2	-	-
1995[11]	34	13	12	1	-	-
1996[12]	33	11	15	1	-	-
1998[13]	27	15	17	1	-	-
1999[14]	26	18	15	1	-	-
2000[15]	23	22	14	1	-	-
2002[4]	26	24	6	-	4	-	New ward boundaries[16]
2003[17]	25	24	5	-	5	-
2004[18]	23	28	6	-	2	-
2006[19]	21	30	7	-	2	-
2007[20]	21	30	6	-	3	-
2008[21]	23	27	7	-	3	-
2010[22]	26	24	7	-	3	-
2011[23]	26	24	7	-	3	-
2012[24]	26	23	8	-	3	-
2014[25]	25	23	8	-	3	1
2015	20	27	9	-	4	-
2016	-	-	-	-	-	-	New ward boundaries[26]

Borough result maps

• 

  2002 results map

• 

  2003 results map

• 

  2004 results map

• 

  2006 results map

• 

  2007 results map

• 

  2008 results map

• 

  2010 results map

• 

  2012 results map

• 

  2014 results map

• 

  2015 results map

By-election results

By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of recent by-elections;^[27] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.

By-election	Date	Incumbent party		Winning party
Dedham	4 September 1997		Liberal Democrat		Conservative
Tiptree by-election	25 June 1998		Labour		Labour
Lexden by-election	19 October 2000		Conservative		Conservative
Prettygate by-election	7 June 2001		Conservative		Liberal Democrat
Mile End by-election	22 November 2001		Liberal Democrat		Liberal Democrat
Wivenhoe Quay by-election	22 April 2004		Independent		Labour
Berechurch by-election	21 October 2004		Liberal Democrat		Labour
Birch and Winstree by-election	4 December 2008		Conservative		Conservative
Wivenhoe Quay by-election	3 July 2014		Labour		Labour
Dedham & Langham by-election	15 September 2015		Conservative		Conservative

References

1. "Elections and Registering to Vote". Colchester Borough Council. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
2. "Colchester". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
3. Wilkin, Chris (11 July 2007). "Colchester: Lib Dems furious at pair’s defection to the Tories". Daily Gazette. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
4. "Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
5. The Borough of Colchester (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1975
6. The Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester (Areas) Order 1985
7. legislation.gov.uk - The Borough of Colchester (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1989. Retrieved on 4 November 2015.
8. legislation.gov.uk - The Essex and Suffolk (County Boundaries) Order 1989. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
9. "UK Council Elections: Election Results". Financial Times. 8 May 1992. p. 11.
10. "Local Elections: Full results of the voting in local authority polls". The Independent. 7 May 1994.
11. "The complete list of local council election results". The Independent. 6 May 1995.
12. "Election Results Round-Up - Local Elections". The Times. 3 May 1996. p. 8.
13. "Local government election results". The Independent. 8 May 1998.
14. "Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
15. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
16. legislation.gov.uk - The Borough of Colchester (Electoral Changes) Order 2001. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
17. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
18. "Colchester council". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
19. "Local elections: Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
20. "Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
21. "Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
22. "Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
23. "Vote 2011". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
24. "Vote 2012". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
25. "Colchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
26. legislation.gov.uk - The Colchester (Electoral Changes) Order 2015. Retrieved on 20 April 2016.
27. "Local Authority Byelection Results". Retrieved 24 May 2014.

• By-election results

External links

• Colchester Borough Council