2023 Gravesham Borough Council election

2023 Gravesham Borough Council election

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All 39 seats to Gravesham Borough Council 20 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Burden Jordan Meade Party Labour Conservative Independent Leader's seat Rosherville Higham & Shorne Last election 24 seats, 40.3% 18 seats, 41.1% 2 seats, 5.0% Seats before 22 21 1 Seats after 22 17 0 Seat change 2 1 2 Percentage 47% 48% 0% Swing 7% 7% 5%
Leader before election John Burden Labour No overall control Leader after election John Burden Labour

The 2023 Gravesham Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Gravesham Borough Council in Kent, England. ^[1] This was on the same day as other local elections in England. New ward boundaries came into force for this election, reducing the number of councillors from 44 to 39. ^[2] Cllr Gurdip Bungar was elected as Mayor of Gravesham for the year 2023-2024. ^[3]

Summary

Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, with Labour holding exactly half the seats. The election saw Labour regain an outright majority, taking 22 of the 39 seats. ^{[4] [5]}

Election result

2023 Gravesham Borough Council election [6]
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	39	22	0	2	2	56.4%	47%		+6.7
	Conservative	39	17	2	3	1	43.6%	48%		+6.9
	Liberal Democrats	6	0	0	0		-	3%		-0.4
	Green	5	0	0	0		-	2%		+0.1
	Reform UK	3	0	0	0		-	<1%		N/A
	Independent	0	0	0	2	2	-	-		-5.0

Ward results

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Gravesham Borough Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023. ^[7] The results for each ward were as follows: ^[8]

Chalk

Chalk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Hills*	495	70.6	−6.1
	Labour	Daniel Baber	206	29.4	+6.7
Majority			289	41.2
Turnout			701	33.10
	Conservative win (new seat)

Coldharbour and Perry Street

Coldharbour & Perry Street (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shane Mochrie-Cox*	972	62.4	+5.9
	Labour	Christina Rolles*	957	61.4	+12.5
	Labour	Narinder-Jit Thandi*	953	61.2
	Conservative	Jeremy Black	485	31.1
	Conservative	Brenda Harding	481	30.9
	Conservative	George White	451	28.9
Majority
Turnout			1,558	24.21
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Denton

Denton (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Deborah Croxton	524	67.5
	Labour	Lee Croxton*	503	64.8
	Conservative	Ian Dibben	240	30.9
	Conservative	Stephen King	226	29.1
Majority
Turnout			776	21.62
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Higham and Shorne

Higham & Shorne (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Pearton*	1,114	63.5
	Conservative	Helen Ashenden*	1,112	63.4
	Conservative	Jordan Meade*	1,075	61.3
	Labour	Sim Bains	447	25.5
	Labour	Yasmin Chotai de Lima	427	24.3
	Labour	Balbir Sangha	372	21.2
	Green	Janet Prior	340	19.4
Majority
Turnout			1,755	33.72
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Istead Rise, Cobham and Luddesdown

Istead Rise, Cobham & Luddesdown (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dakota Dibben*	1,142	74.3	+14.2
	Conservative	Samir Jassal*	897	58.4	+2.5
	Labour	Lewis Atkinson	385	25.1
	Labour	Mary Williams	368	24.0
Majority
Turnout			1,536	38.64
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Meopham North

Meopham North (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Harding*	629	58.5	+3.5
	Conservative	Frank Wardle*	572	53.2	+1.3
	Labour	Doug Christie	272	25.3
	Liberal Democrats	John Death	253	23.5
	Labour	Ethan Webb	158	14.7
	Reform UK	Garry Sturley	117	10.9
Majority
Turnout			1,076	40.20
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Meopham South and Vigo

Meopham South & Vigo (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mohammed Ejaz Aslam*	696	51.8
	Conservative	Gurjit Bains	641	47.7
	Liberal Democrats	Robin Banks	448	33.4
	Liberal Democrats	Dylan Black	339	25.2
	Labour	Chloe Saygili	168	12.5
	Labour	Kevin Divall	156	11.6
	Green	Diana Scott	129	9.6
Majority
Turnout			1,343	32.85
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Northfleet and Springhead

Northfleet & Springhead (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jo Hart	705	52.6
	Labour	Peter Scollard*	674	50.3
	Labour	Alison Williams	659	49.2
	Conservative	Conrad Broadley	590	44.0
	Conservative	Bobby Briah	576	43.0
	Conservative	Jacob Hatch	517	38.6
Majority
Turnout			1,340	23.95
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Painters Ash

Painters Ash (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Emma Elliott*	761	51.1	+7.7
	Conservative	Alan Ridgers	703	47.2	+4.4
	Labour	Rob Halpin	688	46.2	+9.7
	Labour	Gurvinder Saluja	669	44.9
Majority
Turnout			1,490	35.26
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Pelham

Pelham (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Emma Morley	800	63.8
	Labour	Baljit Hayre*	783	62.5
	Conservative	Heather Frost	290	23.1
	Conservative	Brenda Pritchard	269	21.5
	Green	Marc Prior	191	15.2
Majority
Turnout			1,253	30.04
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Riverview Park

Riverview Park (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Derek Ashenden*	760	60.5
	Conservative	Aaron Elliott*	758	60.3
	Labour	Sue Fletcher	389	30.9
	Labour	Ben Archell	379	30.2
	Green	Martin Wilson	127	10.1
Majority
Turnout			1,257	31.10
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Rosherville

Rosherville (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Burden	658	76.7
	Labour	Lauren Sullivan*	634	73.9
	Conservative	Jo McTavish	175	20.4
	Conservative	Anthony Pritchard	167	19.5
Majority
Turnout			858	25.41
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Singlewell

Singlewell (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Daniel King	515	54.0
	Labour	Rajinder Atwal	500	52.5
	Conservative	Diane Morton*	398	41.8
	Conservative	Stefan Dodd	389	40.8
Majority
Turnout			953	22.03
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Town

Town (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gurdip Bungar*	868	58.6
	Labour	Lyn Milner*	841	56.7
	Labour	Jenny Wallace*	821	55.4
	Conservative	Thomas O'Keeffe	460	31.0
	Conservative	Iris Smith	436	29.4
	Conservative	Muqeem Khan	402	27.1
	Reform UK	Matthew Fraser Moat	123	8.3
	Reform UK	Daniel Dabin	80	5.4
Majority
Turnout			1,482	27.30
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Westcourt

Westcourt (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karina O'Malley	527	58.7
	Labour	Lenny Rolles	476	53.0
	Conservative	Hayley Hatch	359	40.0
	Conservative	Keima Allen	347	38.6
Majority
Turnout			898	21.64
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Whitehill and Windmill Hill

Whitehill & Windmill Hill (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gavin Larkins	1,061	50.4
	Labour	Tony Rana*	1,052	50.0
	Labour	Ektaveen Thandi	1,000	47.5
	Conservative	Leslie Hoskins*	991	47.1
	Conservative	Michael Wenban	974	46.3
	Conservative	Partha Panda	916	43.5
Majority
Turnout			2,104	32.74
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Woodlands

Woodlands (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Beattie	894	48.5
	Conservative	Alan Metcalf	874	47.4
	Conservative	Benjamin Sizer	840	45.6
	Labour	Tobias Cook	719	39.0
	Labour	Brian Francis	693	37.6
	Labour	Robert Duddridge	675	36.6
	Green	Amarbeer Gill	224	12.2
	Liberal Democrats	Ankit Mathur	125	6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Sharan Virk	117	6.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ukonu Obasi	113	6.1
Majority
Turnout			1,842	31.19
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

By-elections

Rosherville

Rosherville by-election: 1 May 2025

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kimberley Glendenning	375	43.7	–35.3
	Reform UK	John English	257	30.0	N/A
	Conservative	Thomas O'Keeffe	133	15.5	–5.5
	Green	James Eagle	93	10.8	N/A
Majority			118	13.7	N/A
Turnout			858
	Labour hold

References

1. "Notice of Election". Gravesham Borough Council. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
2. "The Gravesham (Electoral Changes) Order 2022", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2022/1176, retrieved 26 September 2023
3. Mistry, Rahul. "The Mayor". Gravesham Borough Council. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
4. Langridge, Alex (5 May 2023). "Local Elections 2023: Labour Party retain control of Gravesham Borough Council". Kent Online. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
5. "Local Elections 2023: Results in Sussex, Kent and Essex". ITV News. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
6. "Election results by party, 4 May 2023". Gravesham Borough Council. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
7. "Statement of Persons Nominated". Gravesham Borough Council. 5 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
8. "Election results by wards, 4 May 2023". Gravesham Borough Council. Retrieved 26 September 2023.