By George Thompson via LDRS
A third of the seats at Norwich City Council are up for grabs this week, in a battle which is likely to see Labour grappling to hold on to key areas.
There are just two days to go until the local elections get under way, with 13 of City Hall’s 39 seats up for grabs – one in each three-member ward.
Labour losing its grip in Norwich
Labour, the largest group on the council, has faced a series of defeats in local elections in recent years, having lost at least one seat to the Green group every year since 2019. And following a dramatic evening last November which saw four members quit the group to become independent, the party’s hold of the council hangs on a knife edge. Labour has gone from holding 31 seats in 2018 to just 19 today.
One of the Independent member’s seats – Ian Stutely in Town Close – is up for grabs in the election, which the leading party will be fighting to regain. The independent group’s departure from the party was largely down to a row which started over Mr Stutely being prevented from standing in next year’s local elections for Labour. How successful Mr Stutely – who has been a member for Town Close since 2018 – will be, remains to be seen. While some councils, like West Norfolk, have many independent members, City Hall hasn’t returned one in at least 20 years.
It is likely the Greens will throw everything they can into Wensum ward, with an eye on claiming another scalp there. The Greens’ Liam Calvert took the seat in 2023 in a nail-biting finish with just 22 more votes than his Labour rival – the first time the party has won in the area since 2014. While the party’s lead in the ward was small, it was a substantial 570 vote increase over the year before, something the group will be hoping to build on.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have struggled to get any sort of foothold in Norwich in over a decade, having lost their last two seats in 2012. At this year’s elections, the party’s highest turnout was 552 votes in Crome, 747 less than Labour’s Matt Packer.
The Liberal Democrats are likely to hold on to their Eaton seat, which they have comfortably won for decades. But the party is also unlikely to expand beyond the boundaries of the ward, having failed to secure another seat since 2008 when they claimed Lakenham.
There are also three senior Labour cabinet members on the ballot, including council leader Mike Stonard. He is expected to hold onto his Catton Grove seat, an area which once faced competition from the Conservatives but was comfortably Labour this year.
Norwich Labour bucking national trend
Those looking to Norwich in the hope that it could provide an indication for how a general election – which must be held by the end of January 2025 – should probably look elsewhere. In 2023, the party bucked the national trend which saw Labour make significant gains elsewhere, including in Broadland in Norfolk.
City Hall is currently made up of 19 Labour members, 13 Green, four independents and three Liberal Democrats.
Norwich City Council is the only council in Norfolk which will be up for election in 2024, but on the same day there will be a vote held to elect the police and crime commissioner for the county.
