2002 Redditch Borough Council election

The 2002 Redditch Borough Council election of 2 May 2002 elected members of Redditch Borough Council in the West Midlands region, England. One third of the council stood for re-election and the Labour Party lost overall control of the council to no overall control for the first time in many years. ^[1]

After the election, the council comprised:

• Labour 14
• Conservative 12
• Liberal Democrat 3 ^[2]

Campaign

Before the election only a small swing would have seen the Labour party lose its majority on Redditch council, ^[3] with the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats only needing to pick up three seats between them for this to happen. ^[4] The Labour Party was defending seven of the eleven seats to be decided and campaigned on its success over the previous years in eliminating all council debt. ^[4] There was an extra seat in West ward where the Conservative leader on the council, Carol Grandy, stood down. ^[4]

Election results

Labour lost its majority but remained the largest party. ^[5] Labour had held control of the council for the previous 20 years but lost this after the other parties gained three seats in the election. ^[6] Among Labour losses was its leader on the council, Albert Wharrad, who lost in Winyates ward to the Liberal Democrats. ^[6] One of the closest results was in Lodge Park ward where Labour held on by 22 votes and Mohammed Nasir became the first Asian councillor on Redditch council. ^[7] The results meant no party had a majority on the council for the first time in over 50 years, ^[6] and the Conservative party claimed that the results would have been sufficient for them to have gained Redditch constituency in a general election. ^[8] Turnout in the election was higher than in the last few years at 29.8%. ^[9]

Following the election the Labour and Conservative parties on the council elected new leaders and attempted to gain Liberal Democrat support to control the council. ^[7] However the Liberal Democrats said that they would not form an agreement with either Labour or the Conservatives on their own. ^[10] In the end at the council's annual general meeting on 15 May all parties joined the executive of the council, which was formed with four Labour, three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat members. ^[11] The Conservatives had wanted an executive in which both they and Labour had the same number of seats and accused the Liberal Democrats of backing Labour to prevent this. ^[12] The new Labour leader, David Cartwright, was elected leader of the council and retained the chairman's casting vote. ^{[11] [13]}

Redditch Local Election Result 2002

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	5	2	0	+2	45.5	42.6	7,645
	Labour	4	0	3	-3	36.4	33.0	5,925
	Liberal Democrats	2	1	0	+1	18.2	23.2	4,172
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.2	207

Ward results

Abbey ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Diane Thomas	986	63.7
	Labour	Robin King	345	22.3
	Conservative	Gordon Hazelton	216	14.0
Majority			641	41.4
Turnout			1,547
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Batchley ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Cookson	793	52.0
	Conservative	Peter Anderson	523	34.3
	Liberal Democrats	Kathleen Cummings	208	13.6
Majority			270	17.7
Turnout			1,524
	Labour hold		Swing

Central ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Wheeler	806	47.1
	Conservative	Michael Braley	684	40.0
	Liberal Democrats	Adam Isherwood	222	13.0
Majority			122	7.1
Turnout			1,712
	Labour hold		Swing

Crabbs Cross ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sarah Sulley	791	50.5
	Labour	Les Smith	584	37.3
	Liberal Democrats	David Gee	192	12.3
Majority			207	13.2
Turnout			1,567
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Feckenham ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Chalk	967	57.3
	Labour	Patricia Hill	449	26.6
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Pollard	273	16.2
Majority			518	30.7
Turnout			1,689
	Conservative hold		Swing

Greenlands ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Philip Mould	790	43.8
	Conservative	Tracey Smithers	767	42.6
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Pitt	245	13.6
Majority			23	1.2
Turnout			1,802
	Labour hold		Swing

Lodge Park ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mohammad Nasir	474	35.6
	Conservative	Janet Clark	452	33.9
	Independent	Simon Preston	207	15.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Webster	200	15.0
Majority			22	1.7
Turnout			1,333
	Labour hold		Swing

Matchborough ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anita Clayton	867	50.8
	Labour	Iris Beech	570	33.4
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Hennessey	270	15.8
Majority			297	17.4
Turnout			1,707
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

West (2) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Karen Lumley	1,182
	Conservative	Gavin Smithers	1,047
	Labour	John Witherspoon	536
	Liberal Democrats	Caroline Ashall	415
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Ashall	383
Turnout			3,563
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Winyates ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Cyril Springall	778	51.7
	Labour	Albert Wharrad	578	38.4
	Conservative	Gordon Craig	149	9.9
Majority			200	13.3
Turnout			1,505
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

References

1. "Redditch". BBC News Online . Retrieved 28 June 2009.
2. "Local Elections: Results : Redditch". The Guardian . 3 May 2002. p. 9.
3. Ward, Lucy; Maguire, Kevin (11 April 2002). "Policy and politics: Blunkett declares war on 'vile racism' of BNP: Home secretary wants head-on challenge in local elections". The Guardian . p. 10.
4. "Labour control on a knife-edge ; Mail focus on the May 2 local council elections". Birmingham Mail. 12 April 2002. p. 8.
5. Walker, David (3 May 2002). "Local Elections: Postal voting increases turnout by 28%: Ballots: Participation higher in BNP areas candidates". The Guardian . p. 9.
6. Smith, Sue (3 May 2002). "Local Election Results 2002: protest's healthy majority". Birmingham Mail. p. 17.
7. Probert, Andy (7 May 2002). "Redditch on a knife-edge ; Power talks begin". Birmingham Mail. p. 11.
8. Brogan, Benedict (4 May 2002). "Late wins in London lift the Tories". The Daily Telegraph. p. 6.
9. "Labour ousted". Worcester News. 3 May 2002. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
10. "Parties struggle for sway". Worcester News. 15 May 2002. Archived from the original on 8 November 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
11. "Labour bid to retain power". Birmingham Mail. 15 May 2002. p. 5.
12. "Labour keep hold". Worcester News. 16 May 2002. Archived from the original on 8 November 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
13. Probert, Andy (27 June 2002). "Council in cash crisis". Birmingham Mail. p. 38.