2006 Halton Borough Council election

The 2006 Halton Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Halton Unitary Council in Cheshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Labour 35
• Liberal Democrat 13
• Conservative 8 ^[2]

Campaign

18 seats were contested in the election with only Beechwood, Daresbury and Windmill Hill wards not having elections. ^[3] Labour were defending 12 of the seats, including the seat of the current mayor Peter Lloyd-Jones, and needed to keep 7 to retain control of the council. ^[3] In total there were 56 candidates, 18 each from Labour and the Conservatives, 11 Liberal Democrats, 4 Green Party, 2 Citizens Party of Halton, 2 independents and 1 from the British National Party. ^[4]

Labour defended their record in control of the council saying that they had the third lowest council tax rate in North West England and were regenerating the area. ^[5]

Results

The results saw Labour retain control of the council after holding 11 of the 12 seats they had been defending and gaining one from the Liberal Democrats. ^[6] However the Labour mayor, Peter Lloyd-Jones, lost his seat to the Conservatives in Ditton ward by 29 votes. ^[7] Lloyd-Jones considered making a legal challenge to the results as exactly 29 ballots had been spoiled and he said there were "irregularities at the opening of the Hale Bank polling station". ^{[6] [7] [8]} Overall turnout in the election was 26.02%. ^[9]

Halton Local Election Result 2006 ^{[2] [9]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	12	1	1	0	66.7	46.1	9,914	-9.2
	Conservative	3	1	0	+1	16.7	26.8	5,753	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	3	0	1	-1	16.7	20.7	4,448	+1.4
	Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	3.6	778	+1.1
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.3	278	+0.7
	Citizens Party of Halton	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.8	173	-1.2
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.7	160	0.0

Ward results

Appleton ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Edge	688	67.5
	Conservative	Duncan Harper	331	32.5
Majority			357	35.0
Turnout			1,019	21.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Birchfield ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Swift	721	55.3
	Labour	John Fahey	422	32.4
	BNP	Andrew Taylor	160	12.3
Majority			299	22.9
Turnout			1,303	29.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Broadheath ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Morley	758	64.9
	Conservative	Richard Murray	410	35.1
Majority			348	29.8
Turnout			1,168	24.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Castlefields ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ellen Cargill	448	38.5
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Blackmore	332	28.5
	Independent	Jimmy Tang	156	13.4
	Independent	George Grimes	122	10.5
	Conservative	Terence McDermott	105	9.0
Majority			116	10.0
Turnout			1,163	25.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Ditton ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Rowan	722	51.0
	Labour	Peter Jones	693	49.0
Majority			29	2.0
Turnout			1,415	27.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Farnworth ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Phillip Drakeley	919	54.7
	Labour	Margaret Fahey	458	27.3
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Curzon	187	11.1
	Green	Teresa Miller	116	6.9
Majority			461	27.4
Turnout			1,680	32.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grange ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mark Dennett	563	48.9
	Liberal Democrats	Shahram Mesdaghi	335	29.1
	Conservative	William Dowdle	254	22.0
Majority			228	19.8
Turnout			1,152	23.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Hale ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wharton	587	78.2	+4.5
	Conservative	Suzannah Swift	164	21.8	-4.5
Majority			423	56.4	+9.0
Turnout			751	48.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Halton Brook ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Stockton	538	50.1
	Liberal Democrats	Dianne Higginson	401	37.3
	Conservative	Patricia Parkinson	135	12.6
Majority			137	12.8
Turnout			1,074	22.6
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Halton Lea ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Lowe	524	53.2
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Clein	293	29.7
	Conservative	Phillip Harper	97	9.8
	Citizens Party of Halton	Damian Matthews	71	7.2
Majority			231	23.5
Turnout			985	21.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Halton View ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas McInerney	714	42.1
	Green	Derek Mellor	428	25.3
	Liberal Democrats	Damian Curzon	297	17.5
	Conservative	Denis Thomas	256	15.1
Majority			286	16.8
Turnout			1,695	32.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Heath ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Rowe	901	55.0
	Conservative	Marjorie Bradshaw	483	29.5
	Labour	Christopher Loftus	255	15.6
Majority			418	25.5
Turnout			1,639	35.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Hough Green ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Phillip Harris	760	64.3
	Conservative	Peter Browne	422	35.7
Majority			338	28.6
Turnout			1,182	22.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Kingsway ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Francis Fraser	636	65.7
	Conservative	Frank Lloyd	208	21.5
	Green	Dashmesh Shergill	124	12.8
Majority			428	44.2
Turnout			968	20.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Mersey ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Trevor Higginson	590	46.6
	Labour	Nortman Plumpton	486	38.4
	Conservative	Maureen Forsyth	190	15.0
Majority			104	8.2
Turnout			1,266	26.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Norton North ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Phillip Worrall	706	51.6
	Labour	Joan Lowe	390	28.5
	Conservative	Mary Taylor	163	11.9
	Green	Michael Davies	110	8.0
Majority			316	23.1
Turnout			1,369	28.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Norton South ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martha Jones	535	57.0
	Liberal Democrats	Jaynes Worrall	208	22.2
	Citizens Party of Halton	Joseph Glover	102	10.9
	Conservative	Phillip Balmer	94	10.0
Majority			327	34.8
Turnout			939	19.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Riverside ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pamela Wallace	459	62.4
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Meara	198	26.9
	Conservative	Margaret Hill	79	10.7
Majority			261	35.5
Turnout			736	21.2
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Local elections: Halton". BBC News Online . Retrieved 27 February 2010.
2. Wilson, Graeme (5 May 2006). "Conservatives Cameron's crusade puts Tories back on victory trail". The Daily Telegraph. p. 4.
3. Coligan, Nick (4 April 2006). "Labour battle to smash hold of Lib Dems on city". Liverpool Echo. p. 11.
4. "Who'll be getting your vote on election day?". This Is Cheshire. 5 April 2006. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
5. Traynor, Luke; Coligan, Nick (3 May 2006). "There's all to play for as votes hang in the balance; In the final part of our series on how communities could be affected by the May 4 local electionsm we look at St Helens, Halton and Warrington". Liverpool Echo. p. 31.
6. "Labour go on attack". Liverpool Echo. 5 May 2006. p. 2.
7. "Mayor's vote riddle; Halton". Liverpool Daily Post. 5 May 2006. p. 3.
8. "Labour lose control of Warrington". BBC News Online. 6 May 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
9. "Local Election Results 2006". Halton Borough Council. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
10. "Local elections 2006: the results". This Is Cheshire. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2010.