2002 Craven District Council election

Map of the results of the 2002 Craven District Council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independents in light grey.

The 2002 Craven District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2000 reducing the number of seats by 4. ^[1] The council stayed under no overall control. ^[2]

Background

Before the election the Conservatives had exactly half of the seats on the council with 17 councillors, compared to 12 Independents and 5 Liberal Democrats. ^[3] Due to boundary changes, which reduced the number of seats on the council from 34 to 30, the whole council was elected for the first time since 1974, instead of the usual one-third of the council being elected at each election. ^{[4] [5]}

A total of 61 candidates stood for the 30 seats contested, comprising 23 Conservatives, 18 independents, 13 Liberal Democrats and 1 candidate from the Labour party. ^[4] 3 Conservative and 3 independent candidates were elected unopposed. ^[5]

Election result

The Conservatives won the most seats to have 13 councillors but without a majority. ^[5] The Liberal Democrats made gains to have 9 seats, while independents took 8 seats. ^[5]

Craven local election result 2002 ^{[2] [6]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	13			-4	43.3	40.1	8,363
	Liberal Democrats	9			+4	30.0	28.1	5,864
	Independent	8			-4	26.7	30.9	6,430
	Labour	0			0	0	0.9	184

Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Wheeler	552
	Conservative	Patricia Fairbank	480
	Conservative	Robert Greaves	410
Turnout			1,442	37.2

Barden Fell ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Knowles-Fitton	474	64.2
	Independent	Robert Heseltine	264	35.8
Majority			210	28.4
Turnout			738	57.2

Bentham (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	John Pilkington	741
	Conservative	Gerald Hurtley	488
	Independent	Manuel Camacho	439
Turnout			1,668	39.9

Cowling ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Alderson	unopposed

Embsay with Eastby ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Quinn	unopposed

Gargrave and Malhamdale (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Butcher	656
	Conservative	David Crawford	563
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Wood	451
	Independent	Carlton Hayes	393
Turnout			2,063	51.9

Glusburn (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Philip Barrett	1,066
	Independent	Peter Seward	364
	Independent	Arthur Dixon	335
	Conservative	Ian Bannister	229
	Conservative	Jennifer Wood	194
Turnout			2,188	43.3

Grassington ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Walbank	unopposed

Hellifield and Long Preston ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Helen Firth	unopposed

Ingleton and Clapham (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	David Ireton	unopposed
	Independent	Carl Lis	unopposed

Penyghent ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Welch	393	54.7
	Independent	Anthony Macaulay	326	45.3
Majority			67	9.3
Turnout			719	51.2

Settle and Ribblebanks (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Heather	652
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Graham	599
	Conservative	Charles Price	392
	Conservative	Terence Murray	383
Turnout			2,026	39.1

Skipton East (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Eric Jaquin	342
	Conservative	Pamela Heseltine	333
	Conservative	Christopher Harbron	303
	Independent	Melvin Seward	268
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Moorby	245
	Independent	Dennis Hall	204
	Labour	Duncan Hall	184
Turnout			1,879	36.5

Skipton North (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Doyle	570
	Conservative	Marcia Turner	569
	Conservative	Paul Whitaker	512
	Independent	Michael Hill	416
Turnout			2,067	42.2

Skipton South (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Solloway	325
	Independent	Frances Cook	295
	Independent	Andrew Cook	252
	Conservative	Alex Bentley	181
	Conservative	Barry Blood	177
Turnout			1,230	25.4

Skipton West (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul English	575
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline English	569
	Conservative	Margaret Spence	279
	Conservative	Norman Spence	261
Turnout			1,684	30.2

Sutton-in-Craven (2 seats) ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Stephen Place	778
	Independent	Kenneth Hart	585
	Conservative	Barbara Barwick-Nicholson	216
	Conservative	Dee Pollitt	122
Turnout			1,701	35.9

Upper Wharfedale ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Sayer	481	58.4
	Independent	Kenneth Luty	233	28.3
	Liberal Democrats	James Monksfield	109	13.2
Majority			248	30.1
Turnout			823	53.2

West Craven ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Binns	267	43.6
	Independent	Robert Mason	212	34.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Rankine	134	21.9
Majority			55	9.0
Turnout			613	43.6

References

1. "Craven". BBC News Online . Retrieved 12 March 2015.
2. "Election results - Local Elections". The Times . NewsBank. 3 May 2002. p. 6.
3. Shand, Alastair (12 April 2002). "Parties fight for control". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank.
4. "All Craven's seats are up for grabs". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 12 April 2002.
5. "Liberals do well in Craven elections". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 3 May 2002.
6. "Candidates for 2nd May 2002 elections". Craven District Council. Archived from the original on 10 June 2002. Retrieved 12 March 2015.