Matthew Riddle
The Conservatives have taken overall control of South Gloucestershire Council after gaining six more seats at the district elections.
And the Tories also now control Bath & North East Somerset Council, having won a convincing majority at the local government elections.
South Glos Council was previously run by committee with no overall control but the Tories now have 40 seats, the Liberal Democrats 16 and Labour 14. The Lib Dems lost five seats and Labour are down one after Sam Scott lost his seat in Patchway.
UKIP’s sole councillor on South Glos – Ben Walker in Bradley Stoke North – lost his seat to the Conservatives’ Paul Hardwick.
Matthew Riddle, the Conservative party leader, was returned to his Severn seat, as was Labour leader Pat Rooney to the Woodstock ward in Kingswood and the Lib Dems’ leader Ruth Davis to her Yate Central seat.
All seats were up for election in the 35 district wards as well as for more than 40 parish and town councils.
In B&NES Bath & North East Somerset District Council having won a convincing majority at the local government elections.
After two minority controlled administrations (one Conservative and the more recent Lib Dem) the Conservatives now have 35 members on the council with the Lib Dems only mustering 14 and the Labour Party five.
B&NES also has two Green Party councillors for the first time and Independent candidates were elected to represent Timsbury and Westmoreland in Bath. In Peasedown St John, where in the 2011 parish council elections, all the candidates stood under the Peasedown First banner, two B&NES councillors were elected as ‘No politics, just Peasedown’ candidates. Sarah Bevan and Karen Walker won their seats despite challenges from all three major parties as well the Greens and an independent.
