1994 Epping Forest District Council election

1994 Epping Forest District Council election

←  1992 5 May 1994 (1994-05-05) 1995  →
19 out of 59 seats to Epping Forest District Council 30 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative Labour Loughton Residents Last election 28 seats, 44.9% 14 seats, 19.1% 7 seats, 11.1% Seats before 27 14 7 Seats after 23 15 7 Seat change 5 1 Popular vote 10,719 10,535 2,875 Percentage 33.8% 33.2% 9.0% Swing 11.1% 14.1% 2.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Liberal Democrats Epping Residents SDP Last election 2 seats, 8.2% 2 seats, 4.9% 3 seats, 8.2% Seats before 3 [a] 3 [b] 2 Seats after 6 3 2 Seat change 4 1 1 Popular vote 5,419 1,445 111 Percentage 17.0% 4.5% 0.3% Swing 8.8% 0.4% 7.9%   Seventh party   Party Ind. Conservative Last election 1 seat, 0.2% Seats before 1 Seats after 1 Seat change Popular vote 590 Percentage 1.8% Swing 1.6%
Winner of each seat at the 1994 Epping Forest District Council election
Leader before election Conservative minority administration Leader after election No overall control

The 1994 Epping Forest District Council election took place on 5 May 1994 to elect members of Epping Forest District Council in Essex, England. 19 members of Epping Forest District Council in Essex were elected. The council fell into no overall control with no party having control.

Background

The 1994 Epping Forest District Council election took place in May 1994. Nationally, the Conservative government faced its lowest opinion poll ratings since coming to power in 1979, with Labour leading by a significant margin, sometimes of over 30%. The economy was recovering following the early 1990s recession, with unemployment falling to around 2.5 million by April.

Locally, the election marked a historic shift in Epping Forest politics. Labour recorded its best vote share in the district since 1980. The Conservatives suffered their lowest ever share of the vote and number of seats, winning only a handful of wards. For the first time, in no seat did the party win over 1,000 votes. These losses resulted in no overall control of the council, with no party holding a majority. Notably, the only seat that saw the Conservative vote share increase was North Weald Bassett.

The Loughton Residents Association (LRA) held firm, retaining seven seats and maintaining its influence in Loughton wards. Independent and Residents’ candidates also made gains, including June O’Brien in Epping Lindsey, who left the Conservatives to join the Epping Residents Association and retained her seat. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats achieved historic swings, particularly in Buckhurst Hill East (70.2%) and Buckhurst Hill West (61.2%), largely at the expense of the collapsing SDP, which fell to just 0.3% of the vote after Cllr Robinson, originally SDP, switched to the Liberal Democrats and successfully defended his seat leaving just Cllr Dunseath and Cllr Croke in the group.

The results reflected broader national trends of declining Conservative support and rising Labour and Liberal Democrat influence, while local parties such as the LRA continued to assert significant control in their wards. Turnout across the district ranged from around 37% to 52%, with some wards, such as Broadway, seeing high levels of engagement at 47.7%.

Overall, the 1994 election reshaped the council chamber, creating a fragmented assembly with Labour’s best performance in over a decade, Conservative losses at historic lows, and record-breaking gains for the Liberal Democrats in Epping Forest.

Summary

^[1]

1994 Epping Forest District Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	5	5	26.3	18	23	38.9	10,719	33.8	11.1
	Labour	6	1	31.5	9	15	25.4	10,535	33.2	14.1
	Loughton Residents	3		15.7	4	7	11.8	2,875	9.0	2.1
	Liberal Democrats	4	4	21.0	2	6	10.1	5,419	17.0	8.8
	Epping Residents	1	1	5.2	2	3	5.0	1,445	4.5	0.4
	Independent	0		0.0	2	2	3.2	N/A	N/A	N/A
	SDP	0	1	0.0	2	2	3.2	111	0.3	7.9
	Ind. Conservative	0		0.0	1	1	1.6	590	1.8	1.6

Ward results

Buckhurst Hill East

Buckhurst Hill East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	S. Robinson*	1,362	70.2	58.6
	Conservative	A. Torgut	293	15.1	14.0
	Labour	D. Wing	209	10.8	1.8
	SDP	Ms E. Hobbs	76	3.9	46.4
Majority			1,069	55.1	N/A
Turnout			1,940	49.1	5.2
Registered electors			3,952
	Liberal Democrats gain from SDP		Swing

Buckhurst Hill West

Buckhurst Hill West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	A. Thompson	1,435	61.2	52.8
	Conservative	D. Russell	784	33.4	12.9
	Labour	S. Miller	92	3.9	N/A
	SDP	R. Arnold	35	1.5	43.8
Majority			651	27.7	26.7
Turnout			2346	47.9	7.8
Registered electors			4,903
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Chigwell Row

Chigwell Row

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	M. Allen	412	51.1	19.5
	Conservative	R. Pratt*	394	48.9	19.5
Majority			18	2.2	N/A
Turnout			806	47.1	1.1
Registered electors			1,713
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Chigwell Village

Chigwell Village

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Murphy*	755	60.0	19.5
	Liberal Democrats	D. Jenkinson	334	26.6	12.0
	Labour	C. Newbury	169	13.4	N/A
Majority			421	33.5	31.4
Turnout			1,258	39.0	8.0
Registered electors			3,227
	Conservative hold		Swing

Debden Green

Debden Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Barnes	1,126	74.2	6.3
	Conservative	L. Daniel	392	25.8	6.3
Majority			734	48.4	12.6
Turnout			1,518	39.5	9.8
Registered electors			3,848
	Labour hold		Swing

Epping Hemnall

Epping Hemnall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	A. Boydon	665	32.0	22.8
	Conservative	J. Ashbridge*	605	29.1	19.5
	Epping Residents	J. Solomons	482	23.2	4.6
	Labour	D. Sturrock	329	15.8	1.5
Majority			60	2.9	N/A
Turnout			2,081	45.0	9.2
Registered electors			4,626
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Epping Lindsey

Epping Lindsey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Epping Residents	J. O'Brien*	963	44.8	6.5
	Conservative	P. Jones	493	23.0	13.5
	Labour	B. Johns	411	19.1	4.1
	Liberal Democrats	S. Mann	281	13.1	3.0
Majority			470	21.9	N/A
Turnout			2,148	44.9	8.7
Registered electors			4,784
	Epping Residents Association gain from Conservative		Swing

Grange Hill

Grange Hill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Bateman	818	46.4	14.6
	Liberal Democrats	P. Spencer	706	40.1	7.7
	Labour	M. Scott	238	13.5	6.9
Majority			112	6.4	22.2
Turnout			1,762	38.4	5.6
Registered electors			4,591
	Conservative hold		Swing

Loughton Broadway

Loughton Broadway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Murray*	1,594	82.1	10.7
	Conservative	S. Metcalfe	348	17.9	10.7
Majority			1,246	64.2	21.4
Turnout			1942	47.7	11.7
Registered electors			4,072
	Labour hold		Swing

Loughton Forest

Loughton Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Loughton Residents	R. Gow*	792	62.8	7.6
	Conservative	I. Locks	302	23.9	14.9
	Labour	J. Ormston	168	13.3	7.4
Majority			490	38.8	22.4
Turnout			1,262	43.2	0.2
Registered electors			2,921
	Loughton Residents hold		Swing

Loughton Roding

Loughton Roding

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Larner*	973	50.0	3.9
	Loughton Residents	B. Moore	448	23.0	0.9
	Conservative	E. Buttling	300	15.4	14.8
	Liberal Democrats	N. Macy	224	11.5	N/A
Majority			525	27.0	11.2
Turnout			1,945	52.4	8.6
Registered electors			3,710
	Labour hold		Swing

Loughton St. Johns

Loughton St. Johns

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Loughton Residents	F. Silver	855	51.4	1.7
	Conservative	C. Finn	482	28.9	5.6
	Labour	R. Larner	328	19.7	7.4
Majority			373	22.4	3.8
Turnout			1,665	40.0	5.1
Registered electors			4,160
	Loughton Residents hold		Swing

Loughton St. Marys

Loughton St. Marys

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Loughton Residents	R. Heath*	780	56.5	1.5
	Labour	J. Barnett	330	23.9	9.1
	Conservative	S. Englefield	270	19.6	7.6
Majority			450	32.6	1.8
Turnout			1,380	42.0	5.3
Registered electors			3,287
	Loughton Residents hold		Swing

Nazeing

Nazeing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	M. Welch*	700	42.6	22.8
	Ind. Conservative	D. Borton	590	35.9	N/A
	Labour	D. Martin	353	21.5	6.5
Majority			110	6.7	42.3
Turnout			1,643	47.0	2.2
Registered electors			3,497
	Conservative hold		Swing

North Weald Bassett

North Weald Bassett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	E. Hudspeth*	949	58.5	2.7
	Labour	I. Standfast	674	41.5	15.7
Majority			275	16.9	13.1
Turnout			1,623	37.3	0.1
Registered electors			4,346
	Conservative hold		Swing

Theydon Bois

Theydon Bois

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Padfield*	886	66.9	9.8
	Labour	D. Miller	439	33.1	N/A
Majority			447	33.7	19.7
Turnout			1,325	41.8	7.2
Registered electors			3,168
	Conservative hold		Swing

Waltham Abbey East

Waltham Abbey East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	B. Sumner	1,247	57.5	23.7
	Conservative	W. Ransom	923	42.5	23.7
Majority			324	14.9	N/A
Turnout			2,170	40.2	6.4
Registered electors			5,401
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Waltham Abbey Paternoster

Waltham Abbey Paternoster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Riley	882	64.4	7.6
	Conservative	L. Rowley	488	35.6	7.6
Majority			394	28.8	15.2
Turnout			1,370	39.1	0.1
Registered electors			3,504
	Labour hold		Swing

Waltham Abbey West

Waltham Abbey West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	P. Pennell*	973	64.4	21.1
	Conservative	D. Esau	537	35.6	21.1
Majority			436	28.9	N/A
Turnout			1,510	39.1	0.6
Registered electors			3,865
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes

1. Buckhurst Hill East councillor, S. Robinson defected from the SDP to the Liberal Democrats.
2. Epping Lindsey councillor, June O'Brien resigned the whip earlier that year.

References

1. https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Epping-Forest-1973-2012.pdf