2007 Basildon District Council election

The 2007 Basildon District Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Basildon District Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.[4]

2007 Basildon District Council election[1][2][3]
3 May 2007
14 of the 42 seats to Basildon District Council
22 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Seats before 27 12 3
Seats won 8 5 1
Seats after 28 11 3
Seat change 1 1
Popular vote 14,823 7,656 4,411
Percentage 43.2% 22.3% 12.9%
Map of the results of the 2007 Basildon council election. Conservatives in blue, Labour in red and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in grey were not contested in 2007.
Council control before election

Conservative Party

 Council control after election

Conservative Party

After the election, the composition of the council was

Campaign

The election saw the British National Party stand in 11 of the 14 wards being contested,[6] an increase from 6 in 2006 and more than the Liberal Democrats who only stood in 9 seats.[7]

There was controversy during the election over comments by the Conservative candidate in Vange, Luke Mackenzie, in an election leaflet where he called for voters who did not want asylum seekers to get council houses to vote Conservative.[6] Other parties called on the Conservatives to disown Mackenzie, who was standing against the only ethnic minority councillor in Basildon, saying he was "peddling scare stories" and that the comments were "inflammatory".[6] However Mackenzie denied increasing racial tension, saying voters felt immigration was "entirely out of control" and that a shortage of housing was caused by people from outside of Basildon,[6] and was defended by the leaders of the Conservative group in Basildon.[8]

Election result

The results saw the Conservative hold control of the council after gaining one seat from Labour.[9] The Conservatives took Laindon Park, but narrowly failed to take the targeted wards of Pitsea North West and Vange from Labour, by 19 and 68 votes respectively.[10] The Conservative share of the vote was down on the 2006 election at 43%, while Labour won 22%.[10] Overall turnout in the election was 30%, a decline from the 33.5% recorded in 2006.[10]

2007 Basildon Local Election Result[11][10]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 8 1 0 1 57.1 43.2 14,823 2.1
  Labour 5 0 1 1 35.7 22.3 7,656 5.6
  Liberal Democrats 1 0 0 0 7.1 12.9 4,411 6.8
  BNP 0 0 0 0 0 12.0 4,114 7.9
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 7.8 2,661 5.9
  UKIP 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 397 New
  Green 0 0 0 0 0 0.6 211 0.5

All comparisons in vote share are to the corresponding 2003 election.

Ward results

Billericay East
Location of Billericay East ward
Billericay East[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative David Dadds 1,373 44.2 -28.3
Liberal Democrats John James 1,095 35.3 +16.7
BNP Laurence Long 377 12.1 +12.1
Labour Patricia Reid 259 8.3 -0.6
Majority 278 9.0 -44.9
Turnout 3,104 34.2 -3.9
Conservative hold Swing

Billericay West
Location of Billericay West ward
Billericay West[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Stephen Horgan 2,017 65.7 +1.6
Liberal Democrats Geoffrey Taylor 473 15.4 +0.3
BNP Michael Bateman 337 11.0 -1.9
Labour Margaret Viney 244 7.9 +0.1
Majority 1,544 50.3 +1.2
Turnout 3,071 32.7 -3.5
Conservative hold Swing

Burstead
Location of Burstead ward
Burstead[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Kevin Blake 1,886 62.9 -6.9
Liberal Democrats Susan Haeger 455 15.2 -4.4
BNP Linda Henry 334 11.1 +11.1
Labour Santa Bennett 325 10.8 +0.2
Majority 1,431 47.7 -2.5
Turnout 3,000 36.2 -3.8
Conservative hold Swing

Fryerns
Location of Fryerns ward
Fryerns[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Allan Davies 1,092 42.1 -1.6
Conservative Mark Coker 603 23.2 +4.2
BNP Leonard Heather 595 22.9 -2.4
Liberal Democrats John Lutton 305 11.8 -0.2
Majority 489 18.8 +0.3
Turnout 2,595 28.3 -3.3
Labour hold Swing

Laindon Park
Location of Laindon Park ward
Laindon Park[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Jilly Hyde 850 33.3 -11.2
Labour Barbara Croft 624 24.5 -11.3
Independent Victor York 613 24.0 +24.0
BNP David King 295 11.6 -8.1
Liberal Democrats Jon Myall 91 3.6 +3.6
Green Annie Humphries 77 3.0 +3.0
Majority 226 8.9 +0.2
Turnout 2,550 30.8 -0.7
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Lee Chapel North
Lee Chapel North ward in Basildon 2002
Lee Chapel North[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Richard Rackham 875 39.5 -0.2
Conservative Peter Morris 627 28.3 +4.3
BNP Jay Slaven 361 16.3 -5.7
Liberal Democrats Steve Nice 218 9.8 +1.5
Green Ernest Humphries 134 6.0 +0.0
Majority 248 11.2 -4.5
Turnout 2,215 25.4 -4.6
Labour hold Swing

Nethermayne
Location of Nethermayne ward
Nethermayne[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Ben Williams 1,451 51.0 +9.0
Conservative Steve Foster 874 30.7 -3.3
Labour Julian Ware-Lane 520 18.3 -5.7
Majority 577 20.3 +12.3
Turnout 2,845 33.0 -2.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Pitsea North West
Location of Pitsea North West ward
Pitsea North West[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Keith Bobbin 734 34.3 -4.3
Conservative Mark Coxshall 714 33.4 -11.0
BNP Geoffrey McCarthy 362 16.9 +16.9
UKIP Terry McBride 167 7.8 +7.8
Liberal Democrats Martin Howard 162 7.6 -9.4
Majority 20 0.9
Turnout 2,139 23.2 -2.0
Labour hold Swing

Pitsea South East
Location of Pitsea South East ward
Pitsea South East[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Maureen Larkin 1,151 46.7 -12.4
Labour Emma Collins 767 31.1 -9.8
BNP Sidney Chaney 375 15.2 +15.2
UKIP Imelda Clancy 174 7.1 +7.1
Majority 384 15.6 -2.5
Turnout 2,467 28.4 -2.4
Conservative hold Swing

St Martin's
Location of St Martin's ward
St Martin's[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Patricia Rackley 625 41.3 +4.7
Conservative James Devlin 346 22.9 -0.5
BNP Philip Howell 325 21.5 -5.3
Liberal Democrats Mike Dickinson 161 10.6 -2.6
UKIP Terry Wood 56 3.7 +3.7
Majority 279 18.4 +8.6
Turnout 1,513 26.6 -1.3
Labour hold Swing

Vange
Location of Vange ward
Vange[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Danny Nandanwar 704 38.7 +3.4
Conservative Luke MacKenzie 636 34.9 +5.9
BNP Rodney Leveridge 481 26.4 +3.7
Majority 68 3.7 -2.7
Turnout 1,821 27.9 +1.4
Labour hold Swing

Wickford Castledon
Location of Wickford Castleton ward
Wickford Castledon[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Sylvia Buckley 1,058 47.3 -8.9
Independent Alan Ball 677 30.3 +6.2
BNP Anthony Gladwin 272 12.2 +12.2
Labour Leonard Wilkins 229 10.2 -1.5
Majority 381 17.0 -15.1
Turnout 2,236 36.9 -1.1
Conservative hold Swing

Wickford North
Location of Wickford North ward
Wickford North[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Michael Mowe 1,592 52.7 -23.9
Independent David Harrison 1,021 33.8 +33.8
Labour Christopher Wilson 409 13.5 -9.9
Majority 571 18.9 -34.4
Turnout 3,022 32.6 -1.4
Conservative hold Swing

Wickford Park
Location of Wickford Park ward
Wickford Park[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Christopher Jackman 1,096 64.7 -3.7
Independent Derek Paffett 350 20.6 +20.6
Labour Anthony Borlase 249 14.7 +1.4
Majority 746 44.0 -6.1
Turnout 1,695 24.9 -2.8
Conservative hold Swing
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References
  1. "Council compositions by year". The Elections Centre.
  2. "Local Election Summaries 2007". The Elections Centre.
  3. "English local elections 2007". BBC News.
  4. "Basildon". BBC News Online. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  5. "Local and Mayoral elections 2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  6. Coates, Sam (9 April 2007). "Tory candidate accused of echoing the BNP message". The Times. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  7. Austin, Jon (6 April 2007). "BNP candidates will outnumber Lib Dems". Southend Standard. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  8. Austin, Jon (11 April 2007). "Race-hate row over election leaflet". Southend Standard. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  9. "Councillor, 18, 'youngest in UK'". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  10. Austin, Jon (4 May 2007). "Tories fail to make clean sweep". Southend Standard. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  11. "District Council election". Basildon District Council. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
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