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Dorset County Council elections

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This article is about elections to the Dorset County Council abolished in 2019. For elections to the successor Dorset Council, see Dorset Council elections.
County Hall in Dorchester, headquarters of Dorset County Council

Dorset County Council was a non-metropolitan county in England. Elections were first held on 23 January 1889, thereafter elections were held every three years, with all members being elected by the first past the post system of election on the same day. Later, the cycle was changed to one election in every four years, and the last such election was in 2017. There were also occasional by-elections, the last of which took place in December 2016.

Under the Local Government Act 1972 the non-metropolitan county of Dorset was created from the merger of the administrative county of Dorset and the county borough of Bournemouth. The first elections to the new authority were in April 1973, and the council took office on 1 April 1974. From its creation until 1997, the county council administered the entire area of the ceremonial county of Dorset. Bournemouth and Poole became unitary authorities in 1997, but continued to form part of the county for ceremonial purposes.

The council was abolished on 31 March 2019 as part of structural changes to local government in Dorset.

Political control

From the first election in 1973 following the reforms of the Local Government Act 1972 until the council's abolition in 2019, political control of the council was held by the following parties:

Party in control Years
Conservative 1973–1993
No overall control 1993–2001
Conservative 2001–2019

Leadership

The leaders of the council from 2006 until the council's abolition in 2019 were:[1]

Councillor Party From To
Angus Campbell Conservative 2006 5 May 2013
Spencer Flower Conservative 16 May 2013 2 Dec 2014
Robert Gould Conservative 3 Dec 2014 7 May 2017
Rebecca Knox Conservative 18 May 2017 31 Mar 2019

Rebecca Knox served as the leader for the shadow authority created in 2018 to oversee the transition to the successor Dorset Council, but at the first meeting of the new council after it came into effect Spencer Flower was appointed leader.

County council composition

Election Conservative Liberal Democrat[2] Labour UKIP Green Other Total
1973[3] 59 14 11 0 0 7 91
1977[4] 80 4 4 0 0 3 91
1981[5] 53 16 11 0 0 11 91
1985[6] 42 26 4 0 0 5 77
1989[7] 43 22 6 0 0 6 77
1993[8] 28 38 6 0 0 5 77
1997[9] 15 21 5 0 0 1 42
2001[10] 23 14 4 0 0 1 42
2005[11] 24 16 4 0 0 1 45
2009[12] 28 16 0 0 0 1 45
2013[13] 27 12 5 1 0 0 45
2017[14] 32 11 1 0 2 0 46

Composition since 1973

1973



1977



1981



1985



1989



1993



1997



2001



2005



2009



2013



2017



County result maps

  • 2005 results map
    2005 results map
  • 2009 results map
    2009 results map
  • 2013 results map
    2013 results map
  • 2017 results map
    2017 results map

By-election results

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-election Date Incumbent party Winning party
Ferndown by-election 6 May 1999 Conservative Conservative
Corfe Mullen by-election 10 June 2004 Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Rodwell by-election 12 November 2015 Labour Green
Sherborne Rural by-election 2 June 2016 Conservative Liberal Democrats
Ferndown by-election 1 September 2016 Conservative Conservative
Ferndown by-election 1 December 2016 UKIP Conservative

References

  1. ^ "Council minutes". Dorset Council. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  2. ^ Liberal prior to 1981, SDP-Liberal Alliance from 1981 to 1988.
  3. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1973). Local Elections Handbook 1973: The 1973 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. pp. 374–81.
  4. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1977). Local Elections Handbook 1977: The 1977 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 8.
  5. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1981). Local Elections Handbook 1981: The 1981 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 8.
  6. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1985). Local Elections Handbook 1985: The 1985 Local Election Results. Vol. 1. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 218.
  7. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1989). Local Elections Handbook 1989: The 1989 Local Election Results. Vol. 1. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 76.
  8. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1993). Local Elections Handbook 1993: The 1993 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 1.
  9. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1997). Local Elections Handbook 1997: The 1997 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 4.
  10. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2001). Local Elections Handbook 2001: The 2001 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 4.
  11. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2005). Local Elections Handbook 2005: The 2005 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. pp. 3–4.
  12. ^ "Elections 2009 – Dorset". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Dorset results". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 February 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  14. ^ "Dorset County Council". BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Local Authority Byelection Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
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