| Election Name: | 1986 Adur District Council election |
| Country: | England |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 1984 Adur District Council election |
| Previous Year: | 1984 |
| Next Election: | 1987 Adur District Council election |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
| Seats For Election: | One third of seats (13 of 39) to Adur District Council |
| Majority Seats: | 20 |
| Election Date: | 8 May 1986 |
| Party1: | SDP-Liberal Alliance |
| Seats1: | 11 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Seats2: | 4 |
| Seat Change2: | 4 |
| Party3: | Residents Association |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Majority party | |
| Posttitle: | Majority party after election |
| Before Election: | No Overall Control |
| After Election: | SDP-Liberal Alliance |
Elections to the Adur District Council were held on 8 May 1986, with minor boundary changes taking effect, impacting the Peverel ward. One third of the council was due for re-election, with additional vacancies in Buckingham, Churchill and Mash Barn wards. No elections were to be held for the single-member St Mary's ward. The formerly Conservative councillor for Southwick Green was defending the seat as an Independent, with no Conservative contesting that ward. Overall turnout was down slightly to 45.3%.[1]
The election resulted in the Alliance regaining control of the council.[2] [3]
This resulted in the following composition of the council:
| valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 230px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | New council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDP-Liberal Alliance | 18 | 22 | |||
| Conservative | 18 | 15 | |||
| Independent Residents | 2 | 2 | |||
| Independent | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 39 | 39 | |||
| Working majority | |||||
+/- figures represent changes from the last time these wards were contested.