Anne Turrell Liberal Democrats The 2008 Colchester Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Colchester Borough Council in Essex, England.

[3] However, in July 2007, 2 Liberal Democrat councilors, Craig and Terry Sutton, defected to the Conservatives after falling out with the local Liberal Democrat Member of parliament Bob Russell over a new community stadium.

[5] The Conservatives lost their majority on the council after losing 5 seats, 4 to the Liberal Democrats and 1 to Labour.

[9] Following the election the Liberal Democrat, Labour and independent groups made a deal to take control over the council from the Conservatives, with Liberal Democrat Anne Turrell becoming the new leader of the council.

A by-election took place in Birch and Winstree ward on 4 December 2008 after the death of the Conservative councillor Peter Crowe.