Poole Borough Council

42 councillors were elected across 16 wards[3] and there were elections every four years. The last election, in May 2015, resulted in a Conservative majority.[4] The Mayor was Sean Gabriel, a Conservative councillor for the Canford Heath West ward since May 2015.[5] The Council was made up of 32 Conservative, 6 Liberal Democrat 3 Poole People and 1 UKIP councillors. After the election, a Conservative administration was formed[6] with a cabinet of seven councillors who were responsible for deciding how the Council's strategies and policies were implemented and how the budget was spent. The Council Leader was Janet Walton (Conservative).[7]

For three weeks in 2008 the Council carried out unlawful surveillance on a family following an allegation that they were living outside a particular school catchment area. The surveillance was carried out by one of Poole Borough Council's education officers, who followed the family's movements for 24 consecutive days between 10 February and 4 March 2008.[8] Tim Martin, the council's head of legal services, authorised the surveillance and initially argued that it was justified under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000,[9] set up to counter serious crime, including terrorism. However, at a subsequent tribunal, the Council's actions were ruled unlawful on multiple grounds: there was nothing, for instance, to suggest that the family's three young children had committed any criminal act, yet they were still made targets of the surveillance.[10] The tribunal also ruled that the surveillance "was not proportionate and could not reasonably have been believed to be proportionate".[11] The Council said that it accepted the judgment "fully".[12]

• Borough of Poole