Cannock Chase District Council election, 2014

Elections to the Cannock Chase District Council took place on 22 May 2014, ^[1] in line with other local elections in the United Kingdom which were held on the same day as the European Parliament elections. A total of 13 councillors were elected from 13 wards as a third of the council was up for election. There were no elections held in the Hagley or Hednesford South wards as those wards elect only two councillors in the other two years of the election cycle.

The Labour Party held control of the council and increased its majority by one compared with the previous election when it had gained the council from no overall control. Notably, UKIP came a close second and gained 4 seats, despite not previously contesting an election in the district. Compared with the results of 2010 when these seats were last up for election, Labour's vote share slightly decreased but they gained one seat from the Conservatives whilst UKIP gained three seats from the Conservatives and one from the Liberal Democrats. This left the Conservatives and Lib Dems, who had previously won 8 seats between them, with just one seat each.

Results

Cannock Chase District Council election, 2014

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	6	1	0	+1	46.1	35.0	7,024	−1.1
	UKIP	4	4	0	+4	30.8	33.3	6,691	N/A
	Conservative	1	0	4	−4	7.7	23.8	4,777	−16.1
	Liberal Democrat	1	0	2	−2	7.7	5.6	1,120	−17.0
	Independent	1	1	0	+1	7.7	2.3	466	N/A

Council Composition

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

↓

24	9	3	3	2
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	UKIP	Ind

After the election, the composition of the council was:

↓

25	6	6	3	1
Labour	Conservative	UKIP	Lib Dem	Ind

Ward results

Vote share changes are based on the results achieved by parties in 2010 when these seats were last contested.

Brereton and Ravenhill

Brereton and Ravenhill (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Gerald Molineux	609	39.5	−5.0
	Labour	Michelle Dudson	482	31.3	+0.8
	UKIP	Linda Whitehouse ^	451	29.2	N/A
Majority			127	8.2
Turnout			1,542	30.3
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	−2.9

^ Linda Whitehouse was the sitting councillor for the Rawnsley ward and previously defected from the Conservatives to UKIP.

Cannock East

Cannock East (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Muriel Davies	726	46.0	−8.6
	UKIP	Dave Morris	584	37.0	N/A
	Conservative	Mike Hoare	268	17.0	−28.4
Majority			142	9.0
Turnout			1,578	29.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−22.8

Cannock North

Cannock North (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Frank Allen	791	50.9	−5.8
	UKIP	Amanda Capewell	563	36.2	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Jones	200	12.9	−12.9
Majority			228	14.7
Turnout			1,554	27.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−21.0

Cannock South

Cannock South (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Paul Witton	657	42.2	+0.4
	UKIP	Kevin Whittaker	551	35.4	N/A
	Conservative	John Beddows	350	22.5	−15.7
Majority			106	6.8
Turnout			1,558	26.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−17.9

Cannock West

Cannock West (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Hyra Sutton	909	45.3	−19.1
	UKIP	Richard Pursehouse	586	29.2	N/A
	Labour	Craig Woods	512	25.5	−10.1
Majority			323	16.1
Turnout			2,007	35.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−24.2

Etching Hill and the Heath

Etching Hill and the Heath (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	UKIP	Stephanie Whitehouse	494	33.0	N/A
	Conservative	John Rowley	473	31.6	−6.1
	Labour	Dee Barfield	333	22.2	−1.3
	Liberal Democrat	Pat Ansell	199	13.3	−25.4
Majority			21	1.4
Turnout			1,499	28.4
	UKIP gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	−29.2

Hawks Green

Hawks Green (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	UKIP	Martin Buttery	634	43.0	N/A
	Conservative	Mike Sutherland	465	31.6	−15.9
	Labour	Tony Johnson	374	25.4	+0.4
Majority			169	11.4
Turnout			1,473	26.3
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	−29.5

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	UKIP	Alan Dean	621	42.1	N/A
	Labour	Linda Tait	494	33.5	−2.2
	Conservative	Helen Borton	310	21.0	−16.1
Majority			127	8.6
Turnout			1,476	29.7
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	−29.1

Hednesford Green Heath

Hednesford Green Heath (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Adamson	524	43.0	+7.1
	UKIP	Mick Sage	335	27.5	N/A
	Conservative	Graham Burnett	283	23.2	−12.6
	Independent	Ron Turville	77	6.3	N/A
Majority			189	15.5
Turnout			1,219	31.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.2

Hednesford North

Hednesford North (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sheila Cartwright	653	40.5	+1.7
	UKIP	John Pugh	562	34.9	N/A
	Conservative	John Burnett	397	24.6	−7.6
Majority			91	5.6
Turnout			1,612	30.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−16.6

Norton Canes

Norton Canes (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Preece	710	41.1	+2.0
	UKIP	Martin Robinson	554	32.0	N/A
	Conservative	Peter Gilbert	440	25.4	−19.9
	Liberal Democrat	Ken Ansell	25	1.4	−14.2
Majority			156	9.1
Turnout			1,729	30.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.0

Rawnsley

Rawnsley (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	UKIP	Bill Hardman	447	35.7	N/A
	Labour	Sue Holliday	419	33.5	+2.4
	Conservative	Colin Lea	336	26.9	−14.9
	Liberal Democrat	Dameon Johnson	49	3.9	−23.2
Majority			28	2.2
Turnout			1,251	32.6
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.0

Western Springs

Western Springs (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Mick Grocott ^	389	24.6	N/A
	Labour	Chris Martin	349	22.1	−1.3
	Conservative	Jim Bowater	346	21.9	−11.8
	UKIP	Shane Harrison	309	19.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Ray Easton	187	11.8	−31.1
Majority			40	2.5
Turnout			1,580	28.6
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	−27.9

^ Mike Grocott was re-elected as the councillor for the Western Springs ward after he had previously left the Liberal Democrats to become an Independent.

References

1. Cannock Chase District Council election, 2014 results, Cannock Chase District Council website