Somerset County Council elections

Somerset County Council in England is elected every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2001, 58 councillors have been elected from 58 wards.

Political control

Since 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:^[1]

The leaders of the council since 2001 have been:^[2]

Councillor		From	To
Cathy Bakewell	Liberal Democrats	2001	16 May 2007
Jill Shortland	Liberal Democrats	16 May 2007	24 Jun 2009
Ken Maddock	Conservative	24 Jun 2009	16 May 2012
John Osman	Conservative	16 May 2012	7 May 2017
David Fothergill	Conservative	24 May 2017	25 May 2022
Bill Revans	Liberal Democrats	25 May 2022

Minehead By-Election 30 July 1998
Party		Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	1,428	42.6	+7.2
	Liberal Democrats	1,125	33.6	−1.4
	Labour	798	23.8	−5.8
Majority		303	9.0
Turnout		3,351	37.0
	Conservative hold	Swing

Lydeard By-Election 28 October 1999
Party		Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	948	68.2	+28.7
	Liberal Democrats	442	31.8	−14.0
Majority		506	36.4
Turnout		1,390	28.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats	Swing

Mendip North East By-Election 1 May 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Ellis	1,568	51.2	+6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Hasell	1,497	48.8	+9.7
Majority			71	2.4
Turnout			3,065	43.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shepton Mallett By-Election 29 May 2008^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Robinson	950	47.4	+10.0
	Liberal Democrats	Rachel Witcombe	783	39.1	+5.5
	Labour	Christopher Inchley	271	13.5	−15.5
Majority			167	8.3
Turnout			2,004	29.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shepton Mallett By-Election 5 May 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Parham	1,307	41.3
	Liberal Democrats	Garfield Kennedy	892	28.2
	Labour	Chris Inchley	711	22.5
	Green	Ian Forster	256	8.1
Majority			415	13.1
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

South Petherton By-Election 5 May 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Maxwell	1,333	53.6
	Conservative	Paul Thompson	943	37.9
	Green	Ian Greenfield	108	4.3
	UKIP	Godfrey Davey	104	4.2
Majority			390	15.7
Turnout				42.8
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Frome North By-Election 25 September 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Linda Oliver	1,163	47.7
	Liberal Democrats	Damon Hooton	836	34.3
	Labour	Catherine Richardson	163	6.7
	Independent	Adrian Dobinson	139	5.7
	Green	Les Spalding	139	5.7
Majority			327	13.4
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Taunton North By-Election 7 May 2015
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Michael Adkins	1,298	29.9
	Liberal Democrats	Barrie Hall	976	22.5
	Labour	Libby Lisgo	927	21.4
	UKIP	Robert Bainbridge	814	18.8
	Green	Alan Debenham	326	7.5
Majority			322	7.4
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

^ "Somerset". BBC News Online. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
^ "Council minutes". Somerset County Council. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
^ The County of Somerset (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1980
^ "Somerset". BBC Online. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
^ "New Faces Join Mendip District Council". Mendip District Council. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2010.