The 2011 North Somerset Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the ...

Unitary Unitary may refer to: Mathematics * Unitary divisor * Unitary element * Unitary group * Unitary matrix * Unitary morphism * Unitary operator * Unitary transformation * Unitary representation * Unitarity (physics) * ''E''-unitary inverse semigrou ...

Council in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The whole council was up for election and the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

stayed in overall control of the council.

Background

At the last election in 2007 the Conservatives gained control of the council with 46 seats. This was compared to 6 independents, 5 Liberal Democrats, 3

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and 1

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s. In February 2011 Liberal Democrat councillor for

Nailsea Nailsea is a town in Somerset, England, southwest of Bristol, and northeast of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea had a populatio ...

East Andy Cole said he would be standing in the election as an independent. Cole was one of a total of 182 candidates who stood in the election for the 61 seats on the council. These were 58 Conservatives, 53 Labour, 42 Liberal Democrats, 20 independents, 5 Green Party, 3

United Kingdom Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

and 1 from the All The South Party. The most candidates were in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

West

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

, where 12 people contested the seats. The Conservative administration of the previous 4 years was attacked over the cost moving the council offices to Castlewood in

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 ...

and over the refurbishment of the town hall in Weston-super-Mare. However the Conservatives said they had been able to make savings and therefore not had to make as big cuts as other councils.

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives remain in control of the council after winning 42 of the 61 seats. Independents won 7 seats, the Liberal Democrats 6, Labour 5 and the Green Party 1 seat. The Liberal Democrats took 2 seats from the Conservatives in Weston-super-Mare Central and 3 seats from them in Weston-super-Mare West, but lost 3 seats back to the Conservatives in Weston-super-Mare South

Worle Worle ( ) is a large village in North Somerset which is joined to the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare on its western edge. It, however, maintains a very separate identity, and may now be bigger than its more famous neighbour. Worle pre-dates ...

. Meanwhile, Labour also gained 2 seats from the Conservatives in Weston-super-Mare East. Long time councillor and independent Nan Kirsen lost her seat in

Pill Pill or The Pill may refer to: Drugs * Pill (pharmacy), referring to anything small for a specific dose of medicine * "The Pill", a general nickname for the combined oral contraceptive pill Film and television * ''The Pill'' (film), a 2011 fil ...

to another independent Don Davies, standing for the Sustainable Pill and District Party, by 17 votes, while Andy Cole won his seat in Nailsea East as an independent after leaving the Liberal Democrats.

Ward results

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2011

2011 2010s in Somerset