Who runs the Councils in No Overall Control?

Council Control lists and maps, such as the LGiU and LGC map, leave lots of grey when it comes to the 54 councils that are currently in No Overall Control. There was a time when NOC meant some councils had rotating committee chairs and power genuinely was shared across the council chamber. Since the introduction of the Cabinet system in most authorities, decisions are made by the executive, rather than in Committees. Effectively this means whoever forms the Cabinet can get on and run the council, with only the occasional need for approval by the full Council on such things as budget setting or constitutional changes.

Below are details of who is really running the current no overall control councils. In all cases, it shows the party of the new Leader of the Council and the majority party on the Executive. The Conservatives lead 26, Labour lead 18, the Lib Dems lead 8, and Greens and Independents each lead 1. In a few cases where I know that that there is some form of power sharing or joint administration I have noted this. The information is pieced together from this database of the composition of all councils and from media reporting, including this excellent piece over on ConHome. Mistakes are all mine of course, and please do comment below or tweet me with any corrections.

Conservative led

1. Stroud

2. Poole

3. Newark & Sherwood

4. Staffordshire Moorlands (Con/Ind)

5. Thanet

6. Walsall

7. Waveney

8. Derby

9. St Albans

10. Milton Keynes

11. Winchester

12. East Lindsey

13. South Gloucestershire

14. Taunton Deane

15. Eden

16. Babergh

17. Carlisle

18. Forest of Dean (Con/Ind)

19. Mole Valley

20. Pendle

21. Scarborough

22. Torridge

23. Weymouth and Portland

24. Chorley Borough Council (joint administration with Lib Dems)

25. Birmingham (joint administration with Lib Dems)

26. Newcastle-under-Lyme (joint administration with Lib Dems)

Labour led

1. Rossendale

2. High Peak

3. Reading

4. Wirral

5. Sefton

6. Rochdale

7. Allerdale

8. Bradford

9. Cannock Chase

10. Exeter

11. Kirklees

12. Lancaster

13. North East Lincolnshire

14. Norwich City Council

15. Stockton-on-Tees

16. Thurrock

17. Broxtowe (joint administration with Lib Dems)

18. Calderdale (joint administration with Lib Dems)

Lib Dem led

1. North Devon

2. Bristol City Council

3. Stockport

4. Bedford Council (Lib Dem elected Mayor)

5. Bath & North East Somerset

6. Colchester

7. Purbeck

8. Burnley

Green led – Brighton and Hove

Independent led – Richmondshire