2007 Craven District Council election

Map of the results of the 2007 Craven District Council election. Independents in light grey, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2007.

The 2007 Craven District Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 13
• Independent 11
• Liberal Democrats 6 ^[2]

Background

Before the election the council was run by an alliance between the 11 independents and the 6 Liberal Democrats, while the 13 Conservative councillors were in opposition. ^[3] 10 seats were contested at the election with the Conservatives needing to make at least 2 gains to take control. ^[4]

Candidates at the election included Conservative candidates in every ward, while there were no candidates from the Labour party. ^[3] The British National Party meanwhile stood their first candidate in an election for Craven council in Skipton South. ^[3]

Election result

There was no change to the party balance on the council, after the Conservatives gained a seat from an independent, but also lost a seat to another independent candidate. ^[5] The Conservative gain came in Skipton South, where they defeated the vice-chairman of the council, Mike Hill, while they lost Bentham to an independent by 5 votes after 3 recounts. ^[6]

Craven local election result 2007 ^{[2] [7]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	5	1	1	0	50.0	38.4	4,149	+8.1%
	Conservative	4	1	1	0	40.0	45.1	4,866	-0.3%
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	0	0	10.0	14.6	1,581	-8.7%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	1.9	200	+1.9%

Ward results

Bentham ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Lin Barrington	686	50.2	-7.4
	Conservative	Felicity Hey	681	49.8	+7.4
Majority			5	0.4	-14.7
Turnout			1,367	46.5	+5.2
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Embsay with Eastby ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andy Quinn	409	63.4	-3.6
	Liberal Democrats	John Manley	236	36.6	+36.6
Majority			173	26.8	-7.2
Turnout			645	45.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Gargrave and Malhamdale ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Crawford	802	70.4	+3.8
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Walpole	337	29.6	-3.8
Majority			465	40.8	+7.6
Turnout			1,139	47.1	-0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Glusburn ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Graham Beck	776	58.9	-14.9
	Conservative	Jenny Wood	541	41.1	+14.9
Majority			235	17.8	-29.8
Turnout			1,317	42.8	+1.6
	Independent hold		Swing

Skipton East ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Harbron	610	53.9	+5.0
	Independent	Michael Hill	521	46.1	+46.1
Majority			89	7.9
Turnout			1,131	40.5	-11.5
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Skipton North ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Marcia Turner	577	42.0	+0.3
	Independent	John Kerwin-Davey	418	30.4	+5.9
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Rankine	379	27.6	-6.1
Majority			159	11.6	+3.6
Turnout			1,374	50.0	-9.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skipton South ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Robert Heseltine	659	66.3	+49.3
	BNP	Gary Beresford	200	20.1	+20.1
	Conservative	Robert Firth	135	13.6	-6.4
Majority			459	46.2
Turnout			994	36.1	-5.4
	Independent hold		Swing

Skipton West ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Polly English	629	61.9	-3.4
	Conservative	Pamela Heseltine	387	38.1	+3.4
Majority			242	23.8	-6.7
Turnout			1,016	35.4	-7.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Sutton-in-Craven ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ken Hart	687	64.9	-1.1
	Conservative	David Harrison-Young	372	35.1	+1.1
Majority			315	29.7	-2.4
Turnout			1,059	38.6	-1.3
	Independent hold		Swing

West Craven ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Robert Mason	402	53.3	+2.5
	Conservative	Terry Thorpe	352	46.7	-2.5
Majority			50	6.6	+4.9
Turnout			754	50.6
	Independent hold		Swing

By-elections between 2007 and 2008

A by-election was held in Cowling on 12 July 2007 after independent councillor John Alderson resigned from the council after moving away from the area. ^[8] The seat was gained for the Conservatives by Jan Ackroyd with a majority of 215 votes over Craven Ratepayers' Action Group candidate Alan Perrow. ^[8]

Cowling by-election 12 July 2007 ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jan Ackroyd	351	64.3	+47.4
	Craven Ratepayers' Action Group	Alan Perrow	136	24.9	-13.2
	Independent	Peter Seward	59	10.8	-34.3
Majority			215	39.4
Turnout			546	31.2	-18.9
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

References

1. "Craven". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
2. "Results - Election 2007". The Times . NewsBank. 5 May 2007. p. 83. ISSN   0140-0460.
3. "BNP field first candidate in Skipton election". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 4 April 2007.
4. "Conservatives need two seats to win Craven council". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 3 May 2007.
5. "Local Elections: Legal threat in postal votes row". The Yorkshire Post . NewsBank. 5 May 2007. ISSN   0963-1496.
6. "Conservatives fail to take Craven council". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 4 May 2007.
7. "District Council election" (PDF). Craven District Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
8. "Tories win council seat". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 19 July 2007.