Bath and North East Somerset Council

Bath and North East Somerset Council
Whole council elected every four years
Council logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority council of Bath and North East Somerset
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	None
History
Founded	1 April 1996
Preceded by	Bath Borough Council Wansdyke District Council
Elections
Last election	5 May 2011
Next election	2015
Meeting place
Guildhall, Bath
Website
.uk.gov.bathneswww

Bath and North East Somerset Council is the local council for the district of Bath and North East Somerset in Somerset, England.

It is a unitary authority, with the powers and functions of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.

History

Historically part of the county of Somerset, Bath was made a county borough in 1889 so being independent of the newly created administrative Somerset county council, which covered the rest of B&NES.^[1] The area that would become B&NES became part of Avon when that non-metropolitan county was created in 1974. Since the abolition of Avon in 1996, Bath has been the main centre of the district of Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), one of the four authorities that replaced Avon County Council.^[2]

Before the Reform Act of 1832 Bath elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons.^[3] Bath now has a single parliamentary constituency, with Liberal Democrat Don Foster as Member of Parliament. The rest of the area falls within the North East Somerset constituency.^[4] Previously most of the area was in the Wansdyke constituency, which covers the part of B&NES that is not in the Bath constituency. It also contained four wards or parts of wards from South Gloucestershire Council. It was named after the former Wansdyke district.

Since B&NES was created, no political party has been in overall control of the council. The Liberal Democrats quickly became the dominant party, but in the local elections on 3 May 2007 the Conservative Party won 31 seats became the largest party, though they did not have a majority. After the 2011 local elections, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives won 29 seats each with the Labour Party winning only five seats, none of which are in Bath; the Liberal Democrats went on to form a minority administration.

Political control

No overall control 1995 – present.

The number of councillors by party was:

See also

• Bath and North East Somerset local elections

References

External links

• Official website

Unitary authorities of England Districts Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Durham Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York Councils Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall Derby Durham Darlington East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York Local elections Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Durham Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York