Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is a unitary local authority for the district of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England that came into being on 1 April 2019. It was created from the areas that were previously administered by the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch.

The first elections to the council took place in May 2019. The current leader of the council is Drew Mellor who succeeded Vikki Slade after she lost a Vote of No Confidence proposed by the Conservatives 39 to 33.

Shadow authority

Statutory instruments for the creation of the new authority were made on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 25 May 2018, and a shadow authority was formed the following day.

The ''Shadow Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council'' had 125 members, being the elected councillors from Bournemouth Borough Council, Christchurch Borough Council, Poole Borough Council and the five councillors from Dorset County Council who were elected from divisions within Christchurch. Similarly a shadow authority was created for Dorset Council, consisting of the borough and county councillors of Dorset, excluding those from Christchurch. The Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole shadow authority formed a shadow executive committee, of eight councillors from Bournemouth Borough Council, two from Christchurch Borough Council and six from Poole Borough Council. The shadow authority and initially the council itself met in lecture theatres at Bournemouth University, as no other space was large enough to host all 125 members.

The first meeting of the shadow authority was held on Wednesday 6 June 2018. Ray Nottage was elected to be Chair of the shadow authority and Ann Stribley was elected as Vice-Chair. A shadow executive committee was also formed and met for the first time on 15 June 2018, at which point Janet Walton was appointed as the Shadow Council Leader.

Elected Council

On 2 May 2019, as part of the wider local elections, the authority held elections to replace the shadow authority. Whereas the shadow authority had had 125 members, new ward boundaries created by the Local Government Boundary Commission brought the number down to 76, across 33 multi-member wards. Whilst the Conservative Party won the most seats, they lost their majority, with the newly elected council under no-overall control. The Liberal Democrats were the second largest party, with 15 seats. Other parties elected included Poole People (7), Labour (3), the Greens (2), the Alliance for Local Living (1) and UKIP (1), alongside 11 independents. After negotiations, all groups other than the Conservatives and UKIP formed a "Unity Alliance administration", headed by the Liberal Democrats with Vikki Slade elected Leader of the Council, with other parties receiving cabinet positions.

In October 2019, two Poole People councillors left the party, with one remaining as part of the Unity Alliance and one resigning from the group. In April 2020 Christchurch Independents councillor Colin Bungey of the Commons ward died, with his seat becoming vacant, leading to the Unity Alliance having a minority of one. Whilst a by-election would usually be held shortly thereafter, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this was postponed. Conservative council leader Drew Mellor motioned for a vote of no confidence to be held in the now minority administration, which was held on 9 June. All 75 serving councillors attended the virtual council meeting, in which all 36 Conservative councillors and one independent voted for the motion, with the 37 Unity Alliance administration councillors against, and the single UKIP councillor abstaining. As such there was a tie of 37 votes each way, meaning that Council Chairman David Flagg cast the deciding vote against the motion, with the Unity Alliance remained in administration.

Subsequent to this, Liberal Democrat councillor Pete Parish of the Canford Heath ward died, and independent (and former Poole People) councillor Julie Bagwell left the Unity Alliance, leaving the Unity Alliance administration with 34 seats. A second vote of confidence was then tabled, with Vikki Slade removed as leader on 15 September, with 39 votes in support of the vote of no confidence, and 33 against. A meeting was scheduled to be held on October 1 to decide a new leader of the council, in which Christchurch Independent councillor Lesley Dedman nominated Vikki Slade as leader again, whilst Conservative councillor Phil Broadhead nominated Conservative leader Drew Mellor; in the subsequent vote, Mellor received 40 votes whilst Slade received 33 votes, with one remaining councillor abstaining. The Christchurch Independents group, who are formed from former Christchurch Conservative Councillors, rejected an offer to become part of the new administration, meaning that the Conservatives remain a minority administration.

On 20 September 2021, it was reported that four Councillors from varying groups joined the Conservative administration, allowing the Conservative group to form the majority on the council for the first time. These councillors were: Steve Baron (Parkstone), Daniel Butt ( Hamworthy), Toby Johnson ( Alderney and Bourne Valley) and Nigel Brooks (Highcliffe and Walkford).

Political groupings

Most councillors were elected as part of a political party, with eleven elected as independents alongside several localist parties; subsequently parties were able to form political groups, which may be made up of several political parties; the allocation of seats on committees is based on the proportion of these groups. There are currently six groups, with seven unaligned councillors, and two vacant seats. Whilst the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Labour Party sit by themselves, some parties and independents joined together in groups; the Christchurch Independents was formed as a grouping of independents within the Christchurch area of the district, who ran for BCP Council after several were suspended from the Conservative Party for opposing the plans that lead to the creation of the new authority; Poole People joined together win the one ALL Councillor, Felicity Rice, to form a group; the two Green councillors joined with two independents in Bournemouth to form the Bournemouth Independents and Green group (originally the Bournemouth Group), The remaining independents and UKIP councillor are unaligned and thus sit by themselves, with the two other seats remaining vacant. Note that the current composition differs from the groups composition after the 2019 election, with such developments outlined above.

In 2021, after the by-elections for the Canford Heath and Commons wards, the Poole People and ALL Group was renamed to Poole Independents, composed of the remaining Poole People and ALL Councillors, alongside independent former Poole People councillor Pete Miles.

The Poole Local Group was formed in June 2022. On 3 October 2022 Redhill and Northbourne councillor Jackie Edwards left the Conservatives to sit as an Independent. Three days later the Christchurch Independents held Highcliffe and Walkford in a by-election.

See also

* Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
* South East Dorset conurbation

Notes

References

External links

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council

{{Coord missing, Dorset

Local government in Bournemouth
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Bournemouth
Unitary authority councils of England
2019 establishments in England
Local authorities in Dorset