Cannock Chase District Council election, 2012

Elections to the Cannock Chase District Council took place on 3 May 2012, ^[1] in line with other local elections in the United Kingdom. A total of 14 councillors were elected from 13 wards as a third of the council was up for election. This also included a by-election in the Hagley ward which filled a vacancy that had arisen since the previous election. There were no elections held in the Hednesford Green Heath or Rawnsley wards as those wards elect only two councillors in the other two years of the election cycle.

The Labour Party gained the council from no overall control and became the first party to win an outright majority since the election of 2002. Compared with the results of 2008 when these seats were last up for election, Labour almost doubled their vote share and gained many seats they had previously lost to the Conservatives along with seats in Rugeley that had always previously been held by the Liberal Democrats.

Results

Cannock Chase District Council election, 2012

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	11	8	0	+8	78.6	53.6	9,202	+23.4
	Conservative	3	1	5	−4	21.4	31.3	5,376	−13.0
	Liberal Democrat	0	0	4	−4	0.0	8.5	1,457	−11.9
	Liberal	0	0	0	±0	0.0	3.7	640	N/A
	Independent	0	0	0	±0	0.0	2.0	335	+0.9
	English Democrat	0	0	0	±0	0.0	1.0	167	N/A

Council Composition

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

↓

16	13	9	2	1
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	Liberal	Vacant

After the election, the composition of the council was:

↓

24	12	5
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem

Ward results

Vote share changes are based on the results achieved by parties in 2008 when these seats were last contested.

Brereton and Ravenhill

Brereton and Ravenhill (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Alan Dudson	611	45.4	+23.2
	Liberal Democrat	Ray Easton	547	40.6	−15.0
	Conservative	Vic Hardcastle	189	14.0	−8.2
Majority			64	4.8
Turnout			1,347	26.7
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	+19.1

Cannock East

Cannock East (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Christine Mitchell	982	74.2	+23.8
	Conservative	Susan Snape	341	25.8	−12.7
Majority			641	48.4	+36.5
Turnout			1,323	24.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+18.3

Cannock North

Cannock North (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Gordon Alcott	992	80.9	+20.9
	Conservative	Phil Jones	234	19.1	N/A
Majority			758	61.8
Turnout			1,226	23.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Cannock South

Cannock South (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Maureen Freeman	882	66.6	+22.5
	Conservative	Steve Mate	349	26.3	−18.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Green	94	7.1	−4.2
Majority			533	40.3
Turnout			1,393	22.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+20.5

Cannock West

Cannock West (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Chris Anslow	1,002	58.6	−16.1
	Labour	Paul Witton	709	41.4	+16.1
Majority			293	17.2	−32.2
Turnout			1,711	30.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−16.1

Etching Hill and the Heath

Etching Hill and the Heath (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Justin Johnson	426	35.3	−7.5
	Labour	Charlotte Stubbs	379	31.4	+19.2
	Liberal Democrat	Gary Grant	310	25.7	−19.3
	Liberal	Diane Bennett ^	93	7.7	N/A
Majority			47	3.9
Turnout			1,208	22.9
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	−13.4

^ Diane Bennett was the sitting councillor for the Cannock West ward and previously defected from the Conservatives to the Liberal Party.

Hagley

There were two seats up for election in the Hagley ward due to the resignation of the sitting Labour councillor with the second placed candidate filling the remainder of his term.

Hagley (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andy Lovell	387	24.7	+10.1
	Labour	Brian Bottomer	356	22.7	+10.1
	Liberal	Tony Williams ^	237	15.1	N/A
	Liberal	Neil Stanley	236	15.1	N/A
	Conservative	Richard Alexander	105	6.7	−5.1
	Conservative	Paul Blake	95	6.1	−5.0
	Liberal Democrat	Pat Ansell	79	5.0	−20.2
	Liberal Democrat	Les Grindey	72	4.6	−20.1
Majority			150	9.6
Turnout			1,567	24.7
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

^ The sitting councillor, Tony Williams, had previously defected from the Liberal Democrats to the Liberal Party.

Ward Summary
Party		Votes	% Votes	±%	Seats	Change
	Labour	743	47.4	+20.2	2	+1
	Liberal	473	30.2	N/A	0
	Conservative	200	12.8	+10.1	0
	Liberal Democrat	151	9.6	−40.3	0	−1
Total Votes Cast		1,567

Hawks Green

Hawks Green (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Ann Bernard	410	40.0	−29.3
	Labour	John Preece	376	36.7	+16.7
	English Democrat	Colin Marklew	167	16.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Sarah Giles	71	6.9	N/A
Majority			34	3.3	−46.0
Turnout			1,024	18.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−23.0

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Diane Todd	707	61.4	+35.8
	Conservative	Alan Dean	445	38.6	−0.9
Majority			262	22.8
Turnout			1,152	23.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+18.4

Hednesford North

Hednesford North (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Alan Pearson	924	62.1	+24.5
	Conservative	Graham Burnett	392	26.4	−14.2
	Independent	Ron Turville	171	11.5	N/A
Majority			532	35.7
Turnout			1,487	27.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+19.4

Hednesford South

Hednesford South (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Brian Gamble	586	52.3	+22.5
	Conservative	John Burnett	371	33.1	−23.0
	Independent	Ann Turville	164	14.6	N/A
Majority			215	19.2
Turnout			1,121	26.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+22.8

Norton Canes

Norton Canes (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Zaphne Stretton	881	55.7	+26.0
	Conservative	John Beddows	633	40.0	−8.3
	Liberal Democrat	Ken Ansell	69	4.4	N/A
Majority			248	15.7
Turnout			1,583	27.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+17.2

Western Springs

Western Springs (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Carl Bennett	430	39.0	+21.0
	Conservative	Jim Bowater	384	34.8	−4.2
	Liberal Democrat	Pat Williams	215	19.5	−23.5
	Liberal	Becky Williams	74	6.7	N/A
Majority			46	4.2
Turnout			1,103	21.6
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	+22.3

References

1. Cannock Chase District Council election, 2012 results, Cannock Chase District Council website