By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter
With residents just days away from Southampton City Council elections on May 7, here is a rundown of key details voters need to know.
• Meet the Bitterne Park ward candidates
• Meet the Portswood ward candidates
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The city council is holding a one third election, meaning 17 seats will be up for grabs on Thursday, May 7..
This equates to one elected member in each of the local authority’s wards, with a total of 101 people nominated across the city.
Full sets of 17 candidates have been put forward by the Conservatives, Greens, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK.
There are two independents seeking election and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is fielding nominees in 14 wards.
Voters will be able attend polling stations from 7am to 10pm.
What is the current political make-up of the council?
Southampton City Council has been run by Labour since 2022.
Heading into this year’s elections 31 of the 51 councillors are part of the Labour group.
The largest opposition party is the Conservatives with nine councillors followed by the Liberal Democrats with seven.
The Green group currently has two elected members, while there is one Reform councillor and one independent.
What happened at the last election in 2024?
Two years ago, there were also 17 seats on the line as residents went to the polls.
Labour retained its control of the council although its majority reduced by one seat overall to 36 councillors.
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats increased their standing by one councillor each, taking their seat totals to 10 and four, respectively.
The Green Party stayed on one councillor at the time while the number of independents dropped to zero.
How has the political balance changed since the last election?
Through by-elections, party defections and a suspension the make-up of the council politically has changed since 2024.
Labour MP Satvir Kaur stood down from her councillor role in Shirley. This seat was won through a by-election in October 2024 by Liberal Democrat candidate George Percival.
Across 2025, three councillors left the Labour group.
Coxford representative Matthew Renyard joined the Greens in March, while the Liberal Democrats welcomed Swaythling councillor Matthew Bunday in June and Coxford councillor Rebecca McCreanor in August.
Mr Percival resigned with immediate effect from his post in January 2026 after a promotion in his day job required him to move away from Southampton.
The by-election the following month saw Chris Shank retain the seat for the Liberal Democrats, picking up just 21 more votes than Labour.
February also brought two further changes to the political balance.
Sholing councillor Sarah Powell-Vaughan joined Reform UK from the Conservatives.
Lee Whitbread, who represents Redbridge, was suspended by Labour pending an investigation following a complaint. He has remained listed as an independent on the council website.
What is up for grabs this time around?
Nine of the seats being contested this year are currently held by Labour.
This includes council leader Alex Winning in Shirley and cabinet members Marie Finn in Portswood and Andy Frampton in Thornhill.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are defending three seats each, while Reform UK’s current single seat in Sholing is on the line.
Mike Denness, Labour councillor in Bevois, and Valerie Laurent, Conservative councillor in Harefield, are not re-standing.
Cllr Whitbread’s seat, currently independent as outlined above, is being contested although he is not seeking re-election.
If Labour win less than four out of the 17 seats, the council will fall into no overall control.
No other party can pick up enough seats to gain a majority, even with a clean sweep across the city.
Three incumbents are seeking election in different wards from the ones they currently represent: Cllr McCreanor is on the ballot in Shirley, Cllr Bunday is contesting Portswood and Woolston Labour councillor Sue Blatchford is standing in Peartree.
Who can I vote for in my ward?
You can read statements from all candidates standing in Bitterne Park ward, and in Portswood ward, on our site here and here. You can also see how these wards voted in the last council elections.
For a full list of candidates in all city wards, see this PDF on the council’s website
Where can I vote?
Church halls, community centres, cabins, a pub and the staff room at a school are among the sites where Southampton residents will cast their votes in the local elections.
Voters will need to go to their assigned polling station and show an accepted form of photo ID to staff.
The local authority also has an online postcode checker to confirm the correct polling station for residents.
There are just shy of 100 different polling stations across Southampton.
The following is a list of polling stations for Bitterne Park and Portswood wards:
Bitterne Park
• Bitterne Park Baptist Church Hall (Main Hall), Wellington Road
• Portacabin at Riverside Car Park No.2, Woodmill Lane
• Townhill Park Community Centre (Main Hall), Meggeson Avenue
• The Ascension Centre (Vine Room), 1 Thorold Road
• The Ascension Centre (Grace Hall), 1 Thorold Road
• Bitterne Manor Community Centre (Main Hall), Vespasian Road
• Bitterne Park URC Hall (Hall at Rear), Cobden Avenue
• Mansbridge Primary School (Community Room), Octavia Road
Portswood
• Highfield Church Centre (Lounge), Highfield Lane
• Portswood Library, 251 Portswood Road
• Scouts HQ (Main Hall), Brickfield Road
• Portswood Church Hall, Portswood Road
• St Denys Church Centre (Meeting Room), Dundee Road
This article is from the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Some alterations/additions may have been made by our site - a BBC Local News Partnerships member. BBC-funded LDRS journalists cover local authorities and public service organisations, with content shared by all partners.