An election to

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

took place on 1 May 1997 as part of the

1997 United Kingdom local elections The United Kingdom local elections took place on 1 May 1997. Elections took place for all of the English country councils, some English unitary authorities and all of the Northern Ireland districts. The elections were held on the same day as ...

. 79 councillors were elected from various electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

for a four-year term of office. With the creation of

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Southend-on-Sea City Council is the local authority of the City of Southend-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea district in Essex, England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and distric ...

and

Thurrock Council Thurrock Borough Council, usually known as simply Thurrock Council, is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Since 1997, Thurrock has been a unitary authority, combining the functions of a non-metropolitan county wit ...

in 1998 the number of seats contested at this election was reduced by 19. In 1993 the breakdown of these seats were, Lab 9 Con 5 LD 5.

Summary

Previous composition

1993 election

Composition of council seats before election

Results

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Election of Group Leaders

Paul White (Stock) was elected leader of the Conservative Group, Mervyn Juliff (Great Parndon) was elected leader of the Labour Group and Kenneth Jones (Park) was elected leader of the Liberal Democratic Group.

Government Formation

Despite winning less than half the seats contested, the incumbent Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition continued in government because the members from Southend and Thurrock (whose seats had not been contested at the election) gave them a 52 to 45 majority over the Conservatives until April 1998 when those seats would be abolished. After council leader Chris Pearson (Tendring Rural West), wasn't reelected in Maypole, Mervyn Juliff (Great Parndon) became council leader until the departure of the 19 Southend and Thurrock councilors, at which point Conservative group leader Paul White became leader. However in May 1999 Alison Enkel (Brentwood Rural) resigned from the Conservatives. This following a by election loss to Labour a year before gave control of the council back to the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition. This proved unworkable as with further resignations leading to a power struggle before defeat in budget vote which caused the coalition to resign and the Conservatives to return.

Results by Electoral Divisions