1998 St Albans City and District Council election

The 1998 St Albans City and District Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of St Albans City and District Council in Hertfordshire, 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 Democrats 30
• Labour 16
• Conservative 11 ^[1]

Election result

The Liberal Democrats were reduced from 39 to 30 councillors, but retained a 3-seat majority on the council. ^[2] Liberal Democrat losses included losing seats to Labour in Ashley, Cunningham and St Peters wards, while Labour also held Sopwell where Kerry Pollard had stood down after being elected Member of Parliament for St Albans at the 1997 general election. ^[2] This took Labour to 16 seats, while the Conservatives increased to 11 seats after gaining 5 seats from the Liberal Democrats in Harpenden North, Harpenden South, Harpenden West, St Stephen and Verulam wards, with the majority in Harpenden North only being 23 votes after a recount. ^[2] Overall turnout at the election was 36%. ^[2]

1998 St Albans City and District Council election [2] [3] [4]
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	8	9	38.1	22	30	52.6	13,503	35.9	-1.6
	Labour	7	4	33.3	9	16	28.1	11,573	30.8	-2.9
	Conservative	6	5	28.6	5	11	19.3	12,513	33.3	+4.6
	Natural Law	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	14	<0.1	N/A

Ward results

Ashley ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Noreen Brosnan	1,073	53.3
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Riley	717	35.6
	Conservative	Patricia Spratt	223	11.1
Majority			356	17.7
Turnout			2,013
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Batchwood ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David McManus	987	65.1
	Conservative	James Vessey	295	19.5
	Liberal Democrats	Robin Law	234	15.4
Majority			692	45.6
Turnout			1,516
	Labour hold		Swing

Clarence ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Burton	931	51.5
	Labour	William Niblett	597	33.0
	Conservative	Jeremy Christie	279	15.4
Majority			334	18.5
Turnout			1,807
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Colney Heath ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	John Henchley	565	52.0
	Conservative	Derek Jeffrey	262	24.1
	Labour	Gordon Watson	260	23.9
Majority			303	27.9
Turnout			1,087
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Cunningham (2 seats) ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andrew Gilson	910	43.5
	Labour	Laurence Heyman	865	41.3
	Liberal Democrats	Geoffrey Harrison	833	39.8
	Liberal Democrats	Joy Winder	778	37.2
	Conservative	Graham Leonard	346	16.5
	Conservative	Louisa-Jane Rosalki	323	15.4
Turnout			2,094
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Harpenden East ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Waddilove	769	43.6
	Conservative	Victor Holley	665	37.7
	Labour	David Crew	329	18.7
Majority			104	5.9
Turnout			1,763
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Harpenden North ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Albert Pawle	759	42.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Coad	736	40.7
	Labour	Richard Botterill	314	17.4
Majority			23	1.3
Turnout			1,809
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Harpenden South ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Foster	1,125	58.6
	Liberal Democrats	Katharine Sutton	503	26.2
	Labour	Linda Spiri	277	14.4
	Natural Law	Patricia Saunders	14	0.7
Majority			622	32.4
Turnout			1,919
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Harpenden West (2 seats) ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julian Turner	1,139	61.7
	Conservative	Julian Daly	1,138	61.7
	Liberal Democrats	Judith Arthur	418	22.7
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Spinks	373	20.2
	Labour	Joanne Thompson	283	15.3
	Labour	Judith Bush	264	14.3
Turnout			1,845
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

London Colney ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sean Flynn	1,094	71.4
	Conservative	Mark Shaw	260	17.0
	Liberal Democrats	David Priestman	179	11.7
Majority			834	54.4
Turnout			1,533
	Labour hold		Swing

Marshalswick North ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Geoffrey Churchard	781	46.3
	Conservative	Christopher Whiteside	623	37.0
	Labour	Elizabeth McShane	282	16.7
Majority			158	9.4
Turnout			1,686
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Marshalswick South ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Rowlands	1,141	54.3
	Conservative	Agnes Hill	580	27.6
	Labour	David Allan	380	18.1
Majority			561	26.7
Turnout			2,101
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Park Street ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Hendry	499	40.5
	Conservative	Keith Batson	396	32.1
	Labour	Mary Morley	338	27.4
Majority			103	8.4
Turnout			1,233
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Redbourn ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Patricia Schofield	765	44.0
	Conservative	Paul Finigan	723	41.6
	Labour	Vivienne Windle	249	14.3
Majority			42	2.4
Turnout			1,737
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Sopwell ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Janetta Gibbs	1,076	73.1
	Conservative	Pamela Thomas	223	15.2
	Liberal Democrats	David Terrar	172	11.7
Majority			853	58.0
Turnout			1,471
	Labour hold		Swing

St Peters ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Winifred Dunleavy	867	49.9
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Biddle	644	37.1
	Conservative	Geoffrey Brown	226	13.0
Majority			228	12.8
Turnout			1,737
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

St Stephen ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gordon Myland	951	43.5
	Liberal Democrats	Khalil Moghul	791	36.2
	Labour	Janet Blackwell	444	20.3
Majority			160	7.3
Turnout			2,186
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Verulam ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Smith	1,150	49.1
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Mort	822	35.1
	Labour	Jerry Brenton	370	15.8
Majority			328	14.0
Turnout			2,342
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Wheathampstead ^{[2] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Oxley	852	42.7
	Conservative	Gillian Clark	827	41.5
	Labour	Michael Fletcher	314	15.8
Majority			25	1.3
Turnout			1,993
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

By-elections

Sopwell by-election 23 July 1998 ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour		841	68.3	-4.8
	Conservative		212	17.2	+2.0
	Liberal Democrats		178	14.5	+2.8
Majority			629	51.1	-6.9
Turnout			1,231	23.5
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Local Elections results". The Times . 9 May 1998. p. 46.
2. "Lib Dems hold on to control of council". Hertfordshire County Publications. NewsBank. 16 May 1998.
3. "Policy and politics: Local Elections: Analysis: Council poll results". The Guardian. 9 May 1998. p. 16.
4. "District Council Elections 7 May 1998 Results". St Albans City and District Council. Archived from the original on 13 April 2001. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
5. "Local Authority Byelection Results - July 1998". Local Authority Byelection Results. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.