One third of the Norwich City Council in Norfolk, England is elected each year. Since the last boundary changes in 2019, 39 councillors have been elected from 13 wards. [1]
For the majority of its history, the council has been under Labour control, with the party having held a majority of seats from 1973-2000, and again from 2012-2023. Between the 2023 and 2024 election, 3 Labour councillors resigned from the party to sit as Independents, citing the direction of the party under the leadership of Keir Starmer. While remaining the largest party, this caused Labour to lose its majority for the first time since 2011, pushing the council to no overall control.
The Liberal Party (a predecessor party to the Liberal Democrats) first gained representation on the council following the 1980 election, with a single seat. After the Liberal Party and SDP merged to form the Liberal Democrats (then SLD) in 1988, the party made steady gains in both seats and vote share, culminating in them winning a majority of seats at the 2002 and 2003 elections.
However, the ascendancy of the Liberal Democrats was cut short, as the Green Party began winning seats on the council at the 2002 election. Rapid growth over the next decade increased the number of Green councillors from 2 in 2002, to 15 in 2012. This was primarily at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, whose seat numbers collapsed, and ultimately led to the Greens replacing them as a leading party on the council.
The Conservative Party won representation on the council from the inaugural 1973 election, providing the principal opposition to Labour from 1973-1986. However, their seat count began to decline from the 1983 election, and they were eventually usurped by the Liberal Democrats. They lost representation on the council at the 1996 election. Regaining seats in the 2000 election, they were again represented on the council until the 2012 election, when they lost all their seats. Since then, they have failed to win any seats and remain an extra-parliamentary opposition.
Year | Labour | Liberal Democrats [a] | Green | Conservative | Independents & Others | Council control after election | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Local government reorganisation; council established (48 seats) | ||||||||
1973 | 37 | 0 | – | 11 | 0 | Labour | ||
1976 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | Labour | ||
New ward boundaries | ||||||||
1979 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | Labour | ||
1980 | 37 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | Labour | ||
1982 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | Labour | ||
1983 | 37 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | Labour | ||
1984 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | Labour | ||
1986 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | Labour | ||
1987 | 36 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Labour | ||
1988 | 37 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Labour | ||
1990 | 37 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Labour | ||
1991 | 38 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Labour | ||
1992 | 36 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Labour | ||
1994 | 36 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Labour | ||
1995 | 37 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Labour | ||
1996 | 37 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
1998 | 35 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
1999 | 33 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2000 | 26 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Labour | ||
2002 | 19 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Liberal Democrats | ||
2003 | 15 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Liberal Democrats | ||
New ward boundaries; seats reduced from 48 to 39 | ||||||||
2004 | 15 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 | No overall control | ||
2006 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 0 | No overall control | ||
2007 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 0 | No overall control | ||
2008 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 0 | No overall control | ||
2010 | 16 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 0 | No overall control | ||
2011 | 18 | 4 | 15 | 2 | 0 | No overall control | ||
2012 | 21 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2014 | 21 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2015 | 22 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2016 | 26 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2018 | 31 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
New ward boundaries | ||||||||
2019 | 27 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2021 | 26 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2022 | 25 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2023 | 23 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 0 | Labour | ||
2024 | 19 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 2 | No overall control | ||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 956 | 52.7 | |||
Liberal Democrats | 637 | 35.1 | |||
Conservative | 220 | 12.1 | |||
Majority | 319 | 17.6 | |||
Turnout | 1,813 | 32.6 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 2,088 | 56.0 | −8.1 | ||
Liberal Democrats | 1,226 | 32.9 | +15.9 | ||
Green | 413 | 11.0 | +1.1 | ||
Majority | 862 | 13.1 | |||
Turnout | 3,727 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | 755 | ||||
Liberal Democrats | 738 | ||||
Labour | 431 | ||||
Labour | 407 | ||||
Conservative | 144 | ||||
Conservative | 142 | ||||
Green | 81 | ||||
Green | 74 | ||||
Turnout | 2,772 | 22.0 | |||
Liberal Democrats hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | Carl Mayhew | 789 | 46.1 | +11.7 | |
Labour | Barbara James | 702 | 41.0 | −0.7 | |
Green | Susan Curran | 115 | 6.7 | −5.6 | |
Conservative | David Mackie | 106 | 6.2 | −5.4 | |
Majority | 87 | 5.1 | |||
Turnout | 1,712 | 24.4 | |||
Liberal Democrats hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Andrew Wiltshire | 915 | 35.8 | −10.2 | |
Labour | Jo Storie | 761 | 29.8 | −5.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | Dave Thomas | 686 | 26.8 | +19.8 | |
Green | Christine Way | 193 | 7.6 | −3.9 | |
Majority | 154 | 6.0 | |||
Turnout | 2,555 | 31.0 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Marion Frances Maxwell | 884 | 59.3 | −2.5 | |
Conservative | Evelyn Jean Collishaw | 259 | 17.4 | −1.5 | |
UKIP | Glenn Stuart Tingle | 232 | 15.6 | +15.6 | |
Green | Judith Ford | 73 | 4.9 | −8.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Michael Anthony Sutton-Croft | 42 | 2.8 | −3.3 | |
Majority | 625 | ||||
Turnout | |||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Green | Andrew Boswell | 1,121 | 56.0 | −3.5 | |
Labour | Layla Dickerson | 599 | 29.9 | +4.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | Helen Anne Whitworth | 174 | 8.7 | +2.4 | |
Conservative | Alexandra Rhiannon Davies | 108 | 5.4 | −3.6 | |
Majority | 522 | ||||
Turnout | |||||
Green hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Green | Simeon Jackson | 1,152 | 46.1 | +3.3 | |
Labour | Tony Waring | 861 | 34.5 | −3.0 | |
Conservative | Samuel Stringer | 308 | 12.3 | +0.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Jeremy Hooke | 177 | 7.1 | −1.1 | |
Majority | 291 | 11.6 | |||
Turnout | 2,498 | ||||
Green hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Richard Lawes | 689 | 31.5 | −30.4 | |
Reform UK | Nick Taylor | 688 | 31.4 | New | |
Green | Tony Arthur Park | 430 | 19.6 | +8.0 | |
Conservative | Anthony Daniel Little | 281 | 12.8 | −4.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Sean Timothy Bennett | 102 | 4.7 | −4.2 | |
Majority | 1 | 0.1 | |||
Turnout | 2,190 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Green | Ian Clifford Stutely | 1,087 | 54.6 | −7.3 | |
Reform UK | Craig Barker | 381 | 19.1 | New | |
Labour | George Andrew Heaney | 312 | 15.7 | −10.8 | |
Conservative | Edith Jones | 106 | 5.3 | −2.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Gordon Richard Dean | 105 | 5.3 | +1.8 | |
Majority | 706 | 35.5 | |||
Turnout | 1,991 | ||||
Green hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Green | Jenny Knight | 1,280 | 54.0 | −4.4 | |
Labour | Paul Guille | 525 | 22.2 | −8.6 | |
Reform UK | Valerie Brind | 367 | 15.5 | +11.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Marlowe North | 99 | 4.2 | +1.6 | |
Conservative | Simon Mark Jones | 85 | 3.6 | −0.9 | |
Independent | His Excellency Freeman | 13 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 755 | 31.8 | |||
Turnout | 2,369 | ||||
Green hold | Swing | ![]() |