1998 Pendle Borough Council election

Main article: Pendle Borough Council elections

The 1998 Pendle Borough Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Liberal Democrat 29
• Labour 18
• Conservative 3
• Independent 1 ^[1]

Campaign

17 seats were contested in the election, with the Liberal Democrats defending 10 seats, Labour 6 and the Conservatives 1 seat. ^[2] The election saw controversy over proxy votes, as the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties accused each other of abusing the system. ^[2]

During the campaign the Liberal Democrat national leader Paddy Ashdown came to Pendle to support his party. ^[3]

Election result

The results saw no change in the political balance of the council, with the Liberal Democrats remaining in control of the council. ^[4] The Labour Party gained 2 seats from the Liberal Democrats in Bradley and Waterside wards, but the Liberal Democrats took the seats of Walverden and Whitefield back. ^[4] Meanwhile, the Conservative group leader, Roy Clarkson, held the only seat the Conservatives had been defending in Reedley. ^[4] Overall turnout in the election was 34.4%. ^[4]

Pendle local election result 1998 ^{[5] [6]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	10	2	2	0	58.8	41.6	8,662
	Labour	6	2	2	0	35.3	38.6	8,033
	Conservative	1	0	0	0	5.9	19.8	4,132

Ward results

Barrowford ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Allan Vickerman	717	45.2
	Conservative	Linda Crossley	460	29.0
	Labour	Anthony Hargreaves	408	25.7
Majority			257	16.2
Turnout			1,585	33.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Boulsworth ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Davies	702	60.2
	Labour	Martin Wilson	267	22.9
	Conservative	James Ilott	198	17.0
Majority			435	37.3
Turnout			1,167	27.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bradley ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mohammed Iqbal	750	49.4
	Liberal Democrats	Mohammed Munir	600	39.5
	Conservative	Janet Riley	169	11.1
Majority			150	9.9
Turnout			1,519	41.3
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Brierfield ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Clifford	631	54.7
	Conservative	Zita Lord	404	35.0
	Liberal Democrats	Doris Stanworth	118	10.2
Majority			227	19.7
Turnout			1,153	35.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Clover Hill ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kathleen Shore	601	58.1
	Liberal Democrats	David French	239	23.1
	Conservative	Frank Chadwick	194	18.8
Majority			362	35.0
Turnout			1,034	30.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Coates ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Marjorie Adams	691	57.2
	Labour	William Skinner	350	28.9
	Conservative	Craig Toon	168	13.9
Majority			341	28.2
Turnout			1,209	31.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Craven ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Norcross	631	54.6
	Labour	John Edwards	333	28.8
	Conservative	Mark Langtree	191	16.5
Majority			298	25.8
Turnout			1,155	28.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Earby ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Doris Allen	709	43.7
	Conservative	Rosemary Carroll	641	39.5
	Labour	Kathleen Strachan	273	16.8
Majority			68	4.2
Turnout			1,623	37.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Fence ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	John David	731	84.4
	Conservative	Adrian Mitchell	89	10.3
	Labour	Ian Lockwood	46	5.3
Majority			642	74.1
Turnout			866	46.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Horsfield ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Gilhespy	601	53.3
	Labour	Colin Nightingale	527	46.7
Majority			74	6.6
Turnout			1,128	33.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Marsden ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gary Rowland	552	72.0
	Conservative	Tonia Barton	215	28.0
Majority			337	43.9
Turnout			767	21.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Reedley ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roy Clarkson	711	57.1
	Labour	Anthony Martin	290	23.3
	Liberal Democrats	Sean Hunt	244	19.6
Majority			421	33.8
Turnout			1,245	33.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Southfield ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pauline Allen	690	74.4
	Conservative	Peter Wildman	237	25.6
Majority			453	48.9
Turnout			927	28.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Vivary Bridge ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Clegg	576	47.3
	Labour	Pamela Barnett	548	45.0
	Conservative	Geoffrey Riley	93	7.6
Majority			28	2.3
Turnout			1,217	29.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Walverden ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Safdar Hussain	680	52.1
	Labour	Rahmat Raja	432	33.1
	Conservative	Michael Landriau	194	14.9
Majority			248	19.0
Turnout			1,306	44.8
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Waterside ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ann Doult	547	49.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Beck	483	43.6
	Conservative	Kathleen Hodgson	78	7.0
Majority			64	5.8
Turnout			1,108	35.2
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Whitefield ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Shabbir Ahmed	940	51.7
	Labour	Mohammed Ansar	788	43.3
	Conservative	Paul McKenna	90	5.0
Majority			152	8.4
Turnout			1,818	60.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

By-elections between 1998 and 1999

Horsfield By-Election 10 December 1998 ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Williamson [9]	452	45.4	+8.1
	Labour		433	43.4	-11.4
	Conservative		112	11.2	+3.3
Majority			19	2.0
Turnout			997	29.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

References

1. "Policy and politics: Local Elections: Analysis: Council poll results". The Guardian . 9 May 1998. p. 16.
2. "Call for proxy vote review after town hall elections". Lancashire Telegraph . 7 May 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
3. "Liberal leader Paddy will be getting his skates on". Lancashire Telegraph . 22 April 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
4. "Low-score draw angers Tory veteran". Lancashire Telegraph . 8 May 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
5. "Election results". Pendle Borough Council. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
6. "Local Elections results". The Times . 9 May 1998. p. 46.
7. "Election results: Pendle". Lancashire Telegraph . 8 May 1998. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
8. "Local Authority Byelection Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
9. "I won't be beaten by abuse, says councillor". Lancashire County Publications. NewsBank. 22 December 1998.