This was the first set of council election using new ward boundaries - a majority of which were three seaters. The total number of council seats was reduced from 50 to 46.
Election result
The Labour Party won 28 seats (on a 41.0% share of the vote) - 8 fewer seats than at previous election (on a loss of 8.7% of the vote), and maintained control of the council.
The Conservative Party won 18 seats (with 42.5% of the vote) - 4 more seats than their previous result (increasing their vote share by 4.9%)
The Liberal Democrats did not win any seats, and polled 14.1% of the votes cast - an increase of 1.5%.[2][3]