The 1999 Lichfield Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Lichfield District Council

Lichfield District Council

Lichfield District Council is a non metropolitan district council, which covers the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. It was formed in 1974 from Lichfield City Council and Lichfield Rural District Council...

 in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 gained overall control of the council from the Labour party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

.

Campaign

56 Labour, 47 Conservative, 16 Liberal Democrats, 5 Independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 and 1 Independent Labour candidates stood in the election. Each ward

Wards of the United Kingdom

A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...

 elected from one to three members of the council depending on the size of the ward. Five Labour candidates in Chase Terrace and Summerfield wards were elected unopposed.

One significant issue in the election campaign was a new traffic system the Labour council had just introduced on the 1 April. This had banned vehicles from the centre of the city

Lichfield

Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...

 during the daytime

Daytime (astronomy)

On Earth, daytime is roughly the period on any given point of the planet's surface during which it experiences natural illumination from indirect or direct sunlight....

 and led to complaints from shopkeepers about loss of business. Other election issues raised in the campaign included rises in council tax

Council tax

Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...

es, plans to replace Burntwood

Burntwood

Burntwood is a town in Staffordshire, England, lying in the Cannock Chase area approximately west of Lichfield. The town had a population of 25,674 at the time of the 2001 census and forms part of Lichfield district. The town forms one of the largest urbanised parishes in England. Samuel Johnson...

 Leisure Centre, the sale of 5,000 rented houses to a housing association

Housing association

Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones...

, a proposed new housing development and anti-pollution measures.

During the campaign Lichfield was one of the councils visited by Conservative leader William Hague

William Hague

William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...

, on the 29 April, with the overall local elections

United Kingdom local elections, 1999

Local elections took place in much of the United Kingdom on 6 May 1999. All Scottish and Welsh unitary authorities had all their seats elected. In England a third of the seats on each of the Metropolitan Boroughs were elected along with elections in many of the unitary authorities and district...

 seen by commentators as crucial to his leadership of the party. Hague accused the Labour council of wasting money. For the Labour party, former EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

star Michael Cashman

Michael Cashman

Michael Maurice Cashman is a British former actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.- Acting :...

 joined party workers in canvassing

Canvassing

Canvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with a target group of individuals commonly used during political campaigns. A campaign team will knock on doors of private residences within a particular geographic area, engaging in face-to-face personal interaction with voters...

 in Burntwood on the 26 April.

Before the election the Conservatives were hurt by the decision of former Conservative councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

 Patsy Jarman to stand as an independent in the election after being deselected

Preselection

Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties...

 as a candidate for the Conservatives. In the election the Conservatives required a 7% swing to become the largest party and a 9% swing to gain overall control of the council. Litchfield was number 8 on their list of councils they were hoping to gain.

Election result

The Conservatives retook control of the council that they had lost in the previous election in 1995. They gained two seats at Stowe ward after a recount and also gained in Lichfield City, Burntwood, Hammerwich and Alrewas wards. However the Liberal Democrats gained a seat in Mease Valley from the Conservatives. The results were sufficient to give the Conservatives a two seat overall majority.

Aftermath

Following the election Tony Nichols was elected chairman of the council by the new Conservative majority. However there was controversy as the new opposition councillors claimed that the Conservatives did not give them as many seats on the council committees that they were legally due following the election.