2008 Stratford-on-Avon District Council election

The 2008 Stratford-on-Avon District Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Stratford-on-Avon District Council in Warwickshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

Map of the results of the 2008 Stratford-on-Avon council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independent in white. Wards in grey were not contested in 2008.

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 32
• Liberal Democrat 19
• Independent 2[2]

Background

Before the election the Conservatives had a 21-seat majority with 37 councillors, as compared to 14 for the Liberal Democrats and 2 independents.[3] 19 seats were being contested in the election, which was expected to be fought mainly between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.[3]

Election result

The results saw the Liberal Democrats make 5 gains to reduce the Conservatives majority on the council.[4] 3 of the gains for the Liberal Democrats came in the wards of Stratford-upon-Avon itself, along with 2 in Harbury and Shipston.[5] Meanwhile, the one independent councillor who was up for election, Kim James, successfully held his seat in Bidford and Salford ward, defeating the Liberal Democrat candidate by 185 votes.[4]

The losses for the Conservatives were one of the worst performances by the party in the 2008 local elections, in contrast to the national picture where they made strong gains. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg described the Stratford election as "an excellent result".[6]

Stratford-on-Avon Local Election Result 2008[7]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	11	0	5	-5	57.9	51.0	15,222	-0.9%
	Liberal Democrats	7	5	0	+5	36.8	39.9	11,916	+4.3%
	Independent	1	0	0	0	5.3	3.4	1,019	+0.4%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	3.7	1,103	-1.8%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	1.4	406	-0.9%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.6	183	-1.1%

Ward results

Alcester[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Susan Adams	1,139	55.1	-4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Carol Lane	856	41.4	+10.3
	Labour	Michael Gerrard	73	3.5	-0.2
Majority			283	13.7	-15.2
Turnout			2,068	43.9	+0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Aston Cantlow[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Lawrence	524	73.0	+11.9
	Liberal Democrats	John Bicknell	194	27.0	-11.9
Majority			330	46.0	+23.8
Turnout			718	47.0	-5.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bardon[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Valerie Hobbs	537	73.1	+10.8
	Liberal Democrats	John Insoll	198	26.9	+3.8
Majority			339	46.1	+6.9
Turnout			735	41.7	-0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bidford and Salford[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Kim James	903	52.0	+52.0
	Liberal Democrats	Rona Fitzpatrick	718	41.3	+4.9
	Labour	Alec Brown	116	6.7	-0.9
Majority			185	10.7
Turnout			1,737	32.9	-5.3
	Independent hold		Swing

Burton Dassett[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Simon Jackson	647	78.8	+13.0
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Hill	174	21.2	-13.0
Majority			473	57.6	+26.1
Turnout			821	45.9	-3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Claverdon[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Horner	684	82.6	+9.3
	Liberal Democrats	Jeanne Lowe	144	17.4	-9.3
Majority			540	65.2	+18.7
Turnout			828	45.9	-1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ettington[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Izzi Seccombe	597	68.0	+2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Christian Senior	165	18.8	-15.8
	Independent	Darryl Armstrong	116	13.2	+13.2
Majority			432	49.2	+18.4
Turnout			878	47.4	-2.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Harbury[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Beverley Mann	861	50.3	+6.8
	Conservative	Peter Barton	850	49.7	-6.8
Majority			11	0.6
Turnout			1,711	45.5	+2.1
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Henley[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Stephen Thirlwell	1,172	74.6	-2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Karyl Rees	215	13.7	+6.0
	UKIP	Brett Parsons	184	11.7	+3.5
Majority			957	60.9	-7.8
Turnout			1,571	44.0	-2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kineton[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Susan Wixey	979	70.0	+10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Vivien Purdy	420	30.0	-10.9
Majority			559	40.0	+21.7
Turnout			1,399	41.5	-4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shipston[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Cheney	934	48.7	-0.5
	Conservative	Trevor Russel	921	48.0	+1.5
	Labour	Jeffrey Kenner	64	3.3	-1.0
Majority			13	0.7	-1.9
Turnout			1,919	48.6	-0.7
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Southam[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Appleton	853	52.1	-4.7
	Labour	Peter Thomas	404	24.7	-7.6
	Liberal Democrats	Angela Adkins	380	23.2	+12.3
Majority			449	27.4	+2.9
Turnout			1,637	33.1	-1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Stratford Alveston[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Kate Rolfe	1,264	49.1	+10.3
	Conservative	Lynda Organ	1,088	42.3	-6.3
	UKIP	Ralph Berry	222	8.6	+0.7
Majority			176	6.8
Turnout			2,574	48.3	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Stratford Avenue and New Town[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Trevor Honychurch	991	47.6	+30.0
	Conservative	Juliet Short	957	46.0	+5.1
	Labour	Matthew Stephens	132	6.3	+0.2
Majority			34	1.6
Turnout			2,080	37.5	-5.5
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Stratford Guild and Hathaway[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Ron Cockings	1,141	47.3	+16.3
	Conservative	Michael Perry	956	39.6	-10.8
	Green	Hugh Chatwin	183	7.6	+1.7
	Labour	George Hathaway	134	5.6	-2.1
Majority			185	7.7
Turnout			2,414	42.0	-2.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Stratford Mount Pleasant[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Joyce Taylor	798	66.8	-1.3
	Conservative	Karen Parnell	317	26.5	+3.3
	Labour	David Talbot	80	6.7	-2.0
Majority			481	40.3	-4.6
Turnout			1,195	35.6	-4.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Studley[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Beaman	1,083	59.0	+15.1
	Conservative	Jon Vale	652	35.5	-13.0
	Labour	Jacqueline Abbott	100	5.4	-2.2
Majority			431	23.5
Turnout			1,835	40.6	+0.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Tanworth[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Atkinson	1,140	86.6	+5.7
	Liberal Democrats	Sally Hinchley	176	13.4	-5.7
Majority			964	73.3	+1.5
Turnout			1,316	41.5	+0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wellesbourne[5][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sue Main	1,209	50.1	+7.2
	Liberal Democrats	Michala Piotrowski	1,204	49.9	-2.5
Majority			5	0.2
Turnout			2,413	45.0	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Stratford-On-Avon". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
2. "Local elections: Results: Voters in the cities and the shires have their say in the ballot box". The Guardian. 2 May 2008. p. 7.
3. Corley, Michael (30 April 2008). "Last-minute bid to catch the floating voters". Coventry Evening Telegraph. p. 6.
4. "Good night for LibDems". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 3 May 2008. p. 20.
5. "Election results for Stratford district - Lib Dems gain five". The Courier. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
6. "Councillors hold on to their seats". Redditch Advertiser. 7 May 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
7. "District Council election" (PDF). Stratford on Avon District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
8. "Stratford-upon-Avon". Birmingham Post. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.