County Hall in Trowbridge, headquarters of Wiltshire Council

Wiltshire Council elections date from 2009, when the Wiltshire Council unitary authority was created.

As a result of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, the former Wiltshire County Council and the four districts within its geographical area were replaced by Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority covering the same area, with elections continuing to be held every four years. A shadow authority was in place from 2008 and the first elections were held on 4 June 2009, when they coincided with an election to the European Parliament. Previously, Wiltshire County Council had been elected between 1889 and 2005, initially every three years, later every four years.

The unitary authority area has 98 electoral divisions, each electing one councillor. In 2018, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England began the first review of the divisions,[1][2] on the grounds that in two of them the number of electors deviated from the average by more than 30%.[3] Following consultations, their proposal, enacted by Parliament in March 2020 as the Wiltshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2020 and coming into effect at the 2021 elections, kept the total at 98 but redrew boundaries and renamed divisions in several areas.[4][5]

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 2009, political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[6]

Party in controlYears
Conservative2009–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since the council's creation in 2009 have been:[7]

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Jane Scott Conservative1 Apr 20099 Jul 2019
Philip Whitehead Conservative9 Jul 201918 May 2021
Richard Clewer Conservative18 May 2021

Jane Scott had been the last leader of the predecessor Wiltshire County Council.

Council elections

The number of councillors by party was:

Party 2021 2017 2013 2009
Conservative Party 61 –7 68 +10 58 –4 62
Liberal Democrats 27 +7 20 –7 27 +3 24
Independent 7 = 7 –1 8 +1 7
Labour Party 3 = 3 –1 4 +2 2
Devizes Guardians 0 = 0 = 0 –3 3
UKIP 0 = 0 –1 1 +1 0
Control: Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative

County result maps

By-election results

By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of all by-elections;[8] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.

By-electionDateIncumbent partyWinning party
Southwick by-election 3 September 2009 Conservative Independent
Bromham, Rowde and Potterne by-election 21 December 2010 Conservative Conservative
Ethandune by-election 6 March 2014 Conservative Conservative
Bromham, Rowde and Potterne by-election 7 May 2015 Conservative Conservative
Chippenham Hardenhuish by-election 7 May 2015 Liberal Democrats Conservative
Salisbury St Edmund and Milford by-election 26 November 2015 Liberal Democrats Conservative
Amesbury East by-election 5 May 2016 Conservative Liberal Democrats
Trowbridge Grove by-election 14 July 2016 Independent Liberal Democrats
Trowbridge Drynham by-election 4 July 2019 Conservative Liberal Democrats
Westbury North by-election 18 July 2019 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Ethandune by-election 19 September 2019 Conservative Conservative
Melksham Without South by-election 24 October 2019 Conservative Conservative
Trowbridge Lambrok by-election 28 November 2019 Conservative Liberal Democrats
Till and Wylye Valley by-election 2 March 2020 Conservative Conservative
Salisbury St Paul's by-election 3 November 2022 Conservative Liberal Democrats
Tisbury by-election 8 June 2023 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wiltshire Unitary Authority". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "Electoral Review". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Explanatory Memorandum to the Wiltshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2020" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. January 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  4. 1 2 "The Wiltshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2020". gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "The Wiltshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2020". legislation.gov.uk. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Council minutes". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "Local Authority Byelection Results". Retrieved 8 May 2016.
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