2016 Colchester Borough Council election

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "2016 Colchester Borough Council election" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

2016 Colchester Borough Council election

← 2015 5 May 2016 (2016-05-05) 2018 →
All 51 seats to Colchester Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	36.0%
First party Second party   Leader Darius Laws Paul Smith Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Castle St. Anne's & St. John's Seats before 27 20 Seats won 22 15 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 47,088 28,331 Percentage 37.5% 22.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tim Young Beverley Oxford Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Greenstead Highwoods Seats before 9 3 Seats won 11 3 Seat change 2 Popular vote 27,846 5,079 Percentage 22.2% 4.1%
Ward map showing the winning party in each seat.
Leader of the council before election Paul Smith Liberal Democrats Leader of the council after election Paul Smith Liberal Democrats

Elections to Colchester Borough Council took place on 5 May 2016. Colchester Borough Council normally elects one third of its councillors each year, however, due to boundary changes, the whole council is up for election.

Prior to this election, the cabinet (8 seats) was held by a coalition including the Liberal Democrats (5 seats), the Labour Party (2 seats) and a Highwoods & Stanway Independent (1 seat). Paul Smith (Liberal Democrat), a councillor from St. John's ward, was elected Leader of the Council by 32 to 28 votes.

Each voter had three available votes instead of the usual one vote.