2002 Craven District Council election

Map of the results of the 2002 Craven District Council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independents in light grey.

The 2002 Craven District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2000 reducing the number of seats by 4.[1] The council stayed under no overall control.[2]

Background

Before the election the Conservatives had exactly half of the seats on the council with 17 councillors, compared to 12 Independents and 5 Liberal Democrats.[3] Due to boundary changes, which reduced the number of seats on the council from 34 to 30, the whole council was elected for the first time since 1974, instead of the usual one-third of the council being elected at each election.[4][5]

A total of 61 candidates stood for the 30 seats contested, comprising 23 Conservatives, 18 independents, 13 Liberal Democrats and 1 candidate from the Labour Party.[4] 3 Conservative and 3 independent candidates were elected unopposed.[5]

Election result

The Conservatives won the most seats to have 13 councillors but without a majority.[5] The Liberal Democrats made gains to have 9 seats, while independents took 8 seats.[5]

Craven local election result 2002[2][6]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 13 -4 43.3 40.1 8,363
  Liberal Democrats 9 +4 30.0 28.1 5,864
  Independent 8 -4 26.7 30.9 6,430
  Labour 0 0 0 0.9 184

Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Mark Wheeler 552
Conservative Patricia Fairbank 480
Conservative Robert Greaves 410
Turnout 1,442 37.2
Barden Fell[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Christopher Knowles-Fitton 474 64.2
Independent Robert Heseltine 264 35.8
Majority 210 28.4
Turnout 738 57.2
Bentham (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats John Pilkington 741
Conservative Gerald Hurtley 488
Independent Manuel Camacho 439
Turnout 1,668 39.9
Cowling[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent John Alderson unopposed
Embsay with Eastby[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Quinn unopposed
Gargrave and Malhamdale (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Stephen Butcher 656
Conservative David Crawford 563
Liberal Democrats Andrew Wood 451
Independent Carlton Hayes 393
Turnout 2,063 51.9
Glusburn (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Philip Barrett 1,066
Independent Peter Seward 364
Independent Arthur Dixon 335
Conservative Ian Bannister 229
Conservative Jennifer Wood 194
Turnout 2,188 43.3
Grassington[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Walbank unopposed
Hellifield and Long Preston[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Helen Firth unopposed
Ingleton and Clapham (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent David Ireton unopposed
Independent Carl Lis unopposed
Penyghent[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Welch 393 54.7
Independent Anthony Macaulay 326 45.3
Majority 67 9.3
Turnout 719 51.2
Settle and Ribblebanks (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats David Heather 652
Liberal Democrats Elizabeth Graham 599
Conservative Charles Price 392
Conservative Terence Murray 383
Turnout 2,026 39.1
Skipton East (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Eric Jaquin 342
Conservative Pamela Heseltine 333
Conservative Christopher Harbron 303
Independent Melvin Seward 268
Liberal Democrats Darren Moorby 245
Independent Dennis Hall 204
Labour Duncan Hall 184
Turnout 1,879 36.5
Skipton North (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Michael Doyle 570
Conservative Marcia Turner 569
Conservative Paul Whitaker 512
Independent Michael Hill 416
Turnout 2,067 42.2
Skipton South (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Andrew Solloway 325
Independent Frances Cook 295
Independent Andrew Cook 252
Conservative Alex Bentley 181
Conservative Barry Blood 177
Turnout 1,230 25.4
Skipton West (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Paul English 575
Liberal Democrats Pauline English 569
Conservative Margaret Spence 279
Conservative Norman Spence 261
Turnout 1,684 30.2
Sutton-in-Craven (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Stephen Place 778
Independent Kenneth Hart 585
Conservative Barbara Barwick-Nicholson 216
Conservative Dee Pollitt 122
Turnout 1,701 35.9
Upper Wharfedale[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Sayer 481 58.4
Independent Kenneth Luty 233 28.3
Liberal Democrats James Monksfield 109 13.2
Majority 248 30.1
Turnout 823 53.2
West Craven[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Binns 267 43.6
Independent Robert Mason 212 34.6
Liberal Democrats Andrew Rankine 134 21.9
Majority 55 9.0
Turnout 613 43.6

References

  1. ^ "Craven". BBC News Online. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Election results - Local Elections". The Times. NewsBank. 3 May 2002. p. 6.
  3. ^ Shand, Alastair (12 April 2002). "Parties fight for control". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank.
  4. ^ a b "All Craven's seats are up for grabs". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 12 April 2002.
  5. ^ a b c d "Liberals do well in Craven elections". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 3 May 2002.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Candidates for 2nd May 2002 elections". Craven District Council. Archived from the original on 10 June 2002. Retrieved 12 March 2015.