THE Greens stormed to victory in the Bristol City Council local elections but fell agonisingly short of an overall majority.
The party ended with 34 councillors, two shy of the magic figure of 36 required to be bigger than all the other groups combined.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats made gains over the Conservatives, but Labour, which ran the council for the last eight years under outgoing mayor Marvin Rees, whose role has been scrapped following a referendum to move to a committee system, ended with a net loss of two councillors, leaving them on 21.
The Greens gained an extra 10 seats.
The Lib Dems have eight members in the chamber, an increase of three, while the Tories lost half of their 14 seats and now have just seven.
Both Knowle Community Party councillors – who defected from the Lib Dems after the 2021 local elections to form their own party – were voted out, including veteran Cllr Gary Hopkins, and were replaced by Greens.
There were some notable scalps, including in Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze which saw a gigantic swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat. All three Tories lost their seats to the three Lib Dems, who include former Lib Dem MP and government minister Stephen Williams.
City council Labour cabinet member Marley Bennett lost his seat in Eastville.
The results indicate the Greens have a strong chance of winning the Bristol Central MP seat in the upcoming general election.
Carla Denyer, co-leader of the national party who has stood down as a Bristol councillor, is the parliamentary candidate trying to beat Labour and become the second Green MP.
She said all councillors in every ward within the constituency were now Greens, with Labour losing out.
Labour group leader Cllr Tom Renhard said the party had some good results, including ousting a Conservative in Frome Vale.
The four Green councillors in Bishopston & Ashley Down and Redland retained their seats. The results were:
Bishopston & Ashley Down
Two seats were available in Bishopston & Ashley Down and the Greens held both. Turnout: 49%
Emma Edwards, Green: 2,615
James Crawford, Green: 2,405
Andrew Milton, Labour: 1,432
Eileen Means, Labour: 1,316
Laura Barry, Liberal Democrats: 190
Barry Cash, Liberal Democrats: 190
Samuel Williams, Conservative: 159
Edward Yates, Conservative: 139
Redland
Turnout: 48.28%
Fi Hance, Green: 2,826
Martin Fodor, Green Party: 2,669
Thomas Lydon, Labour: 1,405
James Nethercote, Labour: 1,345
George Scott Day, Conservative: 341
Claire Hiscott, Conservative: 340
Joshua Warwick-Smith, Liberal Democrats: 201
James Wetz, Liberal Democrats: 177
By Adam Postans Local Democracy Reporting Service