THE Conservatives have remained the largest party on North Somerset Council but without overall control, after an election that saw Labour and the Greens make gains, writes John Wimperis.
Locally, the Conservatives mostly escaped the nationwide trend of losing seats. They remained 13 seats, with seats lost equalled out with seats gained, most notably in Clevedon where the council’s divisive seafront cycle lane scheme became a key political issue.
Labour and the Greens both made key gains. Labour group leader Catherine Gibbons said: “It has been a good day for Labour,” as the party went from six seats on the council to 10.
Although still the smallest group on the council, the Greens were jubilant as they went from four councillors to seven. Group leader Bridget Petty said: “We have shown that Greens can win anywhere.”
The Liberal Democrats went from 10 councillors to nine, but Liberal Democrat councillor John Crockford-Hawley said: “I think the biggest loser today is democracy itself.”
He added that turnout in some wards had been incredibly low. In Weston-super-Mare South and Weston-super-Mare Winterstoke turnout was between 17% and 18%.
The number of Independent councillors has also gone down, dropping from 17 to 11.
Conservative councillor Peter Crew said: “It’s strange the way it has turned out. It will make setting up the council very interesting.”
A rainbow coalition of Independents, Liberal Democrats, Labour councillors, and Greens has run the council since the Conservatives collapsed four years ago. With no party winning the 26 seats needed for a majority, another coalition is certain but there are no clear answers yet on who will take part.
Independent Steve Bridger, who leads the current governing coalition, said: “It’s worked really well for the benefit of North Somerset for four years. […] I would like to see that continue.”
But when Liberal Democrat cabinet member Ash Cartman said: “I think there will be [another coalition], but I don’t know who will be in it.”
He added: “It was a very stable coalition. It stuck together for four years.”
Mr Crew said: “There are new combinations that could be done for coalition.”
He suggested other parties could look to work with the Conservatives, adding: “You could have a combination of Labour, Liberal Democrats, and Greens but it makes it more difficult because, being the biggest party at 13 [councillors], it takes less.”
In total the results of the council’s 50 seats across 35 wards were:
Conservatives: 13 councillors
Independents: 11 councillors (including 3 Portishead Independents)
Labour: 10 councillors
Liberal Democrats: 9 councillors
Green: 7 councillors
Average turnout across the election was 32.75%.
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