Prior to this all-out election on new ward boundaries, the Conservatives had a strong majority on the council, with 24 seats compared to 9 for the Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour councillors, and one Independent.

The Liberal Democrats won all three seats in the new Hoe Valley ward and shared the spoils with the Conservatives in Goldsworth Park, Mount Hermon and St Johns.

Labour took all three seats in the Canalside Ward (where the Conservative council was taking forward a controversial redevelopment and regeneration scheme in the Sheerwater area).

There were very close battles, resulting in three ‘split wards’, in Goldsworth Park, Mount Hermon and St Johns, but, arguably, no results were closer than those in the Mount Hermon ward, where Conservative councillor Carl Thomson and Liberal Democrat councillor Liam Lyons both lost their seats, and where only 64 votes separated the second and fifth placed candidates, and just 22 votes separated those who placed second and fourth.

After the election, long-standing council leader Councillor John Kingsbury continued in office with the support of the Conservative group.