2008 Wolverhampton City Council election

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

Elections to Wolverhampton City Council were held on 1 May 2008 in Wolverhampton, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour group lost overall control after losing eight seats across the City. ^[1]

Turnout across the City was 34.6%, with variations in turnout ranging from 22.1% in the Bushbury South & Low Hill ward up to 45.4% in Tettenhall Wightwick.

Following the election, an alliance between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups was formed, ending 14 years of Labour Party rule.

Composition

Due to the only Liberal Councillor officially joining the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Democrats had increased their number of Councillors in 2007 from 3 to 4.

Prior to the election, the composition of the council was:

• Labour Party 36
• Conservative Party 19
• Liberal Democrat 4
• Independent 1

Following the election, the composition of the council is:

• Labour Party 28
• Conservative Party 27
• Liberal Democrat 5

Election result

Wolverhampton Local Election Result 2008

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	28	0	-8	-8	46	34.4	21300	-3244
	Conservative	27	8	0	+8	45	48.2	29833	+5763
	Liberal Democrats	5	1	0	+1	8	15.6	9630	+482
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	1158	-1964
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	340	-252
	Equal Parenting Alliance	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	101	+101
	Independent	0	0	-1	-1	0	0	0	-1808

Ward results

Bilston East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Turner	1168	47.2	+0.2
	Conservative	Nick Thompson	969	39.1	+13.6
	Liberal Democrats	Geoffrey Cockayne	339	13.7	+6.2
Majority			199	7.98
Turnout			2476	26.2	-3.2
	Labour hold		Swing	6.7

Bilston North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gillian Fellows	1272	44.6	+6.9
	Labour	Trudy Bowen	1180	41.4	-3.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alexandra Lawrence	209	7.3	-1.4
	Green	Edward Clarke	189	6.6	-1.7
Majority			92	3.21
Turnout			2850	31.8	+0.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	5.4

Blakenhall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Rowley	1855	56.7	-6.9
	Conservative	Avtar Sidhu	1218	37.2	+8.0
	Liberal Democrats	Frances Heap	198	6.1	-1.1
Majority			637	19.5
Turnout			3271	37.9	-1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	7.5

Bushbury North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Carl Husted	1723	47.9	+9.9
	Labour	Paula Brookfield	1024	28.5	+1.1
	BNP	Simon Patten	580	16.1	-6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Bem	269	7.5	-4.3
Majority			699	19.4
Turnout			3596	39.0	+1.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	4.4

Bushbury South and Low Hill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Bilson	982	48.0	-7.8
	Conservative	Annette Pugh	751	36.7	+13.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Jenkins	311	15.2	+5.5
Majority			231	11.3
Turnout			2044	22.1	-1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	10.7

East Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Hall	1309	46.6	+25.7
	Labour	Patricia Byrne	975	34.7	-11.7
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Friel	528	18.8	+1.7
Majority			334	11.9
Turnout			2812	31.5	+3.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	18.7

Ettingshall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bishan Dass	1546	58.5	-8.6
	Conservative	Ranjit Kaur	648	24.5	+4.8
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Gray	448	17.0	+3.8
Majority			898	34.0
Turnout			2642	28.2	-2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	6.7

Fallings Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Wilson	1536	49.7	+18.5
	Labour	Geoffrey Foster	1239	40.1	-2.8
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Birch	316	10.2	+2.1
Majority			297	9.6
Turnout			3091	34.0	-1.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	10.6

Graiseley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Reynolds	1603	49.5	-7.2
	Conservative	Paul Armstrong	1227	37.9	+5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Bryan Lewis	409	12.6	+1.6
Majority			376	11.6
Turnout			3239	36.5
	Labour hold		Swing	6.4

Heath Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Findlay	1063	54.1	+29.9
	Labour	Milkinderpal Jaspal	903	45.9	+2.7
Majority			160	8.1
Turnout			1966	25.7	-2.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	13.6

Merry Hill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Pask	2391	67.7	+4.9
	Labour	Navjit Rana	677	19.2	-3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Pringle	466	13.2	-1.7
Majority			1714	48.5
Turnout			3534	37.5	0.0
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing	4.1

Oxley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jennifer Brewer	1591	51.1	+1.9
	Labour	Christine Irvine	1277	41.0	-1.1
	Liberal Democrats	John Steatham	247	7.9	-0.8
Majority			314	10.1
Turnout			3115	34.0	+1.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	1.5

Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Darke	1490	42.0	+6.7
	Labour	Jennifer Cromie	1117	31.5	-0.2
	Conservative	Arun Photay	940	26.5	+1.6
Majority			373	10.5
Turnout			3547	41.7	-2.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Penn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patricia Bradley	2731	66.1	+19.0
	Labour	Ricky Chima	946	22.9	-7.4
	Liberal Democrats	June Hemsley	452	10.9	-11.6
Majority			1785	43.2
Turnout			4129	41.2	-1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	13.2

Spring Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Whitehouse	1987	64.3	+4.9
	Labour	Mangoo Mal	583	18.9	-7.2
	Conservative	Peter Dobb	519	16.8	+5.1
Majority			1404	45.5
Turnout			3089	34.8	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St Peter's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Lawrence	964	44.7	-11.5
	Liberal Democrats	Zahid Shah	811	37.6	+18.0
	Conservative	Catherine Bisbey	381	17.7	+1.4
Majority			153	7.1
Turnout			2156	29.9	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Tettenhall Regis

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Davis	2822	73.9	+3.0
	Labour	Julie Hodgkiss	643	16.8	-1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Fellows	352	9.2	-1.6
Majority			2179	57.1
Turnout			3817	41.3	+0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.2%

Tettenhall Wightwick

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joan Stevenson	3149	76.0	+5.7
	Labour	Jagnandan Ghera	491	11.9	-3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Sinclair	401	9.7	+1.2
	Equal Parenting Alliance	Raymond Barry	101	2.4
Majority			2658	64.2
Turnout			4142	45.4	-0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	5.8

Wednesfield North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hazel Keirle	1699	45.2	+10.5
	Labour	Philip Bateman	1296	34.5	+4.7
	BNP	Dennis Organ	578	15.4	-6.7
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Ross	186	4.9	+4.9
Majority			403	10.7
Turnout			3759	41.5	+0.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	2.9

Wednesfield South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Jevon	1894	61.4	+18.4
	Labour	Helen King	831	26.9	-10.5
	Liberal Democrats	Carole Jenkins	211	6.8	+0.3
	Green	Stuart Hinde	151	4.9	+4.9
Majority			1063	34.4
Turnout			3087	35.5	-1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	14.5

References

1. "Labour suffers Wolverhampton loss". BBC News. 2 May 2008.