Elections 2021: Norwich City Council held by Labour

Labour has retained its control of Norwich City Council, holding all its seats, while the Green Party picked up an additional win.

Labour has 27 seats on the council, with the Greens on nine and the Liberal Democrats on three.

Thorpe Hamlet, a former Green Party city council seat which had been vacant since a resignation, was taken back by the Greens.

The city council saw 13 of its 39 seats up for election on Thursday.

Ash Haynes, the newly-elected Green Party city councillor for Thorpe Hamlet ward, said: "We're really, really pleased. It's been a strong result across Norwich and across the country for the Greens.

"It really shows people prioritise the environment."

Labour's Alan Waters, Norwich City Council leader, said: "I'm very pleased. Candidly, it was an uncertain set of elections. That means we've retained our clear majority on the city council for the coming year."

The Conservatives kept control of Norfolk County Council.

In the county elections, the Greens picked up three seats from Labour, again in the Norwich area: Mancroft, Nelson and Thorpe Hamlet.

Norfolk's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) result saw the Conservatives' Giles Orpen-Smellie replacing party colleague Lorne Green who decided not to stand again.

The story of this election is probably best summed up by a Liberal Democrat canvasser who told me how he knocked on a door in North Norfolk and asked the resident how they intended to vote.

"I've just had my second jab so of course I'll be voting Conservative," came the reply.

All the parties have told me that the success of the vaccination programme kept coming up on the doorsteps. Given that Covid has dominated life and politics for the past 14 months it's probably no surprise.

That along with the furlough scheme and the various business and community support packages that have been rolled out during the pandemic gave the Conservatives a long list of achievements to point to.

But it meant that important local issues which the opposition parties wanted to talk about: the record rise in council tax, the closure of children's centres and inappropriate development weren't uppermost in voters' minds.

Because there are no Conservatives on Norwich City Council, Labour was able to get through that contest unscathed meaning that, overall, things weren't so bad for the party in Norfolk.

The other big winners were the Greens. The debate around the Western link extension to the NDR along with a growing awareness of environmental issues, especially among younger voters helped them to make some impressive gains.

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