Dorset County Council elections

This article is about elections to the Dorset County Council abolished in 2019. For elections to the successor Dorset Council, see Dorset Council elections.

County Hall in Dorchester, headquarters of Dorset County Council

Dorset County Council was a non-metropolitan county in England. Elections were first held on 23 January 1889, thereafter elections were held every three years, with all members being elected by the first past the post system of election on the same day. Later, the cycle was changed to one election in every four years, and the last such election was in 2017. There were also occasional by-elections, the last of which took place in December 2016.

Under the Local Government Act 1972 the non-metropolitan county of Dorset was created from the merger of the administrative county of Dorset and the county borough of Bournemouth. The first elections to the new authority were in April 1973, and the council took office on 1 April 1974. From its creation until 1997, the county council administered the entire area of the ceremonial county of Dorset. Bournemouth and Poole became unitary authorities in 1997, but continued to form part of the county for ceremonial purposes.

The council was abolished on 31 March 2019 as part of structural changes to local government in Dorset.

County council composition

Election	Conservative	Liberal Democrat [1]	Labour	UKIP	Green	Other	Total
1973 [2]	59	14	11	0	0	7	91
1977 [3]	80	4	4	0	0	3	91
1981 [4]	53	16	11	0	0	11	91
1985 [5]	42	26	4	0	0	5	77
1989 [6]	43	22	6	0	0	6	77
1993 [7]	28	38	6	0	0	5	77
1997 [8]	15	21	5	0	0	1	42
2001 [9]	23	14	4	0	0	1	42
2005 [10]	24	16	4	0	0	1	45
2009 [11]	28	16	0	0	0	1	45
2013 [12]	27	12	5	1	0	0	45
2017 [13]	32	11	1	0	2	0	46

Composition since 1973

1973

1977

1981

1985

1989

1993

1997

2001

2005

2009

2013

2017

County result maps

• 
  2005 results map
• 
  2009 results map
• 
  2013 results map
• 
  2017 results map

By-election results

By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of recent by-elections; ^[14] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.

By-election	Date	Incumbent party		Winning party
Ferndown by-election	6 May 1999		Conservative		Conservative
Corfe Mullen by-election	10 June 2004		Liberal Democrats		Liberal Democrats
Rodwell by-election	12 November 2015		Labour		Green
Sherborne Rural by-election	2 June 2016		Conservative		Liberal Democrats
Ferndown by-election	1 September 2016		Conservative		Conservative
Ferndown by-election	1 December 2016		UKIP		Conservative
Bridport by-election	22 February 2018		Liberal Democrats		Conservative
Ferndown by-election	22 February 2018		Conservative		Conservative

References

1. Liberal prior to 1981, SDP-Liberal Alliance from 1981 to 1988.
2. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1973). Local Elections Handbook 1973: The 1973 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. pp. 374–81.
3. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1977). Local Elections Handbook 1977: The 1977 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 8.
4. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1981). Local Elections Handbook 1981: The 1981 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 8.
5. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1985). Local Elections Handbook 1985: The 1985 Local Election Results. Vol. 1. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 218.
6. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1989). Local Elections Handbook 1989: The 1989 Local Election Results. Vol. 1. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 76.
7. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1993). Local Elections Handbook 1993: The 1993 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 1.
8. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1997). Local Elections Handbook 1997: The 1997 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 4.
9. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2001). Local Elections Handbook 2001: The 2001 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. p. 4.
10. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2005). Local Elections Handbook 2005: The 2005 Local Election Results. Plymouth: The Elections Centre. pp. 3–4.
11. "Elections 2009 – Dorset". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
12. "Dorset results". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 February 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
13. "Dorset County Council". BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
14. "Local Authority Byelection Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2016.