2007 Christchurch Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2007 Christchurch Borough Council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independents in grey.

The 2007 Christchurch Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Christchurch Borough Council in Dorset, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council. ^[1]

Background

After the last election in 2003 the Conservatives had a majority on the council with 14 councillors, compared to 8 for the Liberal Democrats and 2 independents. ^[2] This majority increased when both of the Liberal Democrat councillors for Portfield, Susan Darch and Lillian Jefferis, defected to the Conservatives. ^[3] However the Liberal Democrats regained one of the seats in a by-election on 5 May 2005 after the resignation of Susan Darch from the council and at the same time picked up a seat in Jumpers ward, which had formerly been held by an independent councillor. ^[3]

63 candidates stood in 2007 for the 24 seats on the council, with Conservative candidates for every seat. ^[4] The Liberal Democrats had 19 candidates, with at least one in all 11 wards, while six independents stood for election. ^[5] After 16 years without a seat on the council, Labour stood 11 candidates in 2007, one in each ward, and the UK Independence Party had three candidates. ^[4]

Only one councillor stood down at the election, Kevin Dingley from North Highcliffe and Walkford ward. ^[5]

Election result

The Conservatives majority on the council was strengthened after they won 17 of the 24 seats on the council. ^[6] This was at the expense of the Liberal Democrats who lost half of their seats on the council to fall to four councillors. ^[7] Meanwhile, independents picked up two seats to have three councillors. ^[7]

The Conservatives gained seats from the Liberal Democrats in Purewell and Stanpit, but they did lose a seat back in Portfield. ^[7] In Jumpers ward, independent Fred Neale picked up a seat, while independent Julie Petrie also gained a seat, topping the poll in Grange ward. ^{[7] [8]} The second seat in Grange had Conservative Denise Jones and Liberal Democrat John Freeman both finish with 374 votes. ^[8] The winner of this seat was chosen by drawing a name out of a hat and Conservative Denise Jones gained the seat from the Liberal Democrat after she was given one more vote, as her name was chosen. ^[8]

Christchurch local election result 2007 ^{[6] [9]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	17	3	1	+2	70.8	61.0	22,022	+5.7%
	Liberal Democrats	4	1	5	-4	16.7	25.7	9,278	-6.0%
	Independent	3	2	0	+2	12.5	6.1	2,220	-1.4%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	4.3	1,549	-0.8%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	2.9	1,051	+2.5%

Ward results

Burton and Winkton (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Flagg	972
	Conservative	Colin Jamieson	944
	Liberal Democrats	Dexter Davies	424
	Liberal Democrats	John Blunden	371
	Labour	Michael Woods	95
Turnout			2,806	44.7	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grange (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Julie Petrie	412
	Conservative	Denise Jones	375
	Liberal Democrats	John Freeman	374
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Nichols	359
	Independent	Jason Perry	345
	Conservative	Trevor Watts	297
	Labour	Vera Hill	118
Turnout			2,280	33.4	+6.7
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Highcliffe (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Myra Mawbey	1,310
	Conservative	John Lofts	1,153
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Pitt	391
	Labour	Carol Wilcox	168
Turnout			3,022	54.0	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Jumpers (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Colin Bungey	597
	Independent	Frederick Neale	484
	Conservative	Tavis Fox	409
	Conservative	Lisle Smith	378
	Liberal Democrats	Jason Viney	352
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Humphrey	292
	Labour	Robert Deeks	61
Turnout			2,573	43.0	+4.1
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Mudeford and Friars Cliff (3 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josephine Spencer	1,638
	Conservative	Michael Duckworth	1,575
	Conservative	Eric Spreadbury	1,464
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Legg	507
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Lodge	477
	Labour	James Brennan	290
Turnout			5,951	49.9	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

North Highcliffe and Walkford (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sally Derham Wilkes	1,117
	Conservative	Nicholas Geary	1,004
	Liberal Democrats	Debby Broomfield	415
	Labour	Simon Trim	179
Turnout			2,715	51.3	+7.0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Portfield (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Davies	465
	Liberal Democrats	David Vick	457
	Conservative	Lillian Jefferis	397
	Conservative	Maurne Wilson	339
	Independent	Carol Flynn	212
	Independent	Linda Hammond	170
	Labour	Abdulhaye Qureshi	67
Turnout			2,107	36.0	-0.5
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Purewell and Stanpit (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Nottage	810
	Conservative	Lucy Filer	804
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Payne	715
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Wright	654
	Labour	Matthew Hepple	93
Turnout			3,076	47.2	+6.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

St Catherine's and Hurn (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Susan Spittle	957
	Conservative	David Fox	919
	Liberal Democrats	Maria Drummond	362
	Liberal Democrats	John Campbell	355
	UKIP	John Reid	306
	UKIP	David Williams	260
	Labour	James Bewley	100
Turnout			3,259	55.5	+12.8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Town Centre (2 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Hall	956
	Liberal Democrats	Brett Bader	863
	Conservative	Malcolm Mawbey	513
	Conservative	John Newman	506
	Labour	George Gregory	93
Turnout			2,931	46.6	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

West Highcliffe (3 seats) ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Griffiths	1,428
	Conservative	Patricia Jamieson	1,426
	Conservative	David Jones	1,287
	Liberal Democrats	Martyn Hurll	489
	UKIP	Philip Glover	485
	Labour	Robert Maskell	285
Turnout			5,400	46.1	+4.9
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

By-elections between 2007 and 2011

A by-election was held in Portfield on 16 July 2009 after the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor David Vick due to poor health. ^[10] The seat was held for the Liberal Democrats by Christine Payne with a one-vote majority over Conservative Lisle Smith. ^[11]

Portfield by-election 16 July 2009 ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Payne	279	34.4	-1.1
	Conservative	Lisle Smith	278	34.3	+4.0
	Independent	Christopher Neale	156	19.2	-9.9
	UKIP	Kenneth Johnson	98	12.1	+12.1
Majority			1	0.1
Turnout			811	25.4	-11.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

References

1. "Christchurch". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
2. "Local elections". BBC News Online . Retrieved 22 May 2015.
3. "Tributes flooding in for 'wonderful' councillor". Dorset Echo . 10 May 2005. Retrieved 22 May 2015.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. "Residents say 'bring in some new ideas'". Bournemouth Daily Echo . NewsBank. 28 April 2007.
5. "Electioneers keep it all in the family". Bournemouth Daily Echo . NewsBank. 5 April 2007.
6. "Results - Election 2007". The Times . NewsBank. 5 May 2007. p. 83.
7. "Conservatives' grip now even stronger". Bournemouth Daily Echo . NewsBank. 4 May 2007.
8. "Name out of a hat result". Bournemouth Daily Echo . 4 May 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
9. "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). Christchurch Borough Council. dorsetforyou.com. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
10. "Polls open in by-election". Bournemouth Daily Echo . NewsBank. 15 July 2009.
11. "One vote secures election win". Cornish Guardian . NewsBank. 24 July 2009. p. 3.