2022 Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council election - Wikipedia

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2022 Richmond upon Thames Council election

← 2018 5 May 2022 2026 →
All 54 seats on Richmond Council 28 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Gre Con Leader Gareth Roberts Richard Bennett Paul Hodgins Party Liberal Democrats Green Conservative Last election 39 seats, 46.7% 4 seats, 4.5% 11 seats, 37.6% Seats won 48 5 1 Seat change 9 1 10 Popular vote 107,493 10,218 50,571 Percentage 56.5% 5.4% 26.6% Swing 9.8% 0.9% 11.0%
Map of the results of the 2022 Richmond upon Thames Borough council election. Liberal Democrats in yellow, Conservatives in blue, Green Party in green.
council control before election Liberal Democrats Subsequent council control Liberal Democrats

The 2022 Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 54 members of Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.

The 2022 election took place under new election boundaries, with the number of councillors remaining the same. The Liberal Democrats had controlled the council since the previous election in 2018, and increased their majority, ending on 48 seats. The Green Party formed the largest opposition group on five seats, with the Conservative Party dropping from 11 seats to 1 seat; they would subsequently lose their final seat in a 2024 by-election.

The thirty-two London boroughs were established in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. They are the principal authorities in Greater London and have responsibilities including education, housing, planning, highways, social services, libraries, recreation, waste, environmental health and revenue collection. Some of the powers are shared with the Greater London Authority, which also manages passenger transport, police and fire.^[1]

Since its formation, Richmond upon Thames has been under Conservative control, Liberal Democrat control, SDP–Liberal Alliance control and no overall control. The Liberal Democrats regained control from the Conservatives in the most recent election in 2018. They won 39 seats with 46.7% of the vote across the borough while the Conservatives won 11 seats with 37.6% of the vote and the Greens won 4.5% of the vote. The Labour Party won 10.4% of the vote but did not win any seats.^[2][3] The leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Gareth Roberts, became council leader following the election.^[4]

In 2019, Mona Adams, the Liberal Democrat councillor for East Sheen, died.^[5] A by-election was held to fill her seat on 19 July 2019, which was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Julia Cambridge.^[6] Cambridge was a designer who had unsuccessfully contested the seat alongside Adams in the 2018 election.^[7] In July 2020, Dylan Bexendale, the Green Party councillor for Hampton Wick, resigned citing personal reasons.^[8] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a by-election to fill his seat could not be held until 6 May 2021 alongside the 2021 London mayoral election and London Assembly election. The election was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Petra Fleming.^[9]

As with most London boroughs, Richmond upon Thames was electing its councillors under new boundaries decided by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which it produced after a period of consultation. The number of councillors remained at 54, but the commission produced new boundaries following a period of consultation, with eighteen three-member wards.^[10]

Richmond upon Thames, like other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors at once every four years. The previous election took place in 2018. The election took place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by two or three councillors. Electors had as many votes as there are councillors to be elected in their ward, with the top two or three being elected.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in London aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, were entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities.^[11] Voting in-person at polling stations took place from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters were able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.^[11]

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  Council composition after the 2022 election

After 2018 election	Before 2022 election
Party	Seats	Party	Seats
	Liberal Democrats	39		Liberal Democrats	40
	Conservative	11		Conservative	11
	Green	4		Green	3

2022 Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council election

Party	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	48	9	0	9	88.9	56.5	107,493	+9.8
	Green	5	2	1	1	9.3	5.4	10,218	+0.9
	Conservative	1	0	10	10	1.9	26.6	50,571	-11.0
	Labour	0	0	0		0.0	11.1	21,070	+0.7
	Independent	0	0	0		0.0	0.7	1,419	+0.4
	Women's Equality	0	0	0		0.0	0.7	1,361	+0.3

Candidates seeking re-election are marked with an asterisk (*). Councillors seeking re-election for a different ward are marked with a cross (†).