Suffolk Coastal District Council elections

Suffolk Coastal District Council in Suffolk, England was elected every four years. After the last boundary changes in 2015, 42 councillors were elected from 26 wards. ^{[1] [2]} The council was abolished in 2019, with the area becoming part of East Suffolk.

Political control

From the first elections to the council in 1973 until its abolition in 2019, political control of the council was held by the following parties: ^{[3] [4]}

Party in control		Years
	No overall control	1973–1976
	Conservative	1976–1995
	No overall control	1995–1999
	Conservative	1999–2019

Leadership

The leader of the council from 1999 until the council's abolition in 2019 was:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Ray Herring [2] [5]		Conservative	1999	31 Mar 2019

Maps

Seat maps

• 
  1983 seat map
• 
  1987 seat map
• 
  1991 seat map
• 
  1995 seat map
• 
  1999 seat map
• 
  2003 seat map
• 
  2007 seat map
• 
  2011 seat map
• 
  2015 seat map

Other results maps

• 
  2003 results map
• 
  2007 results map
• 
  2011 results map
• 
  2015 results map

Council elections

Composition of the council ^[6]

Year	Conservative	Labour	Liberal Democrats [a]	Independents & Others	Council control after election
Local government reorganisation; council established (55 seats)
1973	23	7	3	22		No overall control
1976	38	3	1	13		Conservative
1979	38	4	0	13		Conservative
New ward boundaries (55 seats) [7]
1983	44	2	0	9		Conservative
1987	39	1	6	9		Conservative
1991	36	1	6	9		Conservative
1995	18	17	15	5		No overall control
1999	36	8	10	1		Conservative
New ward boundaries (55 seats) [8] [9]
2003	43	2	10	0		Conservative
2007	45	1	9	0		Conservative
2011	44	4	5	2		Conservative
New ward boundaries (42 seats)
2015 [10]	37	1	2	2		Conservative
Council abolished; merged into East Suffolk District Council

By-election results

A by-election occurs when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of by-elections from 1983 onwards. ^[11] Full by-election results are listed under the last regular election preceeding the by-election and can be found by clicking on the ward name.

1983-1994

Ward	Date	Incumbent party		Winning party
Felixstowe East	7 November 1985		Conservative		Conservative
Hasketon	7 November 1985		Conservative		Conservative
Kesgrave	21 November 1985		Conservative		Conservative
Felixstowe South	5 November 1987		Independent		Conservative
Felixstowe North	8 September 1988		Conservative		Labour
Orford	9 April 1992		Independent		Liberal Democrats
Felixstowe West	4 February 1993		Labour		Liberal Democrats
Dennington	24 March 1994		Independent		Independent
Otley	24 March 1994		Conservative		Liberal Democrats

1995-2006

Ward	Date	Incumbent party		Winning party
Kelsale	19 October 1995		Labour		Liberal Democrats
Bramfield & Cratfield	20 June 1996		Labour		Conservative
Dennington	21 November 1996		Liberal Democrats		Conservative
Ufford	19 April 1998		Conservative		Conservative
Bramfield & Cratfield	4 May 2000		Conservative		Conservative
Felixstowe South	26 October 2000		Conservative		Conservative
Framlingham	7 June 2001		Labour		Conservative
Nacton	20 September 2001		Conservative		Conservative
Kesgrave	20 September 2001		Conservative		Conservative
Yoxford	5 February 2004		Conservative		Liberal Democrats
Felixstowe South	22 April 2004		Conservative		Conservative
Farlingaye	10 March 2005		Liberal Democrats		Liberal Democrats

2007-2019

Ward	Date	Incumbent party		Winning party
Witnesham	31 July 2008		Conservative		Conservative
Riverside	18 September 2008		Conservative		Conservative
Felixstowe South East	4 June 2009		Conservative		Conservative
Walberswick & Wenhaston	9 September 2009		Conservative		Conservative
Kesgrave East	9 February 2012		Conservative		Conservative
Leiston	19 May 2018		Conservative		Conservative
Wenhaston & Westleton	20 September 2018		Conservative		Conservative

Notes

1. Includes totals for the predecessors of the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Party and SDP (both of which participated in the Alliance).

References

1. "How your council works". Suffolk Coastal District Council. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
2. "Coastline Magazine, Autumn 2015" (PDF). East Suffolk Council. Suffolk Coastal District Council. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
3. "Suffolk Coastal". BBC News . Retrieved 15 October 2009.
4. "Compositions Calculator". The Elections Centre. University of Exeter. Retrieved 21 May 2025. (Put "Suffolk Coastal" in search box to see specific results.)
5. Geater, Paul; Noble, Jason (4 April 2019). "Who is standing in the first ever East Suffolk election in May 2019?" . Retrieved 4 June 2025.
6. "Composition calculator". Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher . The Elections Centre, Plymouth University . Retrieved 14 May 2025.
7. The District of Suffolk Coastal (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1980
8. "Local elections". BBC News . Retrieved 15 October 2009.
9. legislation.gov.uk – The District of Suffolk Coastal (Electoral Changes) Order 2001. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
10. legislation.gov.uk – The Suffolk Coastal (Electoral Changes) Order 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
11. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. "By-elections". electionscentre.co.uk. Plymouth University, England: The Elections Centre. Archived from the original on 18 January 2026. Retrieved 18 January 2026.

• By-election results

External links

• Suffolk Coastal Council