2002 Sunderland City Council election

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The 2002 Sunderland Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council in Tyne and Wear, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council. [1]

Contents

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Campaign

66 candidates contested the 25 seats that were available in the election. [3] The election was said to be the "first time in recent memory" that every seat that was up for election was contested. [3] Candidates included 6 from the British National Party and an independent, former Conservative group leader Ron Smith, in Pallion ward. [3]

Postal voting in the election was up on the 2001 general election with 9,770 postal votes returned by 1 May, an increase of 3,500 on the general election. [4]

Election result

The results saw Labour easily holding control of the council after losing just 1 seat in the election. [5] The only change came in St Peter's ward with the Conservatives gaining the seat from Labour. [6] Meanwhile, none of the British National Party candidates managed to win a seat, [7] but the party did come second in 2 wards, Town End Farm and Southwick. [6] The results meant Labour held 62 seats after the election, compared to 11 for the Conservatives. [8]

Following the election the Labour leader of the council for the previous 3 years, Colin Anderson, was defeated in a leadership election by Bob Symonds. [9]

Sunderland Local Election Result 2002 [10] [11]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 2101-184.056.927,882
  Conservative 310+112.031.915,629
  Liberal Democrats 10004.07.93,852
  BNP 000003.11,537
  Independent 000000.2121

Ward results

Castletown [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Thomas Foster1,24886.2
Conservative Gwennyth Gibson19913.8
Majority1,04972.5
Turnout 1,447
Labour hold Swing
Central [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hollern94959.3
Liberal Democrats John Jackson33721.1
Conservative Dorreen Storey31419.6
Majority61238.3
Turnout 1,600
Labour hold Swing
Colliery [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Maureen Ambrose1,07062.2
Conservative John Brown65137.8
Majority41924.3
Turnout 1,721
Labour hold Swing
Eppleton [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Elizabeth Bell1,23967.0
Conservative David Wilson61133.0
Majority62833.9
Turnout 1,850
Labour hold Swing
Fulwell [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Norman Bohill1,86366.5
Labour Gary Hollern60921.7
Liberal Democrats Amie Leung1816.5
BNP Joseph Dobbie1485.3
Majority1,25444.8
Turnout 2,801
Conservative hold Swing
Grindon [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Scott90267.0
Conservative David Francis44533.0
Majority45733.9
Turnout 1,347
Labour hold Swing
Hendon [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Thomas Martin1,09245.0
Conservative Kathryn Chamberlin99240.9
BNP David Guynan34014.0
Majority1004.1
Turnout 2,424
Labour hold Swing
Hetton [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Richard Tate1,18675.1
Conservative Olwyn Bird39424.9
Majority79250.1
Turnout 1,580
Labour hold Swing
Houghton [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Joseph Lawson1,34180.3
Conservative Gordon Newton33019.7
Majority1,01160.5
Turnout 1,671
Labour hold Swing
Pallion [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Brian Dodds1,14844.4
Conservative Stephen Daughton1,03239.9
Liberal Democrats Elizabeth Foreman28611.1
Independent Ronald Smith1214.7
Majority1164.5
Turnout 2,587
Labour hold Swing
Ryhope [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour David Wares1,45169.8
Conservative William Dunn62830.2
Majority82339.6
Turnout 2,079
Labour hold Swing
St Chad's [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Leslie Scott1,43358.2
Conservative Alistair Newton1,03041.8
Majority40316.4
Turnout 2,463
Labour hold Swing
St Michael's [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Margaret Forbes1,92366.9
Labour Phillip Gibson95033.1
Majority97333.9
Turnout 2,873
Conservative hold Swing
St Peter's [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Michael Arnott1,04739.4
Labour Christine Shattock95235.8
Liberal Democrats John Lennox65724.7
Majority953.6
Turnout 2,656
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Shiney Row [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Kathryn Rolph1,42372.5
Conservative Marjorie Matthews53927.5
Majority88445.1
Turnout 1,962
Labour hold Swing
Silksworth [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Peter Gibson1,62372.2
Conservative Patricia Francis48421.5
BNP David Rogers1416.3
Majority1,13950.7
Turnout 2,248
Labour hold Swing
South Hylton [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Thomas Wright89868.4
Conservative Michael Dixon41531.6
Majority48336.8
Turnout 1,313
Labour hold Swing
Southwick [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Paul Stewart93362.9
BNP Alan Brettwood29219.7
Liberal Democrats Jane Walters16711.3
Conservative Alice Mclaren926.2
Majority64143.2
Turnout 1,484
Labour hold Swing
Thorney Close [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Kirby1,01167.1
Conservative Paula Wilkinson26017.3
BNP Joseph Dobbie23515.6
Majority75149.9
Turnout 1,506
Labour hold Swing
Thornholme [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Mark Greenfield1,11356.6
Labour Leonard Lamb59430.2
Conservative Neville Chamberlin26013.2
Majority51926.4
Turnout 1,967
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Town End Farm [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Richard Bell83161.1
BNP John Martin38128.0
Conservative Gillian Connor14910.9
Majority45033.1
Turnout 1,361
Labour hold Swing
Washington East [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Derek Sleightholme1,46362.1
Conservative Jacqueline Atkinson53722.8
Liberal Democrats Avril Kitching35715.1
Majority92639.3
Turnout 2,357
Labour hold Swing
Washington North [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Walker1,13679.5
Conservative Kathleen Irvine29320.5
Majority84359.0
Turnout 1,429
Labour hold Swing
Washington South [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Peter Young1,32549.8
Conservative Lee Martin87132.7
Liberal Democrats Owen Dumpleton46617.5
Majority45417.1
Turnout 2,662
Labour hold Swing
Washington West [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour William Stephenson1,07565.8
Liberal Democrats David Griffin28817.6
Conservative Justin Garrod27016.5
Majority78748.2
Turnout 1,633
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. "Sunderland". BBC News. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  2. "Full results". Financial Times. 4 May 2002. p. 7.
  3. 1 2 3 Unwin, Bruce (8 April 2002). "Line-up lists closed for council seats campaigners". The Northern Echo. p. 6.
  4. "Postal voting soars in BNP candidate areas". The Times. 1 May 2002. p. 10.
  5. Summers, Deborah (3 May 2002). "BNP fails to make impact in English council polls". The Herald . p. 1.
  6. 1 2 "No Headline". The Northern Echo. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2010.[ dead link ]
  7. "Still no sign of recovery for the Tories". The Times. 3 May 2002. p. 1.
  8. Tapping, Colin (4 May 2002). "Labour suffers disappointment in triplicate at mayoral elections". The Northern Echo. p. 9.
  9. Foster, Sarah (7 May 2002). "Labour group opts for new man". The Northern Echo. p. 6.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 "Sunderland". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  11. "Election results; Local Election". The Times. 4 May 2002. p. 16.
Preceded by
2000 Sunderland City Council election
Sunderland City Council elections Succeeded by
2003 Sunderland City Council election