2008 Basildon District Council election

2008 Basildon District Council election[1][2][3]
← 2007 1 May 2008 2010 →
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 28 11 3
Seats won 10 3 1
Seats after 29 10 3
Seat change Increase1 Decrease1 Steady
Popular vote 15,936 6,982 3,851
Percentage 47.5% 20.8% 11.5%
Map of the results of the 2008 Basildon council election. Conservatives in blue, Labour in red and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in grey were not contested in 2008.
Council control before election

Conservative Party

 Council control after election

Conservative Party

The 2008 Basildon District Council election took place on 1 May 2008 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]

After the election, the composition of the council was

Candidates

The Conservative, Labour and British National parties stood in all 14 seats contested, which was an increase from 11 at the 2007 election for the British National party.[6] The Liberal Democrats stood in 13 wards, just not contesting Pitsea North West, while there were 4 United Kingdom Independence Party, 3 Green and 3 independent candidates.[6] The independent candidates included councillor Jane Dyer in Vange, after she left the Labour party just before the election,[7] and former councillor David Harrison in Wickford North.[6]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives increase their majority by 1 after taking Vange ward to hold 29 seats.[5] Conservative Luke Mackenzie became the youngest councillor in Basildon at the age of 22, after taking Vange from independent, formerly Labour, councillor Jane Dyer, who only received 72 votes in the election.[5] Labour remained on 10 seats, with the party 82 votes behind the Conservatives in the contest in Vange.[5] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats remained on 3 seats, but finished behind the British National Party in the share of the vote.[5] Overall turnout in the election was 29%.[8]

Following the election Lynda Gordon became the first female group leader on Basildon council, after taking over from Nigel Smith as leader of the Labour group.[9] Smith had declared that he would step down as leader of the Labour group before the election.[9]

2008 Basildon local election result[10][5]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 10 1 0 Increase1 71.4 47.5 15,936 Increase2.3
  Labour 3 0 0 Decrease1 21.4 20.8 6,982 Decrease2.4
  Liberal Democrats 1 0 0 Steady 7.1 11.5 3,851 Decrease7.5
  BNP 0 0 0 Steady 0 14.1 4,743 Increase5.9
  Independent 0 0 1 Steady 0 3.3 1,093 Decrease2.9
  UKIP 0 0 0 Steady 0 2.0 669 New
  Green 0 0 0 Steady 0 0.8 266 Decrease0.7

All comparisons in vote share are to the corresponding 2004 election.

Ward results

Billericay East

Location of Billericay East ward
Billericay East[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Stuart Sullivan 1,932 65.8 +21.6
Liberal Democrats Roger Hatch 428 14.6 −20.7
BNP Geoffrey McCarthy 220 7.5 −4.6
Labour Patricia Reid 206 7.0 −1.3
UKIP Susan McCaffery 152 5.2 +5.2
Majority 1,504 51.2 +42.2
Turnout 2,938 32 −2
Conservative hold Swing

Billericay West

Location of Billericay West ward
Billericay West[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Philip Turner 2,145 71.1 +5.4
Liberal Democrats Belinda Jackson 332 11.0 −4.4
Labour Wendy Aitken 239 7.9 +0.0
BNP Michael Bateman 200 6.6 −4.4
UKIP Cherry Young 99 3.3 +3.3
Majority 1,813 60.1 +9.8
Turnout 3,015 32 −1
Conservative hold Swing

Burstead

Location of Burstead ward
Burstead[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Moore 1,967 64.9 +2.0
BNP Irene Bateman 407 13.4 +2.3
Liberal Democrats Geoffrey Taylor 384 12.7 −2.5
Labour Margaret Viney 275 9.1 −1.7
Majority 1,506 51.4 +3.7
Turnout 3,033 36 −0
Conservative hold Swing

Crouch

Location of Crouch ward
Crouch[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Stuart Allen 1,311 68.5 +7.7
BNP Carolyn Rossiter 251 13.1 −0.4
Labour Anthony Borlase 218 11.4 +0.9
Liberal Democrats Jennifer Cole 135 7.0 +0.4
Majority 1,060 55.4 +8.1
Turnout 1,915 30 −6
Conservative hold Swing

Fryerns

Location of Fryerns ward
Fryerns[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Paul Kirkman 1,013 40.1 −2.0
Conservative Jim Devlin 636 25.2 +2.0
BNP Leonard Heather 628 24.9 +2.0
Liberal Democrats John Lutton 250 9.9 −1.9
Majority 377 14.9 −3.9
Turnout 2,527 27 −1
Labour hold Swing

Laindon Park

Location of Laindon Park ward
Laindon Park[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frank Tomlin 1,020 45.1 +11.8
Labour David Kirkman 661 29.2 +4.7
BNP David King 387 17.1 +5.5
Liberal Democrats Jonathan Myall 193 8.5 +4.9
Majority 359 15.9 +7.0
Turnout 2,261 27 −4
Conservative hold Swing

Langdon Hills

Location of Langdon Hills ward
Langdon Hills[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Stephen Hillier 1,176 57.6 −5.0
Labour William Archibald 283 13.9 −2.5
BNP Kevin Swaby 197 9.6 +9.6
UKIP Imelda Clancy 152 7.4 +7.4
Liberal Democrats Emma Peall 130 6.4 −4.7
Green Annie Humphries 104 5.1 −4.8
Majority 893 43.7 −2.5
Turnout 2,042 30 −5
Conservative hold Swing

Lee Chapel North

Lee Chapel North ward in Basildon 2002
Lee Chapel North[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lynda Gordon 972 43.8 +4.3
Conservative Mark Coxshall 604 27.2 −1.1
BNP Jay Slaven 358 16.1 −0.2
Liberal Democrats Stephen Nice 160 7.2 −2.6
Green Ernest Humphries 126 5.7 −0.3
Majority 368 16.6 +5.4
Turnout 2,220 25 −0
Labour hold Swing

Nethermayne

Location of Nethermayne ward
Nethermayne[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Geoff Williams 1,247 43.0 −8.0
Conservative Kerry Whitaker 697 24.1 −6.6
Labour Mark Witzer 495 17.1 −1.2
BNP Mark Henry 459 15.8 +15.8
Majority 550 19.0 −1.3
Turnout 2,898 33 +0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Pitsea North West

Location of Pitsea North West ward
Pitsea North West[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Andrew Baggott 945 40.7 +7.3
Labour Emma Collins 739 31.9 −2.4
BNP Raymond Pearce 370 15.9 −1.0
UKIP Terry McBride 266 11.5 +3.7
Majority 205 8.9
Turnout 2,320 25 +2
Conservative hold Swing

Pitsea South East

Location of Pitsea South East ward
Pitsea South East[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ann Blake 1,255 52.0 +5.3
Labour Richard Llewellyn 604 25.0 −6.1
BNP Sidney Chaney 383 15.9 +0.7
Liberal Democrats Vivien Howard 171 7.1 +7.1
Majority 651 27.0 +11.4
Turnout 2,413 27 −1
Conservative hold Swing

St Martin's

Location of St Martin's ward
St Martin's[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Philip Rackley 539 38.1 −3.2
Conservative Gwen Ball 408 28.8 +5.9
BNP Philip Howell 305 21.6 +0.1
Liberal Democrats Michael Dickinson 163 11.5 +0.9
Majority 131 9.3 −9.1
Turnout 1,415 24 −3
Labour hold Swing

Vange

Location of Vange ward
Vange[10][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Luke MacKenzie 590 35.8 +0.9
Labour Santa Bennett 508 30.9 −7.8
BNP Rodney Leveridge 289 17.6 −8.8
Liberal Democrats Philip Jenkins 104 6.3 +6.3
Independent Jane Dyer 72 4.4 +4.4
Independent David Aitken 47 2.9 +2.9
Green Dean Hall 36 2.2 +2.2
Majority 82 5.0
Turnout 1,646 24 −4
Conservative gain from Independent Swing

Wickford North

Location of Wickford North ward
Wickford North[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Carole Morris 1,250 43.1 −9.6
Independent David Harrison 974 33.6 −0.2
BNP Anthony Gladwin 289 10.0 +10.0
Labour Christopher Wilson 230 7.9 −5.6
Liberal Democrats Michael Woods 154 5.3 +5.3
Majority 276 9.5 −9.4
Turnout 2,897 31 −2
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. ^ "Council compositions by year". The Elections Centre.
  2. ^ "Local Election Summaries 2008". The Elections Centre.
  3. ^ "Elections 2008". BBC News.
  4. ^ "Basildon". BBC News Online. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Basildon: Tories maintain stranglehold". Echo. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  6. ^ a b c Austin, Jon (7 April 2008). "BNP to stand in every ward in May elections". Echo. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  7. ^ Austin, Jon (8 April 2008). "Leader hits out at former colleague". Echo. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Tories hold their grip in Basildon local elections". Echo. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Lynda Gordon leads Basildon Labour group". Echo. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Basildon District Council Election - Thursday, 1st May, 2008". Basildon Borough Council. Retrieved 1 July 2011.