2002 Pendle Borough Council election

The 2002 Pendle Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2000 reducing the number of seats by 2.[1] The council stayed under no overall control.[2]

Main article: Pendle Borough Council elections

Map of the results of the 2002 Pendle Borough Council election. Liberal Democrats in yellow, Labour in red and Conservatives in blue.

Background

After the 2000 election Labour was the largest party with 23 of the 51 seats, compared to 19 for the Liberal Democrats and 9 Conservatives.[3] In the early part of 2002 however the gap between Labour and the Liberal Democrats narrowed after Labour councillor Kathleen Shore defected to the Liberal Democrats.[3]

The whole council was being elected in 2002 for the first time since 1976 after boundary changes.[4] These changes meant 49 seats were contested from 20 wards, with new wards of Blacko and Higherford, Higham and Pendleside and Old Laund Booth being created.[3]

Campaign

In total 144 candidates stood in the election[3] with the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties standing in most wards, along with 2 candidates from the Socialist Alliance and some independents.[4] Several councillors stood down at the election, including Conservative group leader Roy Clarkson, Liberal Democrat former mayors Ian Gilhespy and Gill Gilhespy and Labour's Tim Ormrod, while Liberal Democrat Lord Tony Greaves stood for the party in Walverden ward.[4]

Issues in the election included the handling of proposals for closing residential homes, the proposed demolition of houses in Nelson, the condition of private housing in the area, the selection of the area as part of the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme and policing.[3]

The election saw a trial of optional postal voting in an attempt to increase turnout, but there were allegations that the process was being abused.[5] The Liberal Democrats claimed that about 900 postal votes in four marginal wards were being sent to common addresses, instead of the voters own address.[6] Having the postal vote sent to another address was not illegal, but the Liberal Democrats feared fraud and that people had signed postal ballots without understanding what they were doing.[6] The police made an investigation after one agent for the Liberal Democrats requested it,[6] with the allegations also being looked into by the Electoral Commission.[7]

Election result

The results saw the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties both finish on 19 seats, while the Conservatives won 11.[8] With the number of seats having been reduced by 2, Labour lost 3 seats, the Liberal Democrats lost 1 seat and the Conservatives gained 2 seats.[8] The closest result came in Walverden ward, where it took 8 recounts before the final result was declared, with Labour winning the second seat in the ward by 2 votes over the Liberal Democrats.[8]

Following the election Labour group leader Azhar Ali remained leader of the council, after winning a 19 to 18 vote over Liberal Democrat group leader Alan Davies at the full council meeting.[9]

Pendle local election result 2002[10][11]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	19			-1	38.8	38.6	27,067	+6.1%
	Labour	19			-3	38.8	32.5	22,761	-3.9%
	Conservative	11			+2	22.4	27.7	19,411	-2.5%
	Independent	0			0	0	0.8	536	-0.1%
	Socialist Alliance	0			0	0	0.5	316	+0.5%

Ward results

Barrowford (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Allan Vickerman	840
	Conservative	Anthony Beckett	761
	Conservative	Linda Crossley	742
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Simpson	667
	Liberal Democrats	Kay Coates	658
	Conservative	Jonathan Eyre	615
	Labour	Susan Nike	359
	Labour	Anthony Hargreaves	275
	Labour	Robert Oliver	262
Turnout			5,179	47.7

Blacko and Higherford[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Shelagh Derwent	569	81.8
	Labour	Helen Ingham	67	9.6
	Liberal Democrats	Christel Abbiss	60	8.6
Majority			502	72.1
Turnout			696	52.0

Boulsworth (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Josephine Belbin	901
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Davies	831
	Liberal Democrats	David Robertson	828
	Conservative	Michael Calvert	392
	Conservative	James Farnell	305
	Conservative	Harold Ryder	299
	Labour	Deborah Gray	241
	Labour	Robert Parsons	241
	Labour	Martin Wilson	205
Turnout			4,243	41.2

Bradley (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Mohammed Iqbal	1,052
	Labour	Frederick Hartley	1,047
	Labour	Mohammad Nasim	995
	Liberal Democrats	Mohammed Munir	885
	Liberal Democrats	Sonia Robinson	861
	Liberal Democrats	David Stopforth	800
	Conservative	Eric King	155
	Conservative	Frank Chadwick	153
	Conservative	Edward Myers	132
Turnout			6,080	52.1

Brierfield (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Frank Clifford	845
	Labour	Pauline Allen	840
	Labour	Abdul Jabbar	838
	Conservative	Peter Jackson	818
	Conservative	Hussnain Ashraf	804
	Conservative	Francis Wren	796
	Liberal Democrats	William Lawrence	227
	Liberal Democrats	Khalid Mehmood	147
	Liberal Democrats	Iain Carlos	145
Turnout			5,460	56.2

Clover Hill (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Colin Waite	675
	Labour	Neil Akrigg	640
	Liberal Democrats	Kathleen Shore	596
	Labour	Mohammed Ansar	577
	Liberal Democrats	David Foster	545
	Liberal Democrats	Nadeem Malik	444
	Conservative	Audrey Emmott	330
	Conservative	Marian Taylor	300
	Conservative	Ann Jackson	286
Turnout			4,393	43.4

Coates (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Bell	1,082
	Liberal Democrats	Marjorie Adams	1,020
	Liberal Democrats	Allan Buck	989
	Labour	Paul Hanson	383
	Conservative	David Poole	185
	Conservative	Joyce Myers	179
Turnout			3,838	39.8

Craven (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	David Whipp	1,056
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Norcross	973
	Liberal Democrats	Marlene Hill-Crane	879
	Labour	Frank Neal	622
	Conservative	Keith Harrison	254
	Conservative	Barbara Davison	239
	Conservative	Beverley Harrison	235
Turnout			4,258	43.2

Earby (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Tennant	939
	Conservative	Rosemary Carroll	861
	Conservative	Morris Horsfield	861
	Liberal Democrats	Doris Haigh	795
	Liberal Democrats	Timothy Haigh	748
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Day	689
	Labour	William Skinner	278
	Labour	Ruth Wilkinson	236
Turnout			5,407	45.4

Foulridge[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Carol Belshaw	352	54.7
	Labour	Jillian Smith	188	29.2
	Liberal Democrats	Michelle Birtwell	104	16.1
Majority			164	25.5
Turnout			644	47.5

Higham and Pendleside[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Nutter	567	76.7
	Labour	Sheila Wicks	172	23.3
Majority			395	53.5
Turnout			739	53.7

Horsfield (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Sharon Davies	618
	Liberal Democrats	Dorothy Lord	593
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Kerrigan	566
	Labour	Paul Broughton	423
	Labour	David Johns	406
	Labour	Keith Hutson	356
	Independent	Peter Nowland	301
	Conservative	Janet Riley	207
	Conservative	Alexandra Thompson	192
	Conservative	Donald Myers	162
Turnout			3,824	36.3

Marsden (2)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Dorothy Ormrod	473
	Labour	Gary Rowland	455
	Independent	Leonard Atkinson	235
	Conservative	Michael Landriau	232
	Conservative	Victoria Landriau	201
	Liberal Democrats	David French	100
	Liberal Democrats	Doris Stanworth	80
Turnout			1,776	38.2

Old Laund Booth[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	John David	639	84.6
	Conservative	Clive Bevan	116	15.4
Majority			523	69.3
Turnout			755	62.7

Reedley (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Pauline McCormick	1,255
	Conservative	Willie Clegg	1,155
	Conservative	Tonia Barton	1,071
	Labour	Robert Allen	681
	Labour	Mohammed Hanif	599
	Labour	Anthony Martin	559
	Liberal Democrats	Victoria Greaves	258
	Liberal Democrats	Frances Myers	215
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Whipp	198
Turnout			5,991	56.2

Southfield (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sheena Dunn	787
	Labour	Mohammad Latif	681
	Labour	Azhar Ali	673
	Conservative	Peter Wildman	350
	Conservative	Jack Marshall	344
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Thornton	310
	Liberal Democrats	Rukhsar Ahmed	193
	Liberal Democrats	Mohammed Ashraf	159
	Conservative	Javed Nasim	158
Turnout			3,655	37.5

Vivary Bridge (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	David Clegg	617
	Labour	David Whalley	608
	Labour	Frank Allanson	510
	Labour	David Foat	502
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Jackson	479
	Conservative	Smith Benson	290
	Conservative	Ian Porter	281
	Conservative	Geoffrey Riley	249
	Socialist Alliance	Kevin Bean	149
Turnout			3,685	35.6

Walverden (2)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Adam	566
	Labour	Judith Robinson	546
	Liberal Democrats	Qadeer Ahmed	544
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Greaves	478
	Conservative	Barbara King	186
	Conservative	Ann Tattersall	165
Turnout			2,485	52.0

Waterside (3)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Edwina Sargeant	626
	Labour	Anne Doult	499
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Robinson	492
	Labour	Ian Tweedie	442
	Liberal Democrats	Adrian Statham	437
	Labour	Ann Moulton	431
	Conservative	Eric Jackson	168
	Socialist Alliance	Richard MacSween	167
	Conservative	Richard Wood	165
	Conservative	Adrian Mitchell	151
Turnout			3,578	36.7

Whitefield (2)[8][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Mahboob Ahmed	900
	Labour	Asjad Mahmood	846
	Liberal Democrats	Abdul Malik	795
	Labour	Mohammad Arshad	680
	Conservative	Michelle Ainsworth	105
	Conservative	Ijaz Ahmed	79
Turnout			3,405	70.1

References

1. "Pendle". BBC News Online. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
2. "Full results". Financial Times. 4 May 2002. p. 7.
3. "Pendle (Labour controlled, all seats available)". Lancashire Telegraph. 2 May 2002. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
4. "How they will line up on May 2". Lancashire Telegraph. 10 April 2002. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
5. Hencke, David; Ward, Lucy (22 April 2002). "Countdown to May 2: Fraud alert in postal vote experiment: Efforts to counter apathy involve a risk, parties maintain". The Guardian. p. 10.
6. "Postal voting pushes up turnout in local trials". Financial Times. 1 May 2002. p. 4.
7. Waugh, Paul (25 May 2002). "Politics: Police investigate postal vote complaints". The Independent. p. 8.
8. "Parties tie for council leadership". Lancashire Telegraph. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
9. "Leader holds on to post by single vote". Lancashire Telegraph. 18 May 2002. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
10. "Election results". Pendle Borough Council. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
11. "Election results; Local Election". The Times. 4 May 2002. p. 16.