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

Redditch

Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...

 Borough Council in the West Midlands region

West Midlands (region)

The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...

, 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...

. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour

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...

 party stayed in overall control of the council.

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Labour
  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...
  
   20
• Conservative
  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...
  
   6
• Liberal Democrat 3

Campaign

In total 32 candidates stood for the 10 seats that were up for election. Nine of the ten seats were held by the Labour party before the election, with the remaining seat being Conservative. The Labour party were confident of remaining in control of the council but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were hoping to make gains. A controversial issue in the election was a recent 2 million pound cost cutting exercise, which the Labour council said had been necessary to safeguard the council's finances but the Conservative criticised it as having cut services and left residents unhappy. Other major issues in the election included housing, play areas, crime, proposed building developments and the performance of the national Labour government.

Election result

The results saw the defeat of the Labour deputy leader, David Cartwright, in Crabbs Cross

Crabbs Cross

Crabbs Cross is a district of Redditch in Worcestershire, England....

 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:...

where the Conservatives gained the seat. Labour also lost their mayor, Andrew Fry, in the election but remained firmly in control of the council. Following the election Phil Mould was elected to succeed David Cartwright as the Labour deputy leader of the council.