2007 Woking Borough Council election

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Results of the 2007 Woking Borough Council election Woking UK local election 2007 map.svg
Results of the 2007 Woking Borough Council election

The 2007 Woking Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Woking Borough Council in Surrey, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. [1]

Contents

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Campaign

The election saw 12 seats being contested with 2 sitting councillors standing down, Neville Hinks in Knaphill ward and Mehala Gosling in West Byfleet. [3] Both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were hoping to win control of the council, with the Liberal Democrats needing 1 more seat and the Conservatives 4. [4] Labour were defending 3 seats which were all threatened by either the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats. [4] The other parties standing in the election were the United Kingdom Independence Party, which was standing in more seats than Labour, and the UK Community Issues Party. [4]

The Conservative campaign was described as being the strongest in years with the seats in Horsell and Knaphill being seen as critical in deciding who would control the council. [4]

Election result

The Conservatives won the election gaining a majority on the council, the first time any party had a majority since 1998 and the first time the Conservatives had held a majority since 1994. [5] The Conservatives gained 4 seats in Kingfield and Westfield, Maybury and Sheerwater, Knaphill and Horsell to hold 19 seats compared to 17 for the Liberal Democrats. [5] Meanwhile, Labour lost all 3 of their seats on the council including the party leader, Peter Ford, who lost in Old Woking to the Liberal Democrats. [5] This was the first time Labour had ever failed to have any councillors on Woking council. [6]

The Conservatives won almost 51% of the vote compared to their closest challengers, the Liberal Democrats, on just over 35%, [6] with overall turnout in the election being 43.60%. [7] Following the election the Conservative Anne Murray was expected to take over as leader of the council from Liberal Democrat Sue Smith. [5]

Woking Local Election Result 2007 [2] [7]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Conservative 940+475.050.912,110+5.7%
  Liberal Democrats 312-125.035.48,426-5.6%
  Labour 003-308.72,063+0.6%
  UKIP 000004.51,062+1.1%
 UK Community Issues Party000000.5110-0.4%

Ward results

Byfleet [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Simon Hutton1,34657.0+11.3
Liberal Democrats John Faulkner1,01743.0−2.6
Majority 32914.0+13.9
Turnout 2,36344.0+2.1
Conservative hold Swing
Goldsworth East [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Rob Leach1,15051.9+1.3
Conservative Hilary Addison82937.4−3.0
Labour Colin Bright1637.4−2.0
UKIP Judith Squire723.3+3.3
Majority 32114.5+4.3
Turnout 2,21440.9+1.6
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Hermitage and Knaphill South [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Tina Liddington92564.2+10.2
Conservative David Bittleston31321.7−16.3
UKIP Mary Kingston1027.1+7.1
Labour Graeme Carman1017.0−1.0
Majority 61242.5+26.5
Turnout 1,44136.3+0.8
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Horsell East and Woodham [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Anne Murray1,18671.1+13.5
Liberal Democrats John Doran30718.4−5.6
UKIP Marion Free1086.5−6.6
Labour John Pitt664.0−1.4
Majority 87952.7+19.1
Turnout 1,66747.9+1.8
Conservative hold Swing
Horsell West [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Beryl Hunwicks1,39550.7
Liberal Democrats Gareth Davies1,09339.8
UKIP Timothy Shaw1164.2
Labour Janice Worgan983.6
UK Community Issues Party Katrina Osman471.7
Majority 30210.9
Turnout 2,74951.8+0.4
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Kingfield and Westfield [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Stewart Brown60236.4+10.5
Liberal Democrats Paul Owen52731.9−6.7
Labour John Martin41725.2+3.8
UKIP Dennis Davey1066.4−5.8
Majority 754.5
Turnout 1,65243.0+2.7
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Knaphill [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Melanie Whitehand1,15844.3+7.2
Liberal Democrats Christian Morgan-Jones1,11342.5−6.9
UKIP Matthew Davies2037.8+0.3
Labour Christopher Martin1425.4−0.6
Majority 451.8
Turnout 2,61637.2−0.9
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Maybury and Sheerwater [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Muzaffar Ali1,17738.8−9.8
Liberal Democrats Mohammed Bashir1,04034.2+20.3
Labour Elizabeth Evans66521.9−10.2
UKIP Rob Burberry923.0+3.0
UK Community Issues Party Michael Osman632.1−3.3
Majority 1374.6
Turnout 3,03745.8+3.6
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Old Woking [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Colin Scott33739.7+0.7
Labour Peter Ford32538.3−4.3
Conservative Ashley Bowes18722.0+3.6
Majority 121.4
Turnout 84941.0+3.8
Liberal Democrats gain from Labour Swing
Pyrford [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Peter Ankers1,56076.3+13.4
Liberal Democrats John Magid35917.6−6.2
UKIP Robin Milner1266.2−3.8
Majority 1,20158.7+19.6
Turnout 2,04551.4+2.0
Conservative hold Swing
St Johns and Hook Heath [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Graham Cundy1,04472.6+9.2
Liberal Democrats Andrew Larkham32622.7+4.9
UKIP Marcia Taylor684.7+1.3
Majority 71849.9+4.3
Turnout 1,43841.2−2.1
Conservative hold Swing
West Byfleet [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Richard Wilson1,31377.2+10.4
Liberal Democrats Rashad Raja23213.6−0.5
Labour Mike Kelly865.1+0.2
UKIP Richard Squire694.1+0.9
Majority 1,08163.6+10.9
Turnout 1,70043.2−1.4
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. "Woking". BBC News. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 "National: Elections 2007: Town and country go to the polls". The Guardian. 4 May 2007. p. 6.
  3. "Battles loom as list of candidates published". getsurrey. 12 April 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Close call forecast in the battle for control of council". getsurrey. 26 April 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Tories seize control in electoral coup". getsurrey. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Tories take over control of council". getsurrey. 11 May 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Election of Borough Councillors for the Wards of Woking Borough Council: Summary of Results" (PDF). Woking Borough Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2010.