1988 Colchester Borough Council election

1988 Colchester Borough Council election

←  1987 5 May 1988 (1988-05-05) 1990  →
20 out of 60 seats to Colchester Borough Council 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	40.1% (5.6%)
First party Second party Third party   Party SLD Conservative Labour Last election 22 seats, 36.8% 24 seats, 39.7% 10 seats, 20.4% Seats won 7 9 3 Seats after 24 23 9 Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 12,424 15,190 9,590 Percentage 32.5% 39.7% 25.1% Swing 4.3% 0.0% 4.7%   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Tiptree Residents Independent Last election 3 seats, 2.9% 1 seat, 0.2% Seats won 1 0 Seats after 3 1 Seat change Popular vote 1,042 0 Percentage 2.7% 0.0% Swing 0.2% 0.2%
Winner of each seat at the 1988 Colchester Borough Council election

The 1988 Colchester Borough Council election was held on 5 May 1988 alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.

This was the first Colchester local election contested by the newly formed Social and Liberal Democrats (soon to be renamed the Liberal Democrats) following the merger of the SDP and Liberal Party.

At the election, the Social and Liberal Democrats emerged as the largest party on the council for the first time since its creation in 1973.

Summary

1988 Colchester Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	SLD	7	2	35.0	17	24	40.0	12,424	32.5	–4.3
	Conservative	9	1	45.0	14	23	38.3	15,190	39.7	±0.0
	Labour	3	1	15.0	6	9	15.0	9,590	25.1	+4.7
	Tiptree Residents	1		5.0	2	3	5.0	1,042	2.7	–0.2
	Independent	0		0.0	1	1	1.7	0	0.0	–0.2

Ward results

Berechurch

Berechurch

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	John William Stevens*	1,140	41.8	−3.2
	Labour	G. Prior	984	36.0	+2.4
	Conservative	E. Parsons	606	22.2	+0.8
Majority			156	5.8	−5.6
Turnout			2,730	44.8	−4.6
Registered electors			6,090
	SLD hold		Swing	2.8

Castle

Castle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	R. Cole*	947	38.5	−5.3
	Conservative	E. Humphreys	896	36.4	+1.7
	Labour	H. Winter	617	25.1	+3.6
Majority			51	2.1	−7.0
Turnout			2,460	47.9	−11.4
Registered electors			5,136
	SLD gain from Conservative		Swing	3.5

Dedham

Dedham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	G. Williams	485	53.9	+17.7
	Conservative	G. Spray	390	43.4	−15.0
	Labour	S. Worgan	24	2.7	−2.7
Majority			95	10.5	N/A
Turnout			899	58.8	+1.8
Registered electors			1,529
	SLD gain from Conservative		Swing	16.4

East Donyland

East Donyland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Sanderson*	551	56.9	+4.7
	Labour	B. Wilding	302	31.2	+6.7
	SLD	Barry Woodward	115	11.9	−11.4
Majority			249	25.7	+3.6
Turnout			968	56.5	−0.5
Registered electors			1,713
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.0

Fordham

Fordham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Cannon*	449	66.1	+1.1
	Labour	A. Sullivan	127	18.7	−1.2
	SLD	G. Chase	103	15.2	+0.1
Majority			322	47.4
Turnout			679	48.3
Registered electors			1,405
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.2

Harbour

Harbour

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Bird*	1,135	52.5	+18.1
	Conservative	Mike Coyne	518	24.0	−2.3
	SLD	Patricia Blandon	461	21.3	−15.1
Majority			617	28.5	N/A
Turnout			2,114	38.3	−10.1
Registered electors			5,652
	Labour hold		Swing	10.2

Lexden

Lexden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sonia Lewis	1,188	50.2	+7.3
	SLD	B. Williamson	1,056	44.6	−7.7
	Labour	J. Crawford	123	5.2	+0.4
Majority			132	5.6	N/A
Turnout			2,367	54.7	−4.2
Registered electors			4,327
	Conservative gain from SLD		Swing	7.5

Marks Tey

Marks Tey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	R. Gower	454	49.8	−14.0
	SLD	G. Ambridge	268	29.4	N/A
	Labour	Maureen Lee	190	20.8	−15.4
Majority			186	20.4	−7.1
Turnout			912	43.8	+14.3
Registered electors			2,082
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Mile End

Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	P. Borges*	884	58.4	+6.5
	SLD	E. Reid	376	24.9	−9.1
	Labour	A. Hayden-Case	253	16.7	+2.6
Majority			508	33.5	+15.6
Turnout			1,513	37.8	−7.1
Registered electors			4,005
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.8

New Town

New Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	Bob Russell*	1,373	68.2	+13.0
	Labour	Sandra Benedetti	417	20.7	−6.1
	Conservative	J. Clarke	223	11.1	−6.9
Majority			956	47.5	+19.1
Turnout			2,013	43.8	+3.1
Registered electors			4,595
	SLD hold		Swing	9.6

Prettygate

Prettygate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	Martin Hunt*	1,295	50.7	+4.0
	Conservative	R. Stevenson	1,001	39.2	−2.4
	Labour	G. Thompson	256	10.0	−1.6
Majority			294	11.5	+6.4
Turnout			2,512	50.7	−7.3
Registered electors			5,029
	SLD hold		Swing	3.2

Shrub End

Shrub End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	S. Cawley*	1,047	49.7	−8.6
	Labour	Frank Wilkin	588	27.9	+4.6
	Conservative	E. Winney	470	22.3	+3.9
Majority			459	21.8	−13.2
Turnout			2,105	33.0	−3.4
Registered electors			6,381
	SLD hold		Swing	6.6

St. Andrew's

St. Andrew's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	P. Truscott	1,294	52.6	+8.1
	Conservative	E. Paice	746	30.3	+2.4
	SLD	J. Muffett	421	17.1	−10.6
Majority			548	22.3	+5.7
Turnout			2,461	27.3	−2.6
Registered electors			9,019
	Labour hold		Swing	2.9

St. Anne's

St. Anne's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mary Frank*	922	41.6	+16.7
	Conservative	G. Gawthrop	702	31.7	−3.2
	SLD	M. Sheehan	592	26.7	−13.5
Majority			220	9.9	N/A
Turnout			2,216	45.8	−4.8
Registered electors			4,843
	Labour hold		Swing	10.0

St. John's

St. John's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Smith*	1,120	51.7	+7.2
	SLD	L. Clubb	821	37.9	−9.6
	Labour	K. Hindle	224	10.3	+2.3
Majority			299	13.8	N/A
Turnout			2,165	39.4	−10.4
Registered electors			5,497
	Conservative hold		Swing	8.4

St. Mary's

St. Mary's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Brooks*	1,209	59.2	+8.0
	SLD	R. Watkins	426	20.9	−11.8
	Labour	R. Turp	407	19.9	+3.9
Majority			783	38.3	+19.8
Turnout			2,042	41.0	−8.6
Registered electors			4,986
	Conservative hold		Swing	9.9

Stanway

Stanway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	Colin Sykes	968	44.0	+2.5
	Conservative	B. Chafer*	887	40.3	−6.6
	Labour	Tim Young	346	15.7	+4.1
Majority			81	3.7	N/A
Turnout			2,201	41.3	−2.7
Registered electors			5,333
	SLD gain from Conservative		Swing	4.6

Tiptree

Tiptree

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tiptree Residents	E. Bird*	1,042	66.3	+0.9
	Conservative	E. Peel	385	24.5	+0.5
	Labour	Lucy Wood	145	9.2	−1.4
Majority			657	41.8	+0.4
Turnout			1,572	25.5	−5.9
Registered electors			6,161
	Tiptree Residents hold		Swing	0.2

West Mersea

West Mersea

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	M. Kimberley	1,337	73.4	+8.8
	SLD	A. Stevens	345	18.9	−10.4
	Labour	C. McGowan-Griffin	139	7.6	+1.5
Majority			992	54.5	+19.2
Turnout			1,821	34.1	−10.9
Registered electors			5,341
	Conservative hold		Swing	9.6

Wivenhoe

Wivenhoe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Adams	1,174	47.8	−0.9
	Labour	Robert Newman	1,097	44.7	+3.4
	SLD	R. Wilson	185	7.5	−2.5
Majority			77	3.1	−4.3
Turnout			2,456	40.5	−3.1
Registered electors			6,058
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	2.2

By-elections

Pyefleet

Pyefleet by-election: 4 May 1989 ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		384	47.1	–26.6
	SLD		380	46.6	+29.7
	Labour		52	6.4	–3.0
Majority			4	0.5	–56.3
Turnout			816	56.9	–1.7
Registered electors			1,434
	Conservative hold		Swing	28.2

West Mersea

West Mersea by-election: 4 May 1989 ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		1,187	64.1	–9.3
	Green		350	18.9	N/A
	SLD		175	9.4	–9.5
	Labour		141	7.6	±0.0
Majority			837	45.2	–9.3
Turnout			1,853	34.8	+0.7
Registered electors			5,325
	Conservative hold

Great & Little Horkesley

Great & Little Horkesley by-election: 4 May 1989 ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		476	61.8	+2.3
	SLD		163	21.2	–6.0
	Labour		131	17.0	+3.6
Majority			313	40.6	+8.3
Turnout			770	43.6	–6.7
Registered electors			1,766
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.2

Great Tey

Great Tey by-election: 4 May 1989 ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		440	63.2	–1.4
	SLD		180	25.9	–1.6
	Labour		76	10.9	+3.0
Majority			260	37.3	+0.2
Turnout			696	41.0	–12.3
Registered electors			1,698
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.1

References

1. "By-elections". Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher. The Elections Centre, Plymouth University . Retrieved 27 April 2025.