The 2011 Amber Valley Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Amber Valley

Amber Valley

Amber Valley is a local government district and borough in Derbyshire, England. It takes its name from the River Amber and covers a semi-rural area with a number of small towns formerly based around coal mining and engineering...

 Borough

Borough status in the United Kingdom

Borough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...

 Council in Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, 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 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...

 stayed in overall control of the council.

After the election, the composition of the council was

• 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...
  
   28
• 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...
  
   15
• British National Party
  British National Party
  The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
  
   2

Campaign

15 seats were contested in the election, mainly from Conservative leaning areas of the council. 1 seat was sure to remain in Conservative hands in South West Parishes after only a Conservative candidate stood for the seat.

The Conservatives pointed to their record in control of the council, 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...

 pledged to reduce car parking charges, while the Liberal Democrats focused on plans to regenerate Heanor

Heanor

Heanor is a town in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. It is northeast of Derby. According to the census of 2001 the town's population was 22,620.-History:...

. The parties also disagreed over how to make cuts as a result of a reduction in central government fudning, such as over plans to close local offices of the council and to sell the main council headquarters.

Election result

The results saw the Conservative majority remain strong after losing only 1 seat to Labour, leaving the Conservatives with 28 seats compared to 15 for Labour. Labour gained the seat in Heage

Heage

The village of Heage in Derbyshire is situated midway between Belper and Ripley and is today famous for its recently-restored six-sailed windmill. Work on building the mill started in 1791 and it was first recorded as working in 1797...

 and Ambergate

Ambergate

Ambergate is a village in Derbyshire, England, where the River Amber joins the River Derwent.Until the early nineteenth century it was known as Toadmoor, with no more than a few artisans' cottages. The southerly half of the village was still shown as such on the Ordnance Survey's maps.It is about ...

 from the Conservatives, while the closest result came in Ripley

Ripley, Derbyshire

Ripley is a town in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire in England.- Earliest history :Not much information is available as to when Ripley was founded, but it existed at the time of the Domesday Book, when it was held by a man called Levenot....

 where the Conservative held on by 14 votes. Both the Conservative and Labour parties said they were pleased with the results, while neither the Liberal Democrats or the British National Party

British National Party

The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

 won any seats. Overall turnout

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

in the election was 45.83%, almost 12% up on when these seats were last contested in 2007.

Ward results