Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is a unitary local authority for the district of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England that came into being on 1 April 2019. It was created from the areas that were previously administered by the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch.[3]

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council
Council logo
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 2019
Preceded byBournemouth Borough Council
Christchurch Borough Council
Poole Borough Council
Dorset County Council
Leadership
Chair
Cllr David Flagg, Christchurch Independents Group
since 21 May 2019
Leader of the Council
Cllr Vikki Slade, Liberal Democrats
since 21 May 2019
Chief executive
Graham Farrant
since 21 May 2019
Structure
Seats76 councillors
Political groups
Unity Alliance administration (37) [1]
     Liberal Democrat (15)
     Independents (11)
     Poole People (5)
     Labour (3)
     Green Party (2)
     Alliance for Local Living (1)
Opposition (38)
     Conservative (36)
     UKIP (1)
     Independents (1)
Vacant (1)
Elections
First past the post
Last election
2 May 2019
Next election
May 2024
Meeting place
Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus,
Poole [2]
Website
www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Home.aspx

The first elections to the council took place in May 2019, replacing the shadow authority.

Shadow authority

Statutory instruments for the creation of the new authority were made on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 25 May 2018, and a shadow authority was formed the following day. [4]

The Shadow Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council had 125 members, being the elected councillors from Bournemouth Borough Council, Christchurch Borough Council, Poole Borough Council and the five councillors from Dorset County Council who were elected from divisions within Christchurch. Similarly a shadow authority was created for Dorset Council, consisting of the borough and county councillors of Dorset, excluding those from Christchurch. The Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole shadow authority formed a shadow executive committee, of eight councillors from Bournemouth Borough Council, two from Christchurch Borough Council and six from Poole Borough Council.

The first meeting of the shadow authority was held on Wednesday 6 June 2018. Ray Nottage was elected to be Chair of the shadow authority and Ann Stribley was elected as Vice-Chair. A shadow executive committee was also formed and met for the first time on 15 June 2018, at which point Janet Walton was appointed as the Shadow Council Leader. [5] [6]

Elected Council
Main article: 2019 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council election

On 2 May 2019, as part of the wider local elections, the authority held elections to replace the shadow authority. Whereas the shadow authority had 125 members, new ward boundaries created by the Local Government Boundary Commission brought the number down to 76, across 33 multi-member wards. Whereas before the election the Conservative Party had a large majority, the election saw the newly elected council with no-overall control, with the Conservatives still the largest party but short of a majority. The Liberal Democrats were the second largest party, with 15 seats. Other parties elected included Poole People (7), Labour (3), the Greens (2), the Alliance for Local Living (1) and UKIP (1), alongside 11 independents. After negotiations, all groups other than the Conservatives and UKIP formed a "Unity Alliance administration", headed by the Liberal Democrats but including other parties throughout the cabinet.

In October 2019 two Poole People councillors left the party, with one remaining as part of the Unity Alliance and one resigning from the group[7]. In April 2020 Independent Councillor Colin Bungey of the Commons ward died, with his seat becoming vacant[8]. As a member of the Christchurch Independents group, this left the Unity Alliance with a minority of one. Whilst a by-election would usually be held shortly thereafter, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this was postponed. Conservative council leader Drew Mellor motioned for a vote of no confidence to be held in the now minority administration, which was held on 9 June[9]. All 75 serving councillors attended the virtual council meeting, in which all 36 Conservative councillors and one independent voted for the motion, with the 37 Unity Alliance administration councillors against, and the single UKIP councillors abstaining[10]. As such there was a tie of 37 votes each way, meaning that Council Chairman Cllr David Flagg cast the deciding vote against the motion, meaning that the Unity Alliance remained in administration[11][12].

Political groups

As well as the administration and opposition, parties sit as part of six party groups[13]:

Administration Group Councillors Composition
Opposition Conservative
36 / 76
 Conservative Party
Administration Liberal Democrats
15 / 76
 Liberal Democrats
Administration Christchurch Independents
6 / 76
 Independents
Administration Poole People and ALL
6 / 76
 Poole People, Alliance for Local Living
Administration Bournemouth Independent & Greens
4 / 76
 Green Party, Independents
Administration Labour
3 / 76
 Labour Party
Administration Unaligned
3 / 76
 Independent
Opposition
1 / 76
 Independent[7]
1 / 76
 UKIP
Vacant Vacant
1 / 76
 Vacant[8]
gollark: If I glue together 4 SUBLEQ machines, I technically have a quadcore machine.
gollark: "Quadcore" is vague.
gollark: I mostly just make overpowered lasers, so I'm not much of a computer architect.
gollark: Generally running on potatOS-knows-what random access memory and logic and FILT ROMs.
gollark: You can implement simple logic gates and stuff on top of its semiconductors, IIRC, but the focus now is on subframe logic which exploits crazy weird mechanics.

See also

References
  1. "Alliance takes control of new BCP Council in Dorset". BBC News. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  2. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/17336518.bournemouth-christchurch-and-poole-council-will-hold-meetings-at-university/
  3. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (25 May 2018). "The Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole (Structural Changes) Order 2018". Legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  4. "Parliament passes councils merger plan". BBC News. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  5. "BCP Shadow Authority Hold Inaugural Meeting 06/06/2018". 6 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  6. "BCP Shadow Authority (@BCP_SA) - Twitter". twitter.com.
  7. "Two councillors leave Poole People Party to shake off the 'binds of the political whip'". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  8. ""We have a lost a wonderful, decent, honourable man and a great servant to Christchurch"". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  9. "Explained: What you need to know about tonight's vote of no confidence at BCP Council". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  10. "Vote of no confidence motion in BCP Council leader fails by slimmest of margins". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  11. "Vote of no confidence lost at BCP Council". www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  12. "Council leader survives confidence vote". BBC News. 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  13. "Your Councillors". democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk. 2020-04-19. Retrieved 2020-04-19.

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