2006 Maidstone Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2006 Maidstone council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow, Labour in red and independent in white. Wards in grey were not contested in 2006.

The 2006 Maidstone Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Maidstone Borough Council in Kent, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

Before the election the Conservatives were the largest party on the council with 24 seats, compared to 20 Liberal Democrat, 8 Labour and 3 independent councillors.[3] 18 seats were contested in the election, with the Conservatives the only party to contest every seat.[3] Labour had 15 candidates, the Liberal Democrats 14, Green Party 6, United Kingdom Independence Party 4 and there were 3 independent candidates.[3] Both the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, Mick Stevens, and the Labour group leader, Daniel Murphy, stood down at the election, while the Conservative and Independent group leaders, Eric Hotson and Pat Marshall, defended Staplehurst and Bearsted wards respectively.[3]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives make the 4 gains they required to win a majority, but fall a seat short after also losing one seat.[4] This meant the council remained under no overall control as it had been since 1983, with the Conservatives on 27 seats, the Liberal Democrats on 19, Labour 6 and there were 3 independents.[4] Overall turnout in the election was 37.3%.[3]

Maidstone Local Election Result 2006[3][5]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 9 4 1 +3 50.0 46.7 16,102 +6.6%
  Liberal Democrats 6 1 2 -1 33.3 30.7 10,579 -0.8%
  Labour 2 0 2 -2 11.1 11.2 3,859 -2.3%
  Independent 1 0 0 0 5.6 5.6 1,928 +3.6%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0 4.5 1,542 +3.0%
  UKIP 0 0 0 0 0 1.4 495 -9.5%

Ward results

Allington[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Daniel Daley 1,562 62.6 +10.1
Conservative Jeffery Curwood 653 26.2 +1.6
Labour Marianna Poliszczuk 149 6.0 −4.0
UKIP Gareth Kendall 130 5.2 −7.8
Majority 909 36.4 +8.5
Turnout 2,494 41.7 −2.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Bearsted[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Patricia Marshall 1,459 48.6 +48.6
Conservative Michael Cuming 1,238 41.3 −19.3
Labour Jeanne Gibson 169 5.6 −5.0
Green Edward Wallace 135 4.5 +4.5
Majority 221 7.3
Turnout 3,001 42.5 −2.0
Independent hold Swing
Boxley[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Derek Butler 1,349 65.7 +20.5
Liberal Democrats Sheila Chittenden 489 23.8 −8.2
Labour Frances Brown 215 10.5 +2.5
Majority 860 41.9 +28.6
Turnout 2,053 28.6 −9.7
Conservative hold Swing
Bridge[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Brian Moss 659 43.4 +5.7
Liberal Democrats Alan Cocks 573 37.7 −3.1
Green Stuart Jeffery 166 10.9 +10.9
Labour Keith Adkinson 122 8.0 −4.5
Majority 86 5.7
Turnout 1,520 33.2 −8.2
Conservative hold Swing
Coxheath and Hunton[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Brian Mortimer 1,212 48.1 +8.0
Conservative John Wilson 1,175 46.7 +6.3
Labour Michael Casserley 131 5.2 −4.3
Majority 37 1.4
Turnout 2,518 42.1 −3.1
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
East[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Wooding 1,371 51.6 +22.1
Liberal Democrats Ian Chittenden 999 37.6 −10.0
Labour Michael Beckwith 180 6.8 −2.4
UKIP Anthony Robertson 105 4.0 −6.2
Majority 372 14.0
Turnout 2,655 38.6 −0.9
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Fant[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Stephen Beerling 656 37.3 +7.4
Conservative Jamie Devlin 460 26.1 +5.0
Labour Patrick Coates 301 17.1 −16.4
Green Ian McDonald 223 12.7 +6.8
Independent Carol Vizzard 120 6.8 +6.8
Majority 196 11.2
Turnout 1,760 29.3 −8.0
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing
Harrietsham and Lenham[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Marshall 1,079 57.5 +13.1
Labour Tom Sams 797 42.5 −2.1
Majority 282 15.0
Turnout 1,876 41.1 +1.3
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Headcorn[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jenefer Gibson 1,094 60.9 −2.7
Green Penelope Kemp 701 39.1 +31.0
Majority 393 21.9 −30.4
Turnout 1,795 41.9 −5.4
Conservative hold Swing
Heath[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Julia Batt 664 48.8 −4.4
Conservative Helen Aronson 585 43.0 +14.6
Labour Margaret Taylor 111 8.2 −3.1
Majority 79 5.8 −19.0
Turnout 1,360 33.4 −2.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
High Street[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Clive English 737 46.2 +4.5
Conservative Mark Mears 545 34.2 +7.5
Labour Edith Davis 200 12.5 −3.5
UKIP John Stanford 112 7.0 −8.6
Majority 192 12.0 −3.1
Turnout 1,594 25.0 −5.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Marden and Yalding[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Roderick Nelson-Gracie 1,475 72.4 +22.8
Liberal Democrats Geoffrey Samme 561 27.6 −1.3
Majority 914 44.9 +24.2
Turnout 2,036 35.5 −4.2
Conservative hold Swing
North[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tony Harwood 1,077 57.4 +6.2
Conservative Derek Nicholson 530 28.2 +3.2
Green James Shalice 141 7.5 +3.4
Labour Richard Coates 129 6.9 −1.8
Majority 547 29.1 +2.8
Turnout 1,877 33.4 −3.4
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Park Wood[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Daniel Moriarty 315 34.9 +4.5
Liberal Democrats Robert Field 308 34.1 +10.1
Conservative Robert Hinder 279 30.9 +3.7
Majority 7 0.8 −2.5
Turnout 902 28.7 +0.5
Labour hold Swing
Shepway North[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Yates 870 47.5 +5.4
Labour John Hughes 436 23.8 −5.7
Independent Gillian Annan 349 19.1 +19.1
Green Stephen Muggeridge 176 9.6 +5.1
Majority 434 23.7 +11.1
Turnout 1,831 29.9 −3.7
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Shepway South[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Anthony Hull 397 37.1 −0.2
Conservative Charles Worsfold 386 36.0 +3.9
UKIP Stephen Dean 148 13.8 −5.2
Liberal Democrats Michael Shaw 140 13.1 +1.6
Majority 11 1.0 −4.2
Turnout 1,071 25.2 −3.2
Labour hold Swing
South[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Bruce Pollington 1,269 50.1 +7.1
Liberal Democrats Malcolm Luxton 1,266 49.9 +11.4
Majority 3 0.1 −4.3
Turnout 2,535 42.1 −0.1
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Staplehurst[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Eric Hotson 1,085 66.7 +2.8
Liberal Democrats Thomas Burnham 335 20.6 −3.1
Labour Alan Rimmer 207 12.7 +0.3
Majority 750 46.1 +5.9
Turnout 1,627 36.3 +6.3
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. ^ "Local elections: Maidstone". BBC News Online. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Local elections 2006: Results in full". The Guardian. 6 May 2006. p. 20.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Election of Maidstone Borough Councillors - Thursday 4 May 2006" (PDF). Maidstone Borough Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Large Tory gains as voters go true blue in town hall elections". Your Tunbridge Wells. Retrieved 6 March 2011.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Local elections". The Times. 6 May 2006. p. 64.