Northumberland County Council has issued a statement reminding residents that it is not holding local elections this year; because voters went to the polls twelve months ago. It comes after some residents contacted the council to question why they had not received their voting papers.
While many other councils across the North East, including Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland, are holding elections next month, Northumberland held all-out elections last May. Northumberland County Council has used the current four-year election cycle since the local authority was formed in 1973, and the next election will not be until 2029.
In a statement, a spokesman for the council said: “Unlike many councils in the region and across the country, we have no local elections in Northumberland in May 2026.
“Nothing has been cancelled, but a few people have been contacting us to ask why they have not received voting papers. The next scheduled local elections for Northumberland will be in 2029.
“Local councils typically do one of the following:
- elect all local councillors every four years
- elect half of the local councillors every two years
- elect one third of the local councillors each year for three years, with no elections in the fourth year.
“This message is to let people know that, in Northumberland, we elect all local councillors every four years. The next local election in Northumberland will be in 2029.”
Last year’s elections saw the Conservatives remain the council’s largest party with 26 seats, followed by Reform with 23. Labour were reduced from 18 seats to eight. Seven seats were taken by the Independents, three by the Liberal Democrats and two by the Greens.
A council by-election was held in Cramlington earlier this month following the resignation of Coun Shaun Knowles due to ill health. The result saw the Tories win the seat from Reform.
Nationally, there had been 30 councils that were due to postpone local elections due to planned reorganisation of local Government in their areas. However, that decision has now been reversed and Northumberland was never among those 30 councils.
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