2008 Swindon Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2008 Swindon council election. Conservatives in blue, Labour in red and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in grey were not contested in 2008.

The 2008 Swindon Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2008 to elect members of Swindon Unitary Council in Wiltshire, 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 43
• Labour 12
• Liberal Democrat 3
• Independent 1 ^[2]

Campaign

Several unusual events attracted attention during the campaign. A yorkshire terrier was reported as having received a polling card for the election, ^[3] with his owner being faced with being charged with supplying false electoral information and as a result had to write a letter of apology. ^[4] Meanwhile, Swindon council got a look-alike of Captain Jack Sparrow to hand out balloons and leaflets on the election in an attempt to increase interest in the election. ^[5]

Election result

The results saw each party end with the same number of seats as before the election with the Conservatives remaining in control with 43 seats. ^[2] The Conservatives gained one seat from Labour in Park ward but Labour also took a seat back from the Conservatives in Central ward. ^[6] In total 15 councillors were re-elected with Labour staying on 12 seats, the Liberal Democrats 3 and 1 independent. ^[2]

Swindon Local Election Result 2008 ^{[7] [8]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	17	1	1	0	77.3	54.8	25,109	+8.0%
	Labour	4	1	1	0	18.2	25.3	11,567	-3.6%
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	0	0	4.5	14.5	6,644	+1.3%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	5.0	2,301	+1.3%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	181	+0.1%

Ward results

Map of the results of the 2008 Swindon council election with ward names. Coloured by party which finished top in each ward.

Abbey Meads ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Vera Tomlinson	1,836	75.9	+6.6
	Labour	Gerald Lawson	266	11.0	−4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Law	226	9.3	+0.7
	UKIP	Robin Tingey	90	3.7	+3.7
Majority			1,570	64.9	+11.4
Turnout			2,418
	Conservative hold		Swing

Central ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Junab Ali	902	44.1	−3.0
	Conservative	Kevin Leakey	664	32.5	+3.9
	Liberal Democrats	Hannah Pajak	224	11.0	−2.0
	UKIP	Eric Bagwell	130	6.4	+6.4
	Independent	David Cox	125	6.1	+1.6
Majority			238	11.6	−6.9
Turnout			2,045
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Covingham and Nythe ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dale Heenan	1,362	57.6	+3.4
	Labour	Joanne Dilley	586	24.8	−2.1
	UKIP	Cynthia Desmond	264	11.2	−0.5
	Liberal Democrats	David Pajak	152	6.4	−0.8
Majority			776	32.8	+5.5
Turnout			2,364
	Conservative hold		Swing

Dorcan (2) ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kevin Parry	1,326
	Conservative	Roderick Bluh	1,292
	Labour	Cindy Matthews	447
	Labour	Samuel James	430
	UKIP	Robert Sheppard	294
	Liberal Democrats	Ellen Aylett	286
Turnout			4,075
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Eastcott ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Stanley Pajak	1,237	58.6	+19.0
	Conservative	Paul Gregory	496	23.5	−1.4
	Labour	Sarah Bush	378	17.9	−5.8
Majority			741	35.1	+20.3
Turnout			2,111
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Freshbrook and Grange Park ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Greenhalgh	1,184	60.4	+11.4
	Liberal Democrats	Judith Peppitt	535	27.3	−1.2
	Labour	Jamal Miah	240	12.3	−4.4
Majority			649	33.1	+12.5
Turnout			1,959
	Conservative hold		Swing

Gorse Hill and Pinehurst ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ericqua Ballman	736	44.6	−0.2
	Conservative	Louise Gallavin	687	41.6	+16.0
	Liberal Democrats	Leslie Wood	229	13.9	+5.8
Majority			49	3.0	−16.3
Turnout			1,652
	Labour hold		Swing

Haydon Wick ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rex Barnett	1,363	61.0
	Labour	John Keepin	440	19.7
	UKIP	Michael Stuckey	246	11.0
	Liberal Democrats	Tel Hudson	186	8.3
Majority			923	41.3
Turnout			2,235
	Conservative hold		Swing

Highworth ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Peake	1,345	62.3	+5.5
	Labour	Phillip Beaumont	492	22.8	−3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Shorten	321	14.9	+7.9
Majority			853	39.5	+9.2
Turnout			2,158
	Conservative hold		Swing

Moredon ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Lovell	1,110	54.4	+6.7
	Labour	James d'Avila	590	28.9	−6.7
	UKIP	Kathleen Webb	229	11.2	+2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Heidi Teague	111	5.4	−2.5
Majority			520	25.5	+13.4
Turnout			2,040
	Conservative hold		Swing

Old Town and Lawn ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Bawden	2,015	64.2	+5.5
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Wheaver	538	17.1	+1.5
	Labour	Walid Meah	409	13.0	−0.4
	UKIP	Noel Gardner	177	5.6	+0.4
Majority			1,477	47.1	+4.0
Turnout			3,139
	Conservative hold		Swing

Parks (2) ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Allsopp	815
	Conservative	Graham Cherry	746
	Labour	Mark Dempsey	703
	Conservative	Claire Ellis	628
	UKIP	Terence Hayward	248
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Grant	153
	Liberal Democrats	John Kurton	125
Turnout			3,418
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Ridgeway ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Bennett	652	61.6	+6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas Pajak	351	33.1	−2.8
	Labour	Mary Gladman	56	5.3	−4.1
Majority			301	28.4	+9.5
Turnout			1,059
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shaw and Nine Elms ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Martin	1,291	70.5	+14.4
	Liberal Democrats	James Farr	333	18.2	+0.5
	Labour	Mohammad Talukdar	208	11.4	−5.5
Majority			958	52.3	+13.9
Turnout			1,832
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Margaret ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Fisher	1,337	59.2	+7.4
	Labour	Michael Spry	517	22.9	−5.6
	UKIP	Robert Feal-Martinez	217	9.6	+0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Morgan	187	8.3	−2.0
Majority			820	36.3	+12.9
Turnout			2,258
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Philip ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maire Darker	1,300	52.7	+10.8
	Labour	Joseph Tray	771	31.3	−9.4
	UKIP	Peter Thompson-Watt	232	9.4	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Richards	163	6.6	+0.4
Majority			529	21.5	+20.3
Turnout			2,466
	Conservative hold		Swing

Toothill & Westlea ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dwynwen Martin	961	60.7	+8.4
	Labour	Abdul Amin	412	26.0	+4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Shepherd	209	13.2	−2.7
Majority			549	34.7	+4.4
Turnout			1,582
	Conservative hold		Swing

Walcot ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mavis Childs	783	46.2	+7.2
	Labour	Carol Heavens	648	38.3	+1.6
	Liberal Democrats	Kathleen McCarthy	263	15.5	+2.6
Majority			135	8.0	+5.7
Turnout			1,694
	Conservative hold		Swing

Western ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Grant	1,161	45.6	−3.8
	Conservative	Peter Heaton-Jones	990	38.9	+13.4
	UKIP	Gregory Heathcliffe	174	6.8	−0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Clive Hooper	166	6.5	−3.0
	Independent	Michael Morton	56	2.2	−0.1
Majority			171	6.7	−17.1
Turnout			2,547
	Labour hold		Swing

Wroughton and Chiseldon ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Ford	1,741	63.3	+8.0
	Liberal Democrats	Victor Godman	649	23.6	+1.2
	Labour	Sandra Parsons	360	13.1	−1.7
Majority			1,092	39.7	+6.8
Turnout			2,750
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Swindon". BBC News Online . Retrieved 31 October 2010.
2. "Ups and downs but few surprises in poll results; Across the South West election results held few surprises and little change for local authorities". Western Daily Press. 3 May 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.^{[ dead link ‍]}
3. "A Prickly Subject". Edinburgh Evening News. 26 April 2008. p. 22.
4. "Dog owner in vote card mix-up; Cheeky Gavin Huckvale was facing jail yesterday after registering his pet dog to vote in today's local elections". Western Daily Press. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.^{[ dead link ‍]}
5. "Captain Jack goes on the election trail". Gazette and Herald. 29 April 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
6. "Swindon remains Conservative bastion". Gazette and Herald. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
7. "Local Elections 2008". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
8. "Local elections Results". The Times . 2 May 2008. p. 28.