[2] Town and parish councils in the city boundary were also up for election.

No other parties have held seats in Winchester since the 2016 election, in which the boundaries were redrawn.

In June 2018, after the previous election, one Conservative councillor left the party to sit as an independent over concerns about redevelopment of the city.

[4] In July, a Liberal Democrat councillor, who had previously defected from the Conservatives,[5] defected back to the Conservatives[6] after disputes about the leadership of the council; subsequently the independent councillor joined the Liberal Democrats.

The next election was scheduled to take place in May 2020, one year later, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were delayed until 2021, where they were scheduled to take place at the same time of those already planned, which in the context of Winchester included the next Hampshire County Council Election.