History of Bristol City Council
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bristol City Council is a unitary authority and ceremonial county in England. Originally formed on 1 April 1974 as a non-metropolitan district as a result of the Local Government Act 1972 (with initial elections taking place in 1973). It was envisaged that Bristol would share power with Avon County Council, an arrangement that lasted until 1996 when it was made into a unitary authority by the Local Government Commission for England, which abolished the county of Avon and gave Bristol City Council control of Avon Council's responsibilities.
Since 2012 Bristol has had a directly elected mayor, who acts as an executive branch separate from elected councillors.
Since the 1300s Bristol has been The City and County of Bristol and is in neither Somerset or Gloucester. For Admin it came under Avon which is not a county.
The position of mayor of Bristol was created following the English mayoral referendum on 4 May 2012, in which Bristol was the only city to vote in favour of introducing an elected mayor. The first mayoral election was held in November, being won by George Ferguson.
| Year | Party | Mayor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2016 – May 2024 | Labour | Marvin Rees | |
| November 2012 – May 2016 | Independent (as Bristol 1st) | George Ferguson | |
Council control
From 2016 all councillors are elected every four years. Prior to that, a third of the councillors were elected every year.[1][2]
A single party must occupy more than half of the councillor seats to have control. It is possible for a party to control the council without a majority, such as when Labour councillors dissolved their coalition with the Liberal Democrats in February 2009, leaving the Liberal Democrats to form a minority leadership.[3]
| Year | Controlling party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–present | No Overall Control | Directly elected mayor - Labour | |
| 2016–2021 | Labour | Directly elected mayor - Labour | |
| 2011–2016 | No Overall Control | Directly elected mayor 2012-2016 - independent | |
| 2009–2011 | Liberal Democrats | ||
| 2003–2009 | No Overall Control | ||
| 1986–2003 | Labour | Council changed to a unitary authority in 1995. | |
| 1983–1986 | No Overall Control | ||
| 1973–1983 | Labour | ||
