2006 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council election

The 2006 Southend-on-Sea Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Southend-on-Sea Unitary Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 30
• Liberal Democrat 9
• Labour 8
• Alliance Southend 4 ^[2]

Campaign

The election saw a candidate from a new party, Mums' Army, stand in West Shoebury ward. ^{[3] [4]} The party was founded by Take a Break magazine with a platform of addressing anti-social behaviour in the community. ^[3]

Meanwhile, the Labour party was unable to put up candidates in 5 wards after their nomination papers were stolen just before they were to be handed in. ^[5]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives stay in control of the council after winning 11 of the 19 seats which were contested. ^[6] However this was one down on before the election, after the Conservative council leader, Anna Waite, was defeated in Prittlewell by the Liberal Democrats. ^[6] The Liberal Democrats gained 2 seats to overtake Labour as the second largest party on the council with 9 councillors, as against 8 for Labour. ^[6] Overall turnout in the election was 34%. ^[2]

Southend-on-Sea Local Election Result 2006 ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	11	1	2	-1	57.9	42.2	19,640	-7.3%
	Liberal Democrats	4	2	0	+2	21.1	25.8	12,004	-0.3%
	Labour	3	0	1	-1	15.8	12.7	5,931	-3.9%
	Alliance Southend	1	1	1	0	5.3	9.1	4,249	+9.1%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	4.6	2,140	+4.6%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	3.0	1,385	+0.2%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	954	+0.4%
	Mums' Army	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	140	+0.3%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	132	-2.1%

Ward results

Belfairs ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Evans	1,326	46.0	−8.4
	Alliance Southend	Margaret Webb	879	30.5	+30.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Streeter	679	23.5	−10.6
Majority			447	15.5	−4.8
Turnout			2,884	39.9	−2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Blenheim Park ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Smith	1,009	38.9	−7.4
	Conservative	Duncan Newham	814	31.4	−9.1
	UKIP	Seantino Callaghan	458	17.7	+17.7
	Labour	Julian Ware-Lane	313	12.1	−1.2
Majority			195	7.5	+1.7
Turnout			2,594	34.2	−1.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Chalkwell ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Brown	1,309	56.4	+0.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Adams	648	27.9	+5.4
	Labour	John Aitkin	365	15.7	+2.9
Majority			661	28.5	−5.5
Turnout			2,322	32.6	−2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Eastwood Park ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Moring	1,539	59.1	+3.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Walton	830	31.9	−4.4
	Labour	Raoul Meade	233	9.0	+0.5
Majority			709	27.2	+8.3
Turnout			2,602	35.0	−3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kursaal ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judith McMahon	650	35.3	+0.8
	Conservative	Blaine Robin	522	28.4	−5.8
	BNP	Dean Fenner	391	21.2	+21.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Wrexham	278	15.1	+3.9
Majority			128	7.0	+6.8
Turnout			1,841	27.8	+1.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Leigh ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Barry Godwin	1,316	51.4	−3.0
	Conservative	Stephen Ryan	872	34.0	−2.0
	Green	Nicola Gilbey	374	14.6	+14.6
Majority			444	17.3	−1.1
Turnout			2,562	36.4	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Milton ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ann Robertson	818	40.0	−11.2
	Labour	Reginald Copley	431	21.1	−6.5
	Alliance Southend	John Bacon	318	15.6	+15.6
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Collins	269	13.2	−8.0
	Green	Stephen Jordan	208	10.2	+10.2
Majority			387	18.9	−4.7
Turnout			2,044	30.0	−0.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Prittlewell ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Grimwade	1,124	40.9	+8.4
	Conservative	Anna Waite	999	36.3	−9.5
	UKIP	John Croft	496	18.0	+18.0
	Independent	Alan Hart	132	4.8	+4.8
Majority			125	4.5
Turnout			2,751	37.4	−0.8
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

St Laurence ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	George Lewin	1,385	55.8	+25.6
	Conservative	Brian Houssart	1,099	44.2	+8.6
Majority			286	11.5
Turnout			2,484	33.3	−5.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

St Lukes ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Royston	800	33.0	+2.9
	Conservative	Nigel Folkard	604	24.9	−13.2
	BNP	Geoffrey Strobridge	534	22.0	+22.0
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Ayling	291	12.0	−6.0
	Green	Cristian Ramis	197	8.1	−5.7
Majority			196	8.1
Turnout			2,426	31.0	+1.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Shoeburyness (2) ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Hadley	1,071	26.1
	Conservative	Allan Cole	884	21.5
	Labour	Anne Chalk	707	17.2
	Alliance Southend	Michael Assenheim	629	15.3
	Labour	Charles Willis	438	10.7
	Liberal Democrats	Amanda Spraggs	232	5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Spraggs	150	3.6
Turnout			4,111	30.9	+1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Southchurch ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Kelly	1,296	50.3	−14.5
	BNP	Stuart Freeman	489	19.0	+19.0
	Labour	Joyce Mapp	311	12.1	−2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Smith	300	11.7	+0.8
	Green	Stuart Salmon	178	6.9	−3.2
Majority			807	31.4	−19.1
Turnout			2,574	36.1	−0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Thorpe ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Daphne White	1,346	42.3	−31.2
	Alliance Southend	Ronald Woodley	950	29.8	+29.8
	Liberal Democrats	Howard Gibeon	670	21.0	+5.8
	Labour	Christopher Gasper	218	6.8	−4.5
Majority			396	12.4	−45.8
Turnout			3,184	44.3	+4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Victoria ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Borton	719	38.5	−4.1
	Conservative	Roger Kemp	456	24.4	−10.1
	BNP	Fenton Bowley	366	19.6	+19.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ronella Streeter	328	17.5	−5.3
Majority			263	14.1	+6.0
Turnout			1,869	26.9	−0.6
	Labour hold		Swing

West Leigh (2) ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Holdcroft	1,562	27.2
	Conservative	Gwendoline Horrigan	1,559	27.1
	Liberal Democrats	Shirley Pawson	983	17.1
	Liberal Democrats	Bryan Paddison	874	15.2
	Green	Paul Circus	428	7.4
	Alliance Southend	Colin Ritchie	344	6
Turnout			5,750	44.7	−3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Shoebury ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Cox	1,175	43.8	−24.1
	Alliance Southend	Verina Weaver	456	17.0	+17.0
	BNP	Terence Jellis	360	13.4	+13.4
	Labour	Joan Richards	352	13.1	−6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Mallam	198	7.4	−4.9
	Mums' Army	Linda Martin	140	5.2	+5.2
Majority			719	26.8	−21.2
Turnout			2,681	36.6	+2.3
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Westborough ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Alliance Southend	Tania Painton	673	35.5	−11.3
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Vincent	440	23.2	+2.8
	Labour	Teresa Merrison	394	20.8	+4.7
	Conservative	Richard Waite	389	20.5	+3.7
Majority			233	12.3	−14.1
Turnout			1,896	27.0	−5.2
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

References

1. "Local elections: Southend-On-Sea". BBC News Online . Retrieved 5 April 2010.
2. "Local Election Results 2006". Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. Archived from the original on 4 April 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
3. Bennett, Rosemary (24 April 2006). "Yobs, watch out, Mums' Army is on the warpath". The Times . p. 18.
4. Swain, Gill (28 April 2006). "Move over Mr Blair, we're the Mums' Army". Daily Express.
5. "Thief ruins poll hopes for Labour". Echo. 5 April 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2010.^{[ dead link ]}
6. "Southend Tories lose their leader". Echo. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
7. "Southend-on-Sea Borough Council: Borough Council Election" (PDF). Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. Retrieved 5 April 2010.^{[ dead link ]}