| Election Name: | 2017 Norfolk County Council election |
| Flag Image: | Flag of Norfolk.svg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2013 Norfolk County Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2013 |
| Next Election: | 2021 Norfolk County Council election |
| Next Year: | 2021 |
| Seats For Election: | All 84 seats to Norfolk County Council |
| Majority Seats: | 43 |
| Election Date: | 4 May 2017 |
| Leader1: | Cliff Jordan |
| Leader Since1: | March 2015 |
| Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat1: | Yare & All Saints |
| Last Election1: | 40 seats, 32.6% |
| Seats Before1: | 42 |
| Seats1: | 55 |
| Seat Change1: | 15 |
| Popular Vote1: | 114,038 |
| Percentage1: | 48.8% |
| Swing1: | 16.2% |
| Leader2: | George Nobbs |
| Leader Since2: | June 2009 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Crome |
| Party2: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election2: | 14 seats, 22.8% |
| Seats Before2: | 14 |
| Seats2: | 17 |
| Seat Change2: | 3 |
| Popular Vote2: | 54,231 |
| Percentage2: | 23.2% |
| Swing2: | 0.4% |
| Leader3: | Marie Strong |
| Leader Since3: | May 2013 |
| Leaders Seat3: | Wells |
| Party3: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
| Last Election3: | 10 seats, 11.0% |
| Seats Before3: | 10 |
| Seats3: | 11 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 40,680 |
| Percentage3: | 17.4% |
| Swing3: | 6.4% |
| Leader4: | Richard Toby Coke |
| Leader Since4: | May 2013 |
| Leaders Seat4: | Gayton & Nar Valley (Retiring) |
| Party4: | UK Independence Party |
| Last Election4: | 15 seats, 23.5% |
| Seats Before4: | 12 |
| Seats4: | 0 |
| Seat Change4: | 15 |
| Popular Vote4: | 14,078 |
| Percentage4: | 6.0% |
| Swing4: | 17.5% |
| Leader5: | Richard Bearman |
| Leader Since5: | 10 January 2012[1] |
| Leaders Seat5: | Mancroft (Retiring) |
| Party5: | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Last Election5: | 4 seats, 6.6% |
| Seats Before5: | 3 |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 4 |
| Popular Vote5: | 9,316 |
| Percentage5: | 4.0% |
| Swing5: | 2.6% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Council control | |
| Posttitle: | Council control after election |
| Before Election: | No Overall Control |
| After Election: | Conservative Party |
The 2017 Norfolk County Council election took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom.[2]
The Conservative Party won control of the council from No Overall Control.
All three major parties made gains at the expense of the UK Independence Party and the Green Party of England and Wales, both of which lost all their seats. The Conservatives benefited the most, making a net gain of 15 seats from UKIP and the Liberal Democrats, while Labour bucked its national trend of poor results and made a net gain of 3 seats. The Liberal Democrats saw their seat number rise from 10 to 11, winning one off UKIP. An independent candidate was also elected.
This was the first election since 2001 in which no UKIP or Green candidates were elected. The election saw significant changes in the popular vote, with UKIP's vote share declining by 17.5 percentage points and the Green Party winning just 4% of the county-wide vote, its worst result in Norfolk since the 1997 election.
| Party | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | |||
| 15 | |||
| 14 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 1 | |||
| Total | 84 | ||
| Party | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | |||
| 14 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 3[3] | |||
| Total | 84 | ||
In between the 2013 election and the 2017 election, the following council seats changed hands:
| Division | Date | Previous Party | New Party | Cause | Resulting Council Composition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con | UKIP | Lab | LDem | Grn | Ind | |||||
| Thorpe Hamlet | 9 December 2016[4] | Sitting Green Councillor defected to Conservatives. | 42 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Watton | 19 November 2015[5] | UKIP incumbent resigned. Conservatives won by-election. | 41 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Dersingham | 24 July 2015[6] | Councillor quit party to sit as independent member. | 40 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Gorleston St Andrews | 16 July 2015[7] | UKIP incumbent resigned. Conservatives won by-election. | 41 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Clenchwarton and King's Lynn South | 27 February 2014[8] | Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. | 40 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Thetford West | 1 August 2013[9] | UKIP incumbent resigned. Labour won by-election. | 40 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | ||
The leadership of the Council also changed from 2013. In May 2016, a Leadership election saw George Nobbs (Labour) removed as Council Leader and replaced with Cliff Jordan (Conservative). The vote was 41 for Cliff Jordan and 37 for George Nobbs.
|-bgcolor=#F6F6F6| colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" | Total| style="text-align: right;" | 84| colspan=5 || style="text-align: right;" | 233,869 | style="text-align: right;" | |-
Cliff Jordan (Yare and All Saints) was re-elected leader of the Conservative Group. Steve Morphew (Catton Grove) challenged the incumbent group leader George Nobbs (Crome) for the leadership of the Labour Group and won.[10] Marie Strong (Wells) who had been leader of the Liberal Democrat group, stood down and was replaced by Dan Roper (Hevingham and Spixworth) (with newly elected Steffan Aquarone (Melton Constable) as deputy leader of the group).[11]
Leader of the Conservative group, Cliff Jordan was re-elected Leader of the Council, and was able to form a majority Conservative administration.
He stood down in May 2018 after being diagnosed with lung cancer, and was replaced in June by Andrew Proctor (Blofield & Brundall), with Graham Plant (Gorleston St Andrews) replacing Alison Thomas (Long Stratton) as Deputy Leader.[12] Less than a month after stepping down as Leader Cliff Jordan passed away on the 9 June.[13]
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 4 | 20,470 | 63.2 | +26.3 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 7,332 | 22.6 | +4.0 | |||
| 0 | 2,456 | 7.6 | +4.8 | ||||
| 0 | 5 | 1,476 | 4.6 | −30.3 | |||
| 0 | 671 | 2.1 | −1.4 | ||||
Division Results
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | 19,619 | 55.4 | +17.6 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 6,908 | 19.5 | +3.8 | |||
| 0 | 7,021 | 19.8 | +1.4 | ||||
| 0 | 1,551 | 4.4 | −20.0 | ||||
| 0 | 329 | 0.9 | −1.0 | ||||
Division Results
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 5 | 9,918 | 44.9 | +16.8 | |||
| 3 | 6,342 | 28.7 | −5.4 | ||||
| 0 | 5 | 5,026 | 22.7 | −13.6 | |||
| 0 | 430 | 2.0 | +1.4 | ||||
| 0 | 385 | 1.7 | +1.1 | ||||
Division Results
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 5 | 20,355 | 58.4 | +22.7 | |||
| 1 | 2 | 6,857 | 19.7 | −4.2 | |||
| 1 | 1,252 | 3.6 | −6.6 | ||||
| 0 | 3,376 | 9.7 | +6.5 | ||||
| 0 | 3 | 2,563 | 7.4 | −17.1 | |||
| 0 | 483 | 1.4 | −0.9 | ||||
Division Results
†Alexandra Kemp was elected as a Labour councillor for Clenchwarton & King's Lynn South in September 2012 and reelected in May 2013, but left the party on 27 February 2014 to sit as an independent councillor.
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 2 | 13,986 | 41.7 | +16.0 | |||
| 4 | 13,168 | 39.3 | +12.4 | ||||
| 0 | 3,306 | 9.9 | −6.2 | ||||
| 0 | 2 | 1,909 | 5.7 | −19.9 | |||
| 0 | 1,027 | 3.1 | −0.7 | ||||
| 0 | 109 | 0.3 | −0.7 | ||||
Division Results
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 4 | 16,829 | 45.7 | +6.3 | |||
| 1 | 4,061 | 11.0 | +0.3 | ||||
| 0 | 8,138 | 22.1 | +4.8 | ||||
| 0 | 4 | 6,073 | 16.5 | −10.5 | |||
| 0 | 1,553 | 4.2 | −1.4 | ||||
| 0 | 165 | 0.5 | +0.5 | ||||
Division Results
District Summary
| Party | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 22,370 | 57.8 | +14.6 | ||||
| 1 | 9,508 | 24.6 | +10.8 | ||||
| 0 | 6,544 | 16.9 | +3.5 | ||||
| 0 | 303 | 0.8 | −4.7 | ||||
Division Results