2011 West Berkshire Council election

The 2011 West Berkshire Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of West Berkshire Council in Berkshire, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

Background

At the last election in 2007 the Conservatives won a majority of 20 seats, with 36 councillors, compared to 16 for the Liberal Democrats.^[2] By the time of the 2011 election 2 seats were vacant after the death of Liberal Democrat councillor Keith Lock from Mortimer ward and the resignation of Conservative councillor Ellen Crumly from Thatcham Central ward.^[3]

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats stood in all 30 wards, while Labour stood in 17 and the Apolitical Democrats and UK Independence Party stood in 2 wards each.^[4] There were also 3 independent candidates to make a total of 142 candidates for the 52 seats on the council.^[3]

Election result

The Conservatives made a net gain of 3 seats to increase their majority on the council, finishing with 39 councillors, compared to 13 for the Liberal Democrats.^[5] The Conservatives picked up seats in Thatcham North and Thatcham South and Crookham from the Liberal Democrats to win the majority of the seats in Thatcham.^[5] Meanwhile, Labour failed to win any seats but did increase their share of the vote to just under 10%.^[5]

West Berkshire local election result 2011^[6]^[7]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	39	4	1	+3	75.0	57.4	55,480	-2.0%
Liberal Democrats	13	1	4	-3	25.0	31.7	30,644	-3.6%
Labour	0	0	0	0	0	9.5	9,168	+7.3%
Apolitical Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	0.6	586	+0.6%
Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	458	-1.0%
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	355	+0.1%

Ward results

Aldermaston^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Irene Neill	884	79.6	-0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Peplow	227	20.4	+0.1
Majority			657	59.1	-0.3
Turnout			1,111	51	+4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Basildon^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Law	1,065	76.8	-6.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ceinwen Lally	322	23.2	+6.4
Majority			743	53.6	-12.9
Turnout			1,387	58	+7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Birch Copse (3 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Mooney	1,482
	Conservative	Anthony Linden	1,342
	Conservative	Emma Webster	1,321
	Labour	Senan Hartney	623
	Labour	Clive Taylor	594
	Labour	James Hutchinson	539
	Liberal Democrats	Sylvia Fowler	341
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Brown	303
	Liberal Democrats	David Wood	279
Turnout			6,824	43	+8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bucklebury (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham Pask	1,865
	Conservative	Quentin Webb	1,648
	Liberal Democrats	Benjamin Morgan	611
	Liberal Democrats	Philippa Harper	462
Turnout			4,586	55	+6
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Burghfield (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Royce Longton	1,210
	Conservative	Carol Jackson-Doerge	1,130
	Conservative	Ian MacFarlane	971
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas Morse	929
Turnout			4,240	52	+7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Calcot (3 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Bedwell	1,575
	Conservative	Peter Argyle	1,462
	Conservative	Manohar Gopal	1,406
	Labour	Gordon Lewis	746
	Labour	Charles Croal	737
	Labour	Bernadette McNally	568
	Liberal Democrats	Arthur Johnson	200
	Liberal Democrats	Gary Johnson	182
	Liberal Democrats	Pamela Taylor	164
Turnout			7,040	38	+4
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chieveley^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hilary Cole	697	71.0	-11.2
	Independent	Andrew Fforde-Lutter	189	19.3	+19.3
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Johnson	95	9.7	-8.1
Majority			508	51.8	-12.6
Turnout			981	52	+5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Clay Hill (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeffrey Beck	1,104
	Conservative	Dave Goff	928
	Liberal Democrats	David Tysoe	572
	Liberal Democrats	Rruwan Uduwerage-Perera	553
	Labour	Johnathan Roberts	292
	Labour	Thomas Satterthwaite	280
Turnout			3,729	41	+2
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cold Ash^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Garth Simpson	890	73.3	+4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Brooks	325	26.7	-4.3
Majority			565	46.5	+8.4
Turnout			1,215
	Conservative hold		Swing

Compton^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Celsing	828	70.7	+2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Silvia Boschetto	343	29.3	-2.4
Majority			485	41.4	+4.9
Turnout			1,171	52	-1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Downlands^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Chandler	900	69.9	-0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Allen	247	19.2	+5.5
	Labour	Paul Johnston	141	10.9	+4.3
Majority			653	50.7	-6.4
Turnout			1,288	56	+4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Falkland (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Adrian Edwards	1,329
	Conservative	Howard Bairstow	1,307
	Liberal Democrats	Bryan Harper	884
	Liberal Democrats	Sam Dibas	758
	Labour	Linda Cooper	213
	UKIP	David Black	205
	Labour	Leslie Cooper	204
	UKIP	David McMahon	150
	Independent	Brian Burgess	132
Turnout			5,182	57	-1
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Greenham (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	William Drummond	868
	Liberal Democrats	Julian Swift-Hook	857
	Conservative	Allan Beal	693
	Conservative	Christopher Austin	688
	Labour	Hannah Cooper	204
	Labour	Gary Puffett	202
Turnout			3,512	44	+2
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Hungerford (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Hewer	1,315
	Conservative	David Holtby	1,178
	Liberal Democrats	Denise Gaines	840
	Liberal Democrats	Rhona Sherwood	711
Turnout			4,044	50	+1
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kintbury (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Stansfeld	1,417
	Conservative	Andrew Rowles	1,393
	Liberal Democrats	James Mole	493
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Hudson	487
Turnout			3,790	53	+6
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Lambourn Valley (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Jones	1,489
	Conservative	Arnos Lundie	1,293
	Liberal Democrats	Joyce Easteal	426
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Greenhalgh	229
	Labour	Grahame Murphy	228
Turnout			3,665	47	+0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Mortimer (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mollie Lock	1,337
	Liberal Democrats	Geoffrey Mayes	1,061
	Conservative	Hugh Gunn	996
	Conservative	Sarah Jones	942
Turnout			4,336	55	+1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Northcroft (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Vickers	844
	Liberal Democrats	Gwendoline Mason	758
	Conservative	Mauline Akins	701
	Conservative	Leon Larkings	669
	Apolitical Democrats	Charlotte Farrow	195
	Apolitical Democrats	David Yates	181
	Labour	Gerald Orbell	166
Turnout			3,514	46	+0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Pangbourne^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pamela Bale	876	75.8	-7.0
	Labour	Ian Stevens	157	13.6	+8.2
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Shakespeare	122	10.6	+5.0
Majority			719	62.3	-14.3
Turnout			1,155	52	+11
	Conservative hold		Swing

Purley on Thames (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Metcalfe	1,621
	Conservative	David Betts	1,536
	Labour	Robert Tutton	512
	Labour	Riyad Abboushi	318
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Turner	282
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Walter	226
Turnout			4,495	48	+10
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Speen (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Bryant	1,360
	Conservative	Marcus Franks	1,209
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Farrant	561
	Liberal Democrats	Martha Vickers	419
	Labour	Richard Garvie	325
Turnout			3,874	53	+9
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Johns^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Johnston	1,133
	Conservative	Robert Tuck	1,071
	Liberal Democrats	Diane Smith	947
	Liberal Democrats	Alexander Payton	938
	Labour	Alan Burgess	320
Turnout			4,409	54	+5
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Sulhamstead^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Chopping	698	68.2	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Bird	326	31.8	-1.2
Majority			372	36.3	+2.2
Turnout			1,024	47	-4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Thatcham Central (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Rendel	1,075
	Conservative	Richard Crumly	873
	Liberal Democrats	Antony Ferguson	774
	Conservative	David Dobson	734
	Labour	Matthew Beadle	236
Turnout			3,692	45	+6
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Thatcham North (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Horton	961
	Conservative	Sheila Ellison	958
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Cole	726
	Liberal Democrats	Emma Spriggs	607
	Labour	Judith Dear	211
	Labour	Juno Orbell	177
Turnout			3,640	46	-4
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Thatcham South and Crookham^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dominic Boeck	1,101
	Conservative	Roger Croft	1,082
	Liberal Democrats	Owen Jeffery	940
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Morgan	917
	Labour	Theresa McDowell	239
	Labour	Stephen Schollar	195
Turnout			4,474	47	+8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Thatcham West (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jeffrey Brooks	932
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Woodhams	891
	Conservative	Robert Denton-Powell	771
	Conservative	John Burgoyne-Probyn	698
	Labour	David Hamilton	207
	Independent	George Rattray	137
Turnout			3,636	40	+3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Theale^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Macro	575	55.6	+4.7
	Conservative	Robert Holden	326	31.5	-2.8
	Labour	Thomas Adams	134	12.9	+1.2
Majority			249	24.1	+7.5
Turnout			1,035	48	+6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Victoria (2 seats)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Allen	685
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Hunneman	639
	Conservative	David Moffat	499
	Conservative	Pauline Bastien	491
	Labour	Sean Semple	157
	Apolitical Democrats	David Reid	127
	Apolitical Democrats	Iain Wallace	83
Turnout			2,681	42	+7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Westwood^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Laszlo Zverko	574	59.7	-4.7
	Labour	Paul Anderson	243	25.3	+12.6
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Croker	144	15.0	-7.8
Majority			331	34.4	-7.2
Turnout			961	44	+5
	Conservative hold		Swing

By-elections between 2011 and 2015

Hungerford

A by-election was held in Hungerford ward on 15 August 2013 after the death of Conservative councillor David Holtby.^[8] The seat was held for the Conservatives by James Podger with a reduced majority of 59 votes over the Liberal Democrats.^[8]

Hungerford by-election 15 August 2013^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Podger	810	48.4	-12.7
	Liberal Democrats	Denise Gaines	751	44.8	+5.9
	Labour	Gary Puffett	86	5.1	+5.1
	United People's Party	Andrew Stott	28	1.7	+1.7
Majority			59	3.5	-18.6
Turnout			1,675	38.2	-12
	Conservative hold		Swing

Purley on Thames

A by-election was held in Purley on Thames ward on 28 January 2015 after the death of Conservative councillor David Betts.^[9] The seat was held for the Conservatives with a majority of 764 votes over the Labour Party.^[10]

Purley on Thames by-election 28 January 2015^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Jones	936	68.1	+1.0
	Labour	Ian Stevens	172	12.5	-8.7
	UKIP	Catherine Anderson	163	11.9	+11.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Bown	104	7.6	-4.1
Majority			764	55.6	+9.7
Turnout			1,375	26.6	-21
	Conservative hold		Swing