Conservatives are expected to take the majority of seats on Dorset Council committees with outright control of the larger ones.

Proposals before the new council when it first meets on on Thursday May 16th outline the political make up of each of the slimmed down committees.

The majority of committee now have just six places, roughly half of what would have existed under the county council. Of these, Health, People, Place and Resources, all are shown as having four seats allocated to the Conservatives and four to the Lib Dems, with no seats for Greens, Labour or independents.

For seven-seat committees the Conservatives will get 5 places and the Lib Dems 5.

Labour, Greens and Independents are not being offered seats on all of the committees – with the proposals showing just one independent seat and one Green seat on Audit and Governance and Appeals, Licensing, strategic planning and each of the three planning committees.

Labour is being offered one place on Appeals, Harbours and Licensing.

The political make up of the new council is – Conservative 43, Liberal Democrat 29, Green 4, Independent 4 and Labour 2. Shown as a percentage of seats this gives the Conservative 52.43%, Lib Dem 35.36%, Green 4.87%, Independent 4.87% and Labour 2.43%.