[1] Before the election the Conservatives ran the council with 28 seats,[2] compared to 9 for Labour, 8 Liberal Democrats and 5 independents.

[3] A big issue in the election was the introduction of car parking charges by the Conservative council.

[2][3] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats expected that they and the Conservatives would suffer due to the cuts being made by the national coalition government.

[5] By-elections are called when a representative Councillor resigns or dies, so are unpredictable.

A by-election is held to fill a political office that has become vacant between the scheduled elections.