Elections to Colchester Borough Council took place on 5 May 2016. Colchester Borough Council normally elects one third of its councillors each year, however, due to boundary changes, the whole council is up for election.

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Quick Facts All 51 seats to Colchester Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

2016 Colchester Borough Council election

← 2015 5 May 2016 (2016-05-05) 2018 →
All 51 seats to Colchester Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	36.0%
First party Second party   Leader Darius Laws Paul Smith Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Castle St. Anne's & St. John's Seats before 27 20 Seats won 22 15 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 47,088 28,331 Percentage 37.5% 22.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tim Young Beverley Oxford Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Greenstead Highwoods Seats before 9 3 Seats won 11 3 Seat change 2 Popular vote 27,846 5,079 Percentage 22.2% 4.1%
Ward map showing the winning party in each seat.
Leader of the council before election Paul Smith Liberal Democrats Leader of the council after election Paul Smith Liberal Democrats

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Prior to this election, the cabinet (8 seats) was held by a coalition including the Liberal Democrats (5 seats), the Labour Party (2 seats) and a Highwoods & Stanway Independent (1 seat). Paul Smith (Liberal Democrat), a councillor from St. John's ward, was elected Leader of the Council by 32 to 28 votes.

Each voter had three available votes instead of the usual one vote.

Following the 2015 election the Liberal Democrat-Labour-Independent coalition maintained control of the Council, although with a much reduced majority (14 to 4). The Liberal Democrats suffered heavy losses in North and West Colchester with 4 councillors being unseated, all by the Conservative Party. The Conservatives subsequently became the largest party on the Council but short of a majority by 4 councillors.

Although failing to win additional seats, the Labour Party made moderate gains in vote share across the Borough. Following a promising performance at the 2014 election, the UK Independence Party failed to build on their success and lost in vote share across Colchester, failing to take a single ward. Like UKIP, and despite a notable boost in local and national membership, the Green Party of England and Wales also fell in vote share and failed to win any seats. However, both UKIP and the Green Party received the highest number of votes for their respective parties in a Colchester local election.

Prior to the election, Independent member for Stanway, Laura Sykes, resigned her post as Borough Councillor due to moving away from the area. This left the ruling coalition with a majority of 3 over the Conservative group.

Prior to the election the composition of the council was:

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Due to boundary changes the number of wards was reduced from 27 to 17. Each ward is represented by 3 councillors. The length of an elected councillor's term will depend on the position of election within that ward (1st, 4 years; 2nd, 3 years; 3rd, 2 years). Terms will revert to 4-years as standard from the 2018 election.

The Statement of Nominated Persons was released by Colchester Borough Council's Returning Officer following the closing of nominations on 7 April 2016. This detailed the list of candidates nominated to stand in each ward.

The percentages shown in the tables are calculated by dividing the votes a candidate received by the total turnout, then multiplying by one-hundred.

Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk*