The 2011 Copeland Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Copeland Borough Council in Cumbria, England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

At the last election in 2007 Labour won 31 seats, compared to 19 Conservatives and 1 independent.^[2] However between 2007 and 2011 Labour councillors Brian Dixon and Sam Meteer quit the party to sit as independents.^[3][4]

A total of 95 candidates stood in the election for the 51 seats being contested.^[2] These were 45 Labour, 37 Conservative, 4 independent, 4 British National Party, 3 Green Party and 2 Liberal Democrats.^[2] Meanwhile, 12 sitting councillors stood down at the election.^[2]

The results saw Labour hold control of the council after winning 34 of the 51 seats, up 5 on the situation before the election and 3 more than at the 2007 election.^[5] The Conservatives dropped 4 seats to have 15 councillors, while 2 independents were elected in Arlecdon and Distington.^[5] Overall turnout at the election was 40.98%.^[6]

Labour's biggest gains came in Bransty ward in Whitehaven, where they gained all 3 seats from the Conservatives.^[7] This included defeating the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Copeland at the 2010 general election, Chris Whiteside.^[7] Labour also picked up one seat in Newtown from the Conservatives and defeated the independent, former Labour, councillor Sam Meteer in Egremont North.^[5]