The 1999 Lichfield District Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Lichfield District Council in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England. The whole council was up for election and the

Conservative party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

gained overall control of the council from the Labour party.

Campaign

56 Labour, 47 Conservative, 16 Liberal Democrats, 5 Independent and 1 Independent Labour candidates stood in the election. Each ward elected from one to three members of the council depending on the size of the ward. Five Labour candidates in Chase Terrace and Summerfield wards were elected unopposed. One significant issue in the election campaign was a new traffic system the Labour council had just introduced on 1 April. This had banned vehicles from the centre of the city during the

daytime Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hemis ...

and led to complaints from shopkeepers about loss of business. Other election issues raised in the campaign included rises in council taxes, plans to replace Burntwood Leisure Centre, the sale of 5,000 rented houses to a housing association, a proposed new housing development and anti-pollution measures. During the campaign Lichfield was one of the councils visited by Conservative leader William Hague, on 29 April, with the overall local elections seen by commentators as crucial to his leadership of the party. Hague accused the Labour council of wasting money. For the Labour party, former ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' star Michael Cashman joined party workers in

canvassing Canvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaigns. Canvassing can be done for many reasons: political campaigning, grassroots fundraising, community awareness, membership driv ...

in Burntwood on 26 April. In the election the Conservatives required a 7% swing to become the largest party and a 9% swing to gain overall control of the council. Litchfield was number 8 on their list of councils they were hoping to gain.

Election result

The Conservatives retook control of the council that they had lost in the previous election in 1995. They gained two seats at Stowe ward after a recount and also gained in Lichfield City, Burntwood, Hammerwich and Alrewas wards. However the Liberal Democrats gained a seat in Mease Valley from the Conservatives. The results were sufficient to give the Conservatives a two-seat overall majority.

Aftermath

Following the election Tony Nichols was elected chairman of the council by the new Conservative majority. However, there was controversy as the new opposition councillors claimed that the Conservatives did not give them as many seats on the council committees that they were legally due following the election.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 1999 1999 English local elections

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

1990s in Staffordshire