Durham County Council elections

Elections to Durham County Council are held every four years. The council was created as part of the 1972 local government reforms. The first elections to the new authority were held in 1973 in advance of the council taking office in 1974. As part of changes to local government in 2009, the council became a unitary authority with the first elections to the new council taking place in 2008. Since becoming a unitary authority, 126 councillors have been elected from 63 wards.^[1]

Political control

Since 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:^[2][3]

Non-metropolitan county

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1973-2009

Unitary authority

Party in control		Years
	Labour	2008-present

County council elections

Election	Labour	Liberal Democrat[lower-alpha 1]	Conservative	Independent	Total
1973[4]	56	6	2	7	72[5]
1977[6]	41	7	14	10	72
1981[7]	53	6	7	6	72
1985[8]	50	7[lower-alpha 2]	5	10[lower-alpha 3]	72
1989[9]	56	5	7	4	72
1993[10]	56	6	6	4	72
1997[11]	53	2	2	4	61
2001[12]	53	4	2	2	61
2005[13]	53	5	2	3	63
2008[14]	67	27	10	22	126
2013[15]	94	9	4	19	126

County result maps

• 
  2005 results map
• 
  2008 results map
• 
  2013 results map

District council elections

Prior to the formation of the unitary authority in 2009, the county was divided into a number of second tier districts. The following articles detail the local elections to those district councils. The Borough of Darlington has formed a unitary authority outside the area covered by the County Council since 1997.

• Chester-le-Street District Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)
• Durham City Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)
• Darlington Borough Council elections, 1973 – 1997 (unitary authority 1997 – present)
• Derwentside District Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)
• Easington District Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)
• Sedgefield Borough Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)
• Teesdale District Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)
• Wear Valley District Council elections, 1973 – 2009 (council abolished)

By-election results

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

1997-2008

Bishop Auckland Town By-Election 30 March 2000

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat		689	42.9	+1.2
	Labour		601	37.4	-21.0
	Conservative		318	19.8	+19.8
Majority			88	5.5
Turnout			1,608	22.5
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing

Burnopfield and Dipton By-Election 28 November 2002^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Reginald Ord	519	37.2	+2.2
	Labour		500	35.8	-18.3
	Liberal Democrat		322	23.1	+23.1
	Conservative		54	3.9	-7.1
Majority			19	1.4
Turnout			1,395	22.0
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Stanley By-Election 17 July 2003

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Leslie Vaux	1,702	56.1	-20.6
	Liberal Democrat	David Rolfe	566	18.7	+4.3
	BNP	Dean McAdam	509	16.8	+16.8
	Conservative	Stuart Tilney	256	8.4	-0.5
Majority			1,136	37.4
Turnout			3,033	46.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Woodhouse Close By-Election 26 February 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Lethbridge	1,538	66.3	-2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Jody Dunn	782	33.7	+9.6
Majority			756	32.6
Turnout			2,320	43.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Durham South By-Election 26 January 2006^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Abiodun Williams	834	51.6	+4.8
	Liberal Democrat	Isobell Lunan	561	34.7	-9.1
	Conservative	Michael Fishwick	220	13.6	+4.2
Majority			273	16.9
Turnout			1,615	34.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Framwellgate Moor By-Election 8 June 2006^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Burlison	1,187	43.4	-5.5
	Liberal Democrat	Redvers Crooks	1,037	37.9	-2.9
	Independent	Ian Rutland	267	9.8	+9.8
	Conservative	Patricia Wynne	245	9.0	-1.4
Majority			150	5.5
Turnout			2,737	37.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Dawden By-Election 19 October 2006^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Edwin Mason	775	84.0	+4.3
	Conservative	Lucille Nicholson	148	16.0	-4.3
Majority			627	68.0
Turnout			923	18.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Ouston and Urpeth By-Election 30 November 2006^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Colin Carr	665	57.7	-2.8
	Liberal Democrat	Sean Kilkenny	487	42.3	+19.2
Majority			178	15.4
Turnout			1,152	18.6
	Labour hold		Swing

2008-2012

Barnard Castle East By-Election 4 June 2009^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Rowlandson	1,263	46.9	+4.2
	Independent	Anthony Cooke	634	23.5	-20.0
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Newlands	479	17.8	+17.8
	Labour	Sharon Longcroft	319	11.8	-1.9
Majority			629	23.4
Turnout			2,695	38.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Easington By-Election 11 February 2010^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Alan Barker	702	55.8	-8.3
	Independent	Terry Murray	311	24.7	+24.7
	Liberal Democrat	Carole Harrison	126	10.0	-25.9
	Conservative	Mergaret Reid	120	9.5	+9.5
Majority			391	31.1
Turnout			1,259	20.9
	Labour hold		Swing

2012-2016

Crook Division by-election, 7 November 2013^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Wear Valley Independent Group	John Bailey	360	19.6
	Conservative	Beaty Bainbridge	54	2.9
	Liberal Democrat	David English	145	7.9
	Independent	Ian Hirst	496	27.0
	Labour	Andrea Patterson	741	40.3
	Green	Joanne Yelland	41	2.2
Majority			245	13.3
Turnout			1837	18.6

Notes

1. Liberal Party prior to 1981, SDP-Liberal Alliance in 1983, Social and Liberal Democrats in 1989
2. 3 Liberal, 4 SDP
3. Includes five of other parties

References

1. "Councillors - general information". Durham County Council. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
2. "Durham". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
3. "Local election results: Durham". BBC News Online. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
4. "Labour take over metropolitan counties and 11 other councils.". The Times. 14 April 1973. p. 3.
5. Including one seat vacant after election
6. "Conservatives triumphant in Greater London and Metropolitan counties.". The Times. 6 May 1977. p. 4.
7. "GLC results in full: big Labour gains in the counties.". The Times. 8 May 1981. p. 4.
8. "County Council elections.". The Times. 3 May 1985. p. 5.
9. "County council election results.". The Times. 5 May 1989. p. 5.
10. "Results.". The Times. 7 May 1993. p. 9.
11. "County Councils.". The Times. 3 May 1997. p. 10.
12. "Durham". BBC News. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
13. "Durham". BBC News. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
14. "Durham". BBC News. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
15. "Results for Durham". BBC News. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
16. "Lib Dem win follows family tradition". London: guardian.co.uk. 29 November 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
17. "Lib Dems fail in key bylelection". London: guardian.co.uk. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
18. "Burlison retains seat for Labour". The Journal. 10 June 2006. p. 35.
19. "Mixed results for Tories in council byelections". London: guardian.co.uk. 20 October 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
20. "News in brief". The Northern Echo. 2 December 2006. p. 15.
21. "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). Durham County Council. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
22. "Labour maintains majority on Durham County Council with Easington victory". The Northern Echo. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
23. http://content.durham.gov.uk/PDFRepository/DeclarationofresultsCrook.pdf

• By-election results

External links

• Durham County Council