North Devon District Council election, 2011

Map of the results of the 2011 North Devon council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independents in grey.

The 2011 North Devon District Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of North Devon District Council in Devon, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.^[1]

Background

Before the election the council was controlled by the Conservatives with 22 councillors, compared to 17 Liberal Democrats and 4 independents.^[2] However North Devon was reported as one of the councils that the Conservatives were most likely to lose control of in 2011.^[3][4]

There were 120 candidates standing in the election for the 43 seats on the council.^[5] These were made up of 36 Conservatives, 33 Liberal Democrats, 20 independents, 17 Green Party, 10 Labour, 2 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, 1 United Kingdom Independence Party and 1 Communist Party of Britain.^[5] The candidates included the former Liberal Democrat leader of the council, Malcolm Prowse, and Yvette Gubb, who both quit the Liberal Democrats to stand as independents in the election.^[6]

Election result

The results saw the Conservative lose their majority on the council, dropping to 18 seats after sufering a net loss of four councillors.^[7] The Liberal Democrats stayed as the main opposition with 14 seats, but also dropped 3 seats.^[7] It was independents who made progress in the election, with the number of independent councillors going up to 11.^[8] Overall turnout in the election was 45.33%,^[9] ranging from a high of 63% in Bratton Fleming to a low of 30% in Forches and Whiddon Valley.^[5]

Among the councillors to lose their seats to independents were Conservatives Dick Jones and John Gill in Fremington and Liberal Democrats Carol Mccormack-Hole and Sue Sewell in Bickington and Roundswell, and South Molton respectively.^[10] Successful independent candidates included the former Conservative Rodney Cann and the former Liberal Democrat Malcolm Prowse.^[5]

10 of the 11 elected independent councillors divided up into 3 groups, New Wave, containing Rodney Cann, Joanne Bell, Frank Biederman and Brian Hockin, North Devon First, containing Malcolm Prowse, Julia Clark and Yvette Gubb, and Independent Group, containing Mike Edmunds, Eric Ley and Walter White.^[11] The final independent, John Moore, was not part of any group.^[11]

Following the election a coalition between the Liberal Democrat and independent councillors took control of the council from the former Conservative administration.^[12] Liberal Democrat Brian Greenslade became the new council leader,^[13] taking over from Conservative Des Brailey, while independent Rodney Cann became deputy leader.^[12] The new cabinet was made up of 5 Liberal Democrats and 4 independents.^[12]

2 independent candidates were unopposed.^[9][14]

Ward results

References

Council elections in Devon Devon County Council 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 East Devon District Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Exeter City Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Mid Devon District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 North Devon District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Plymouth City Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 1998 2000 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 South Hams District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Teignbridge District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Torbay Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015 Torridge District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 West Devon Borough Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015

(2010 ←)   United Kingdom local elections, 2011   (→ 2012) Metropolitan boroughs Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton Unitary authorities Bath and North East Somerset Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton & Hove Bristol Cheshire East Cheshire West & Chester Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Slough South Gloucestershire Southampton Southend-on-Sea Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York District councils (England) Allerdale Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Blaby Bolsover Boston Braintree Breckland Brentwood Broadland Bromsgrove Broxbourne Broxtowe Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Canterbury Carlisle Castle Point Charnwood Chelmsford Cherwell Chesterfield Chichester Chiltern Christchurch Chorley Colchester Copeland Corby Cotswold Craven Crawley Dacorum Dartford Daventry Derbyshire Dales Dover Eastbourne East Cambridgeshire East Devon East Dorset East Hampshire East Hertfordshire Eastleigh East Lindsey East Northamptonshire East Staffordshire Eden Elmbridge Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell Erewash Exeter Fenland Forest Heath Forest of Dean Fylde Gedling Gloucester Gravesham Guildford Great Yarmouth Hambleton Harborough Harlow Harrogate Hart Havant Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Horsham Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Kettering King's Lynn and West Norfolk Lancaster Lewes Lincoln Lichfield Maidstone Maldon Malvern Hills Mansfield Melton Mendip Mid Devon Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex Mole Valley New Forest Newark and Sherwood Newcastle-under-Lyme North Devon North Dorset North East Derbyshire North Hertfordshire North Kesteven North Norfolk North Warwickshire North West Leicestershire Northampton Norwich Oadby and Wigston Pendle Preston Purbeck Redditch Reigate and Banstead Ribble Valley Richmondshire Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushcliffe Rushmoor Ryedale Scarborough Sedgemoor Selby Sevenoaks Shepway South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Holland South Kesteven South Lakeland South Norfolk South Northamptonshire South Oxfordshire South Ribble South Somerset South Staffordshire Spelthorne St Albans St Edmundsbury Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Suffolk Coastal Surrey Heath Swale Swale Tamworth Tandridge Taunton Deane Teignbridge Tendring Test Valley Tewkesbury Thanet Three Rivers Tonbridge and Malling Torridge Tunbridge Wells Uttlesford Vale of White Horse Warwick Watford Waveney Waverley Wealden Wellingborough Welwyn Hatfield West Devon West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire West Somerset Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wychavon Wycombe Wyre Wyre Forest District councils (Northern Ireland) Northern Irish District councils Antrim Ards Armagh Ballymena Ballymoney Banbridge Belfast Carrickfergus Castlereagh Coleraine Cookstown Craigavon Derry Down Dungannon and South Tyrone Fermanagh Larne Limavady Lisburn Magherafelt Moyle Newry and Mourne Newtownabbey North Down Omagh Strabane Mayoral elections Bedford Leicester Mansfield Middlesbrough Torbay National Assembly elections Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Referendums Alternative Vote Welsh devolution