2008 Rushmoor Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2008 Rushmoor council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Labour in red.

The 2008 Rushmoor Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Rushmoor Borough Council in Hampshire, 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 29
• Liberal Democrat 8
• Labour 5 ^[2]

Campaign

Before the election the Conservatives held 26 seats, the Liberal Democrats 7, Labour 6 and a further 3 vacant. ^[3] 15 seats were up for election with 2 seats in St Johns ward being contested after the death of Conservative councillor Graham Tucker. ^[4] The other 2 vacant seats were in Cove and Southwood, and Empress wards, where Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors respectively stood down at the election. ^[3]

50 candidates were standing including 4 from the British National Party ^[5] and 1 from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party as well as candidates from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour parties. ^[4] The candidates included a 19-year-old Conservative in Heron Wood ward who was hoping to become the youngest ever councillor in Rushmoor. ^[6]

Issues in the election included local developments, an increase in flights at Farnborough Airfield, the recent trial of alternate weekly rubbish collection, anti-social behaviour, spending cuts and councillors' expenses. ^[3]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives stay in control of the council with 29 seats compared to 8 for the Liberal Democrats and 5 Labour. ^[7] The Conservatives gained two seats from the Liberal Democrats in Cove and Southwood and West Heath wards to increase their majority. ^[8] However the Liberal Democrats did take one seat back in St Marks ward defeating the Conservative councillor for the previous 10 years Nigel Baines. ^[8] Meanwhile, in Heron Wood ward the Liberal Democrats gained a seat in Aldershot for the first time since 2006 after defeating the sitting Labour councillor. ^[9] Labour easily held their only other seat in North Town, while narrowly failed to gain Wellington from the Conservatives by 50 votes; ^[9] however Labour came last in all 9 wards in Farnborough. ^[8]

Overall turnout was down from the 2007 election at 33.7% with the lowest turnout in Wellington ward at 19.8%. ^[7] Following the election the Liberal Democrats elected a new group leader with Sue Gadsby taking over from Craig Card who had been party leader for the previous 9 years. ^[10]

Rushmoor Local Election Result 2008 ^{[11] [12]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	11	2	1	+1	73.3	52.9	11,817	+4.3%
	Liberal Democrats	3	2	2	0	20.0	29.9	6,664	-0.8%
	Labour	1	0	1	-1	6.7	13.6	3,039	-1.2%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	3.3	733	-0.8%
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	67	-0.2%

Ward results

Cove & Southwood ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Susan Carter	960	63.5	+9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Anoop Verma	475	31.4	-9.1
	Labour	Edward Shelton	77	5.1	-0.6
Majority			485	32.1	+18.8
Turnout			1,512	35.4
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Empress ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gareth Lyon	1,158	68.1	+4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Doubell	405	23.8	-2.9
	Labour	Christopher Wright	138	8.1	-1.3
Majority			753	44.3	+7.1
Turnout			1,701	37.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Fernhill ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Marsh	906	65.3	+7.5
	BNP	Cheryl Glass	200	14.4	-2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Josephine Murphy	190	13.7	-4.7
	Labour	Martin Coule	92	6.6	+0.1
Majority			706	50.9	+11.5
Turnout			1,388	33.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grange ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steve Masterson	669	43.9	+6.2
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Thompson	546	35.8	-4.9
	BNP	Janette Brunning	179	11.7	-1.4
	Labour	June Smith	130	8.5	0.0
Majority			123	8.1
Turnout			1,524	37.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Heron Wood ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Bowers	564	41.8	+15.9
	Labour	Terry Bridgeman	404	30.0	-9.0
	Conservative	Simon Poole	380	28.2	-6.9
Majority			160	11.8
Turnout			1,348	29.5
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Knellwood ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Taylor	1,153	69.8	+13.5
	Liberal Democrats	Derek Purdey	395	23.9	+4.9
	Labour	William Tootill	105	6.4	-1.2
Majority			758	45.9	+8.6
Turnout			1,653	39.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Manor Park ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Paparesti	869	61.7	+5.5
	Liberal Democrats	Laura Kilburn	399	28.3	-4.8
	Labour	Lesley Pestridge	140	9.9	-0.8
Majority			470	33.4	+10.2
Turnout			1,408	30.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Mayfield ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Charlie Fraser-Fleming	491	44.4	-0.3
	Conservative	Roderick Baulk	302	27.3	+2.8
	BNP	Warren Glass	191	17.3	-0.2
	Labour	Clive Grattan	123	11.1	-2.3
Majority			189	17.1	-3.1
Turnout			1,107	27.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

North Town ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sue Dibble	885	59.8	+3.2
	Conservative	Sabaah Choudhary	446	30.1	+2.1
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Burfield	149	10.1	-5.4
Majority			439	29.7	+1.1
Turnout			1,480	28.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Rowhill ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Welch	928	67.4	+7.7
	Liberal Democrats	Pete Pearson	217	15.8	-3.8
	Labour	Jill Clark	164	11.9	-2.0
	Monster Raving Loony	Professor Nabob	67	4.9	-1.9
Majority			711	51.7	+11.5
Turnout			1,376	33.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

St John's (2) ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Moyle	1,005
	Conservative	Jacqui Vosper	934
	Liberal Democrats	Leola Card	631
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Gardner	621
	Labour	Sean Clarke	94
	Labour	Leslie Taylor	91
Turnout			3,376	34.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Mark's ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Crispin Allard	984	53.9	+8.6
	Conservative	Nigel Baines	741	40.6	-7.0
	Labour	Barry Jones	100	5.5	-1.6
Majority			243	13.3
Turnout			1,825	40.1
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Wellington ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Neil Watkin	461	47.1	-2.1
	Labour	Alex Crawford	411	42.0	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Woodcock	107	10.9	-0.9
Majority			50	5.1	-5.2
Turnout			979	19.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Heath ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steve Smith	905	55.1	+9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Shaun Murphy	490	29.8	-7.3
	BNP	Garry Brunning	163	9.9	-1.3
	Labour	Philip Collins	85	5.2	-1.3
Majority			415	25.3	+17.2
Turnout			1,643	39.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

References

1. "Tushmoor". BBC News Online . Retrieved 18 October 2010.
2. "National: Full election results". The Guardian . 3 May 2008. p. 45.
3. "Town centres, airport and mega-depot dominate year". gethampshire. 28 April 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
4. "Fight for seats on two councils". gethampshire. 10 April 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
5. "BNP field candidates in borough poll". gethampshire. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
6. "Teenager gets ready to contest borough poll". gethampshire. 8 April 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
7. "Rushmoor a deeper shade of blue". gethampshire. 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
8. "Tories claim scalps but North Camp swings Lib Dem". gethampshire. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
9. "Few surprises as Tories hold council". gethampshire. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
10. "New party leader for borough Lib Dems". gethampshire. 16 May 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
11. "Local Election Results May 2008". Rushmoor Borough Council. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
12. "Local elections 08 nationwide results". The Times . 3 May 2008. p. 14.

Preceded by 2007 Rushmoor Council election

Rushmoor local elections

Succeeded by 2010 Rushmoor Council election