Bath and North East Somerset Council

History

The district of Bath and North East Somerset and its council were created in 1996. The new district covered the area of two former districts, both of which were abolished at the same time: Wansdyke and Bath. Both had been lower-tier districts within the county of Avon prior to the 1996 reforms, with Avon County Council providing county-level services to the area.

Wansdyke and Avon had both been created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 and so were only in existence for 22 years. The city of Bath was an ancient borough, with its earliest known charter dating from 1189. Bath had been reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Bath was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it became a county borough, independent from the new Somerset County Council, whilst remaining part of the geographical county of Somerset.

The area that would become Bath and North East Somerset was transferred from Somerset to the new non-metropolitan county of Avon in 1974. Avon was abolished in 1996 and four unitary authorities established to govern the former county. The way the 1996 change was implemented was to create both a non-metropolitan district and non-metropolitan county called Bath and North East Somerset, covering the combined area of the city of Bath and Wansdyke district, but with no separate county council. Instead, the district council also performs the functions that legislation assigns to county councils, making it a unitary authority.

In 2000, the council became the legal successor in a racial discrimination case originally brought against the former Wansdyke District Council. Kelly Davis, a Black builder from Bath, successfully challenged repeated planning refusals from 1989 to 1991. A judge found that planning officers had acted in a “consistently unhelpful and obstructive fashion,” and concluded this was likely because Davis was “the only Black builder in Wansdyke.”

In 1999 the council housing in the area was transferred to the charitable Somer Community Housing Trust, which was later to become Curo.

Following a petition, a referendum was held in 2016 proposing a directly elected mayor for the Bath and North East Somerset district. The proposal was rejected by 78.1% of voters.

Governance

Bath and North East Somerset Council provides both district-level and county-level functions. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the West of England Combined Authority; the leader of the council sits on the combined authority as Bath and North East Somerset's representative. Much of the district is covered by civil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas. The exception is Bath, which is unparished. Instead of having a parish council, the Bath and North East Somerset councillors who represent wards in Bath act as charter trustees to preserve Bath's city status and mayoralty.

Political control

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 2019.

The first election to the council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the area's outgoing authorities until 1 April 1996 when the new district and its council formally came into being. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:

Leadership

For its first six years, the council did not appoint a leader of the council. The role was introduced in 2002, since when the leaders have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election, and subsequent changes of allegiance and by-elections up to January 2026, the composition of the council was:

Six of the independent councillors sit together as the "Independents Group", and three form the "Independents for B&NES" group. The next election is due in May 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2019, the council has comprised 59 councillors representing 33 wards, with each ward electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Premises

Council meetings are generally held at the Guildhall on High Street in the centre of Bath. The building was first completed in 1778, and was subsequently extended in the 1890s to include municipal offices for Bath City Council.

The modern council's administrative offices are split between several sites, notably including:

• Lewis House at 3-4 Manvers Street in Bath.
• Keynsham Civic Centre, purpose-built for the council in 2014 to replace the 1960s Keynsham Town Hall.
• The Hollies in Midsomer Norton, which was the former offices of Norton Radstock Urban District Council and had been substantially extended whilst owned by Wansdyke District Council.

References

References

1. "Council minutes, 22 May 2025".
2. (10 September 2019). "B&NES Council confirms appointment of new Chief Executive Will Godfrey". Bath Echo.
3. "Your Councillors".
4. {{cite legislation UK. (1995)
5. (1835). "Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: Appendix 2".
6. "Bath Municipal Borough / County Borough". GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth.
7. Keane, Patrick. (1973). "An English County and Education: Somerset, 1889–1902". The English Historical Review.
8. At the same time, the new district was transferred for ceremonial purposes back to Somerset, but as a unitary authority the council has always been independent from [[Somerset Council]] (known as Somerset County Council prior to 2023).{{cite legislation UK. (1995)
9. {{cite legislation UK. (1997)
10. (19 November 2001). "£790,000 payout for race case builder".
11. (1 May 2016). "HCA Regulatory Judgement on Curo Group (Albion) Limited - LH4336". Homes and Communities Agency.
12. [http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Referendum-ahead-Banes-decide-elected-mayor/story-27751034-detail/story.html Bristol Post] {{webarchive. link. (2 October 2015 Referendum to go ahead in Banes to decide on elected mayor (7 September 2015))
13. "Committee papers, 14 June 2024".
14. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
15. "The Mayor of Bath".
16. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
17. "Council minutes, 9 May 2002".
18. "Council minutes, 17 May 2007".
19. "Council minutes, 19 May 2011".
20. "Board members".
21. "Council minutes, 21 May 2015".
22. (3 May 2019). "Local Election results 2019: Defeated Bath and North East Somerset leader admits Conservatives were 'hammered' for Brexit". Somerset Live.
23. "Council minutes, 21 May 2019".
24. (1 April 2021). "B&NES Council leader Dine Romero steps down with immediate effect". Somerset Live.
25. "Council minutes, 4 May 2021".
26. (May 2023). "Bath & North East Somerset election result".
27. "Bath and North East Somerset". Thorncliffe.
28. {{cite legislation UK. (2018)
29. (2018). "Bath & North East Somerset". [[Local Government Boundary Commission for England]].
30. {{NHLE
31. "Find our offices".
32. "Our buildings".