Durham City Council elections

Durham was a non-metropolitan district in County Durham, England. It was abolished on 1 April 2009 and replaced by Durham County Council.

Political control

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

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1973-1979
	No overall control	1979-1983
	Labour	1983-2003
	Liberal Democrats	2003-2009

Council elections

Election	Labour	Liberal Democrat[lower-alpha 1]	Conservative	Independent	Total	Notes
1973[2]	40	7	0	14	61
1976[3]	34	10	0	17[lower-alpha 2]	61
1979[4]	24	7	4	14	49	New ward boundaries[5]
1983[6]	27	9[lower-alpha 3]	2	11[lower-alpha 4]	49
1987[7]	26	14[lower-alpha 5]	0	9[lower-alpha 6]	49	City boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same[8][9]
1991[10]	28	15	0	6	49
1995[11]	38	7	0	4	49	City boundary changes took place but the number of seats remained the same[12][13]
1999[14]	33	13	0	3	49
2003[15]	17	30	0	3	50	New ward boundaries[16]
2007[17]	17	30	0	3	50

By-election results

The following is an incomplete list of by-elections to Durham City Council.

Deerness By-Election 22 May 1997

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour		561	64.2
	Independent		259	29.6
	Liberal Democrat		54	6.2
Majority			302	34.6
Turnout			874	31.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Pelaw By-Election 12 December 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour		239	51.7	-20.9
	Liberal Democrat		223	48.3	+20.9
Majority			16	3.4
Turnout			462	29.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Brandon By-Election 11 December 2003

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour		645	59.5	-8.6
	Liberal Democrat		396	36.5	+4.6
	Conservative		43	4.0	+4.0
Majority			249	23.0
Turnout			1,084	23.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Belmont By-Election 16 December 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat		364	46.1	-4.5
	Independent		244	30.9	+1.6
	Labour		119	15.1	+0.1
	Conservative		63	8.0	+2.9
Majority			120	15.2
Turnout			790	26.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Newton Hall North By-Election 3 February 2005

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Amanda Hopgood	740	70.7	-9.4
	Labour		180	17.2	-2.7
	Conservative		65	6.2	+6.2
	Independent		62	5.9	+5.9
Majority			560	53.5
Turnout			1,047	39.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Carrville and Gilesgate Moor By-Election 5 May 2005

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Les Thomson	1,618	54.1
	Labour		1,141	38.2
	Conservative		229	7.7
Majority			477	53.5
Turnout			2,988	69.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Coxhoe By-Election 5 May 2005

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Hepplewhite	1,947	69.3
	Liberal Democrat		640	22.8
	Conservative		221	7.9
Majority			1,307	46.5
Turnout			2,808	64.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Shadforth & Sherburn By-Election 6 April 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Colledge	658	48.7	-5.1
	Labour	Angela Leary	625	46.3	+15.2
	Conservative	Carolyn Smith	67	5.0	+5.0
Majority			33	2.4
Turnout			1,350	35.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Notes

1. Liberal Party prior to 1983, SDP-Liberal Alliance in 1983 and 1987.
2. Including one Independent Labour
3. 5 Liberal, 4 SDP
4. Including one Independent Labour
5. 5 Liberal, 9 SDP
6. Including three Independent Labour

References

1. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. "Final poll result may lie with Independents". The Times. 8 June 1973.
3. "Heavy Labour losses in district polls". The Times. 8 May 1976.
4. Local elections in Britain: a statistical digest, edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher. 1993
5. The City of Durham (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1978
6. "How votes were cast in local government elections". The Times. 7 May 1983. p. 4.
7. "Results in Thursday's local elections". The Times. 9 May 1987.
8. The Durham and Easington (Areas) Order 1985
9. The Durham (District Boundaries) Order 1986
10. "Complete round-up of results from Thursday's local council elections". The Times. 4 May 1991.
11. "Complete list of results from Thursday's council elections". The Times. 6 May 1995. p. 10.
12. legislation.gov.uk - The Durham and Tyne and Wear (County and District Boundaries) Order 1992. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
13. legislation.gov.uk - The Durham and Tyne and Wear (County and District Boundaries) (Variation) Order 1993. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
14. "Durham City". BBC News. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
15. "Durham City". BBC News. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
16. legislation.gov.uk - The City of Durham (Electoral Changes) Order 1999. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
17. "Durham". BBC News. 5 May 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2013.