2002 West Oxfordshire District Council election

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

The 2002 West Oxfordshire District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of West Oxfordshire District Council in Oxfordshire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2000. ^[1] The Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[2]

Background

Before the election the Conservatives had a two-seat majority with 25 councillors, while the Liberal Democrats had 12 seats, Independents had nine, the Labour Party had two seats and one seat was vacant. ^{[3] [4]} Boundary changes took place for the 2002 election with the whole council being elected for the first time since 1976. ^[3] Only seven wards had no boundary change and the number of councillors for Witney increased from 9 to 12. ^[3]

A total of 108 candidates stood for the 49 seats on the council, 46 Conservatives, 27 Liberal Democrats, 18 Labour, 10 Independents, 6 Green Party and 1 United Kingdom Independence Party. ^{[3] [4]} 39 councillors sought re-election, with the Conservative group leader Barry Norton being re-elected in North Leigh without opposition. ^{[4] [5]}

Election result

The Conservative majority on the council increased to 15, after 32 Conservative councillors were elected. ^[3] 35 of the 39 councillors who sought election were re-elected, with the Liberal Democrats taking 10 seats, independents 5 seats and Labour kept the 2 seats they had been defending. ^[3] The Green Party failed to win any seats, with 324 votes in fourth place in Witney North being their best result. ^[3] Overall turnout at the election was 39%. ^[4]

West Oxfordshire local election result 2002 ^[4]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	32			+7	65.3	43.6	21,164	-3.3
	Liberal Democrats	10			-2	20.4	27.5	13,341	+6.6
	Independent	5			-4	10.2	12.1	5,882	+0.5
	Labour	2			0	4.1	13.7	6,637	-6.4
	Green	0			0	0	2.9	1,399	+2.5
	UKIP	0			0	0	0.2	117	+0.2

Ward results

Alvescot and Filkins ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Angela Neale	421	71.0
	Liberal Democrats	Katherine Southey	172	29.0
Majority			249	42.0
Turnout			593	42.9

Ascott and Shipton ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hilary Hibbert-Biles	439	57.4
	Independent	Robert Barrett	326	42.6
Majority			113	14.8
Turnout			765	47.1

Bampton and Clanfield (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jonathan Phillips	795	46.9
	Conservative	Frederick Gray	665	39.2
	Labour	Mark Albert	235	13.9
Turnout			1,695	37.8

Brize Norton and Shilton ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Verena Hunt	unopposed

Burford ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Keith Davies	407	56.5
	Conservative	Donald Seale	313	43.5
Majority			94	13.0
Turnout			720	47.3

Carterton North East (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Mason	unopposed
	Conservative	Keith Stone	unopposed

Carterton North West (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David King	555
	Conservative	Peter Handley	515
	Independent	Paul Wesson	448
Turnout			1,518	28.5

Carterton South (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Windell Walcott	793
	Conservative	Harry Watts	448
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Madden	402
Turnout			1,643	31.4

Chadlington and Churchill ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Owen	402	65.5
	Liberal Democrats	Amanda Epps	212	34.5
Majority			190	31.0
Turnout			614	40.0

Charlbury and Finstock (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Glena Chadwick	902
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Breakell	708
	Independent	Robert Potter	405
	Conservative	Simon Hoare	321
	Conservative	Philip Rand	275
	Labour	Stephen Hague	214
Turnout			2,825	50.8

Chipping North (3 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Hannis	1,000
	Conservative	Michael Howes	813
	Labour	Evelyn Coles	797
	Labour	Georgina Burrows	610
	Conservative	Carolyn Hazeel	608
	Labour	Stephen Akers	547
	Liberal Democrats	Catherine Dawson	209
	Liberal Democrats	Derek Brown	197
Turnout			4,781	38.6

Ducklington ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Hayward	303	53.5
	Liberal Democrats	June Taylor	135	23.9
	Labour	Sheila Cuss	128	22.6
Majority			168	29.6
Turnout			566	35.8

Eynsham and Cassington (3 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Harry Wyatt	1,008
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Stevens	967
	Liberal Democrats	David Rossiter	892
	Conservative	Frederick Wright	625
	Conservative	Frances Pike	546
	Conservative	Alison Fayers-Kerr	541
	Green	Jill Jones	201
Turnout			4,780	37.7

Freeland and Hanborough (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gareth Epps	866
	Liberal Democrats	David James	844
	Conservative	David Dawes	566
	Conservative	Helen Barrow	431
Turnout			2,707	46.1

Hailey, Minster Lovell and Leafield (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Kellow	780
	Conservative	Warwick Robinson	695
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Blount	415
	Liberal Democrats	Malcolm West	282
Turnout			2,172	39.1

Kingham, Rollright and Enstone (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Walker	768
	Conservative	Rodney Rose	712
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Worrall	411
	Labour	Melanie Deans	344
Turnout			2,235	42.3

Milton under Wychwood ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeffrey Haine	524	76.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Lily	162	23.6
Majority			362	52.8
Turnout			686	42.8

North Leigh ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barry Norton	unopposed

Standlake, Aston and Stanton Harcourt (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Brenda Smith	915
	Conservative	James Mills	606
	Independent	John Faulkner	548
Turnout			2,069	43.1

Stonesfield and Tackley (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Derrick Milard	903
	Independent	Charles Cottrell-Dormer	635
	Labour	David Cullen	471
	Conservative	Gillian Oldfield	284
	Liberal Democrats	John Miller	222
	Conservative	Sandra Rasch	204
Turnout			2,719	47.4

The Bartons ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Goffe	unopposed

Witney Central (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Cooper	587
	Conservative	Andrew Creery	429
	Conservative	Akin Adams	424
	Labour	Richard Kelsall	401
	Liberal Democrats	Brenda Churchill	277
	Green	Colette Jones	171
Turnout			2,289	41.1

Witney East (3 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Holborough	521
	Conservative	Frank Smith	470
	Conservative	Andrew Rands	446
	Liberal Democrats	David Nicholson	443
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Willis	437
	Conservative	Grant Stanley	412
	Labour	Raymond Harris	243
	Green	Christopher Marchant	186
Turnout			3,158	33.2

Witney North (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Chapman	491
	Conservative	Roger Curry	484
	Liberal Democrats	Serena Martin	387
	Green	Richard Dossett-Davies	324
	Labour	Alison Bettle	234
Turnout			1,920	33.4

Witney South (3 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Harvey	748
	Conservative	Peter Green	703
	Conservative	Ross McFarlane	598
	Independent	Thomas Titherington	415
	Labour	Michael Enright	412
	Labour	Andrew Ross	360
	Labour	David Wesson	360
	Liberal Democrats	Geoffrey Branner	226
	Green	Stephen Mohammad	132
	UKIP	James Robertshaw	117
Turnout			4,071	32.6

Witney West (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Louise Chapman	469
	Conservative	Lesley Semaine	448
	Labour	Ross Beadle	231
	Labour	William Tumbridge	220
	Liberal Democrats	Anna Fairhurst	190
Turnout			1,558	26.5

Woodstock and Bladon (2 seats) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Julian Cooper	939
	Conservative	Ian Hudspeth	451
	Conservative	Joanne Chow	438
	Green	Paul Creighton	385
	Labour	Duncan Enright	243
Turnout			2,456	47.9

References

1. "West Oxfordshire". BBC News Online . Retrieved 7 August 2015.
2. "Election results - Local Elections". The Times . NewsBank. 3 May 2002. p. 6.
3. "Tories tighten grip on West Oxfordshire". Oxfordshire County Publications. NewsBank. 3 May 2002.
4. "West Oxfordshire District Council Election Results 1998 - 2010" (PDF). West Oxfordshire District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
5. "Council leaders escape poll tests". Oxfordshire County Publications. NewsBank. 12 April 2002.