Gloucestershire County Council
Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England.
Gloucestershire County Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Chairman of Council | Cllr Ray Theodolou since 16th May 2019 |
Leader of the Council | |
Chief Executive | Pete Bungard since May 2007 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 53 councillors |
 | |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 4 years |
| Elections | |
| First past the post | |
Last election | 4 May 2017 |
Next election | 6 May 2021 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| The Shire Hall Gloucester Gloucestershire | |
| Website | |
| www | |
The council's principal functions are county roads and rights of way, social services, education and libraries, but it also provides many other local government services in the area it covers. This does not include South Gloucestershire, which is a unitary authority with all the functions of a county and a non-metropolitan district.
Political control
Since the foundation of the council in 1973 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[1]
| Party in control | Years |
|---|---|
| No overall control | 1973–2005 |
| Conservative | 2005–2013 |
| No overall control | 2013 - 2017 |
| Conservative | 2017– |
Cabinet
Council Leader Mark Hawthorne appointed the following Cabinet as of May 2019.
| Office | Party | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leader | Conservative | Mark Hawthorne | |
| Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Children's Safeguarding and Early Years | Conservative | Richard Boyles | |
| Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Commissioning | Conservative | Carole Allaway Martin | |
| Cabinet Member for Highways and Flood | Conservative | Vernon Smith | |
| Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Delivery | Conservative | Kathy Williams | |
| Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning | Conservative | Nigel Moor | |
| Cabinet Member for Finance and Change | Conservative | Lynden Stowe | |
| Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Parking and Libraries | Conservative | Dave Norman | |
| Cabinet Member for Economy, Education and Skills | Conservative | Patrick Molyneux | |
| Cabinet Member for Public Health and Communities | Conservative | Tim Harman | |
Notable members
- Thomas Davies, later member of parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury[2]
- David Drew (born 1952), later member of parliament for Stroud
- Sir Henry Elwes (born 1935), later Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire[3]
- Julie Girling (born 1956), later a Member of the European Parliament for South West England[4]
- Margaret Hills (born 1882) first female councillor on Stroud Urban District Council and a suffragist.[5]
- Nigel Jones (born 1948), later member of parliament for Cheltenham and a life peer[6]
Elections and changes
2013 Gloucestershire County Council elections
The Conservative Party lost 13 notional seats, although the numerical loss was larger due to the reduction in the total number of councillors. The Liberal Democrats remained the second largest party by total seats and percentage vote, while the Labour Party had the largest net gain of five seats. UKIP won representation on the county council for the first time, winning three seats.
The number of Independent councillors rose to two, while both the Green Party and People Against Bureaucracy saw their only councillors re-elected.
By-elections and defections, 2013 to 2017
In July 2016 UKIP group leader Alan Preest defected to the Conservatives, claiming that the party lacked a purpose following the EU Referendum.[7] He was followed shortly thereafter by UKIP councillor Colin Guyton, who left UKIP to serve as an independent.[8] He later resigned from the County Council entirely. A by-election was not held in his division due to the short length of time between it and the 2017 Local Elections.[9]
2 by-elections were held to Gloucestershire County Council in the 2013-2017 term of office. They are illustrated in the table below.
| By-election | Date | Incumbent | Party | Winner | Party | Cause | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churchdown | 5 May 2016 | Bill Whelan | Liberal Democrats | Jack Williams | Liberal Democrats | Death | ||
| Mitcheldean | 23 October 2014 | Norman Stephens | Independent | Brian Robinson | Conservative | Death | ||
Notes
- "Cotswold". BBC News Online. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- F. W. S. Craig, British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services, 1983 edition), p. 359
- 'ELWES, Sir Henry (William George)' in Who's Who 2013 (London: A & C Black, 2012)
- 'GIRLING, Julie McCulloch', in Who's Who 2014 (London: A. & C. Black, 2014); online edition by Oxford University Press, December 2013, accessed 17 January 2014
- Watson, Sarah Phaedre (24 January 2018). "Can you help uncover the history of a 'dangerous woman' of Stroud?". Stroud Journal. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- "No. 57683". The London Gazette. 23 June 2005. p. 8169.
- "UKIP council leader defects to Tories saying party 'doesn't have a point any more' after EU Referendum".
- "Ukip's Gloucestershire gang of three down to one". 1 July 2016.
- "Former UKIP councillor delays resignation to avoid by-election". 23 November 2016.