Please read the following table in Markdown format and then answer the question according to the table. Table cells in one row are seperated by '|', and different rows are seperated by '
'.

Table:
| Party | Previous council | Staying councillors | Seats up for election | Election result | New council |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Conservatives | 29 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| Labour | 19 | 13 | 6 | 10 | 23 |
| Socialist Alternative | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Liberal Democrats | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| British National Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Respect | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 54 | 36 | 18 | 18 | 54 |
Question:
what was the total of previous council?
Answer:
54