2008 Craven District Council election

Map of the results of the 2008 Craven District Council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independents in light grey. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2008.

The 2008 Craven District Council election took place on 1 May 2008 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 15
• Independent 10
• Liberal Democrats 5 ^[2]

Background

Before the election an alliance between 9 of the 10 independents and the 6 Liberal Democrats controlled the council, with independent Carl Liss as council leader. ^[3] The 14 Conservative councillors were in opposition, supported by the remaining independent councillor, Ken Hart. ^[3]

Election result

The Conservatives won 8 of the 11 seats contested, including gaining one seat, to have exactly half of seats on the council. ^[4] The Conservative gain came in Skipton East where Pam Heseltine took the seat from the Liberal Democrats. ^[4] This reduced the Liberal Democrats to 5 councillors after they held the other 2 seats they were defending. ^[4] The only independent councillor to be defending a seat, David Ireton, retained it in Ingleton and Clapham, while the 5 Labour candidates came last in each of the wards they contested. ^[4]

Following the election Conservative Chris Knowles-Fitton became leader of the council, taking over from independent Carl Lis. ^[5]

Craven local election result 2008 ^{[2] [6]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	8	1	0	+1	72.7	55.0	6,268	+9.9%
	Liberal Democrats	2	0	1	-1	18.2	27.4	3,124	+12.8%
	Independent	1	0	0	0	9.1	10.2	1,159	-28.2%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	7.4	843	+7.4%

Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pat Fairbank	824	63.0	+16.0
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Walpole	307	23.5	-29.5
	Labour	Bob Holland	177	13.5	+13.5
Majority			517	39.5
Turnout			1,308	45.7	+1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Barden Fell ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Knowles-Fitton	550	83.3	+32.1
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Rankine	110	16.7	+5.2
Majority			440	66.7	+52.8
Turnout			660	49.6	-10.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cowling ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ady Green	470	69.5	+52.6
	Labour	Paul Routledge	206	30.5	+30.5
Majority			264	39.1	+32.1
Turnout			676	38.9	-11.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grassington ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Foster	539	77.1	+3.9
	Liberal Democrats	John Manley	160	22.9	-3.9
Majority			379	54.2	+7.7
Turnout			699	52.4	-13.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ingleton and Clapham ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	David Ireton	1,159	78.6
	Conservative	Terence Thorpe	315	21.4
Majority			844	57.2
Turnout			1,474	46.7
	Independent hold		Swing

Settle and Ribblebanks ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donny Whaites	860	64.3	+24.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Fawcett	300	22.4	-31.8
	Labour	Edward Saunders	178	13.3	+13.3
Majority			560	41.9
Turnout			1,338	45.3	-1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skipton East ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pamela Heseltine	595	50.5	-3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Eric Jaquin	464	39.4	+39.4
	Labour	Chris Rose	119	10.1	+10.1
Majority			131	11.1	+3.2
Turnout			1,178	42.3	+1.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Skipton North ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Whitaker	737	57.4	+15.4
	Liberal Democrats	Carole Manley	547	42.6	+15.0
Majority			190	14.8	+3.2
Turnout			1,284	46.5	-3.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skipton South ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Solloway	391	50.4	+50.4
	Conservative	Charlotte Gott	222	28.6	+15.0
	Labour	Duncan Hall	163	21.0	+21.0
Majority			169	21.8
Turnout			776	27.7	-8.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Skipton West ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul English	592	56.9	-5.0
	Conservative	John Garton	449	43.1	+5.0
Majority			143	13.7	-10.1
Turnout			1,041	35.7	+0.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Upper Wharfedale ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Roberts	707	73.6	+10.1
	Liberal Democrats	John Bennett	253	26.4	+26.4
Majority			454	47.3	+20.3
Turnout			960	62.5	+1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Craven". BBC News Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
2. "Full election results". The Guardian . NewsBank. 3 May 2008. ISSN   0261-3077.
3. "Conservative likely to become leader". The Yorkshire Post . NewsBank. 3 May 2008. ISSN   0963-1496.
4. "Tories gain one Craven Council seat but fail to take control". Craven Herald & Pioneer . NewsBank. 2 May 2008. ISSN   0961-1908.
5. Tate, Lesley (23 May 2008). "Tories take over leadership of council". Craven Herald & Pioneer . Retrieved 10 January 2018.
6. "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). Craven District Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.