1999 Castle Point Borough Council election

The 1999 Castle Point Borough Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Castle Point Borough Council in Essex, England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

Background

Before the election Labour controlled the council with 32 councillors, compared to 5 for the Conservatives and 2 seats were vacant. ^[2] This came after Labour had won a majority at the 1995 election gaining 30 seats from the Conservatives and meant the Conservatives required a swing of over 10% to take back control. ^{[2] [3]}

Both the Conservative and Labour parties contested every ward, while the Green party had 3 candidates. ^[2] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats did not stand any candidates at the election, despite having put up over a dozen candidates in 1995. ^[4]

Election result

The Labour held onto control of the council with 24 councillors, but lost 10 seats to the Conservatives who finished with 15 seats. ^[5] Most of the Conservative advances came in Benfleet, where they picked up 6 seats. ^[6] Meanwhile, the Conservatives gained both seats in Canvey South after 2 recounts, with the final result in that ward being announced the day after the election. ^[7] Overall turnout at the election was 32%. ^[8]

Castle Point local election result 1999 ^[5]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	24	0	10	-10	61.5
	Conservative	15	10	0	+10	38.5
	Green	0	0	0	0	0

Ward results

Canvey South (2 seats) ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sylvia Waymark	598
	Conservative	Jeffrey Stanley	596
	Labour	Lynne Fletcher	592
	Labour	Terry Norman	590
	Green	Chris Keene	62
	Green	Hollie Coley	61
Turnout			2,499
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

By-elections between 1999 and 2003

St. Georges By-Election 19 July 2001 ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour		712	53.9	-5.1
	Conservative		609	46.1	+5.1
Majority			103	7.8
Turnout			1,321	24
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Castle Point". BBC News Online . Retrieved 27 July 2014.
2. "All eyes on Castle Point election". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 29 April 1999.
3. Pike, Alan (5 May 1999). "Tories may figure a way back into some local affections: Relatively modest voting swings could see Conservatives return to control of councils lost in the 1995 debacle, Alan Pike writes". Financial Times . NewsBank.
4. Waugh, Paul (6 May 1999). "Voting For A New Britain: Lib-Lab pacts spread across the country - Local Elections". The Independent . NewsBank.
5. "How the nations voted - Election". The Times . NewsBank. 8 May 1999. p. 48.
6. "Elections: Labour hold on to power in Castle Point". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 10 May 1999.
7. "Elections: Third time lucky for Canvey Tories". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 10 May 1999.
8. "Castle Point Borough Council election results May 2003" (PDF). Castle Point Borough Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
9. "Local Authority Byelection Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2014.