Craven District Council election, 2012

Map of the results of the 2012 Craven District Council election. Conservatives in blue, independents in light grey and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2012.

The 2012 Craven District Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, 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 as follows:

• Conservative 16
• Independent 10
• Liberal Democrats 4 ^[2]

Background

Before the election the Conservatives controlled the council with 30 seats, compared to 9 independents and 3 Liberal Democrats. ^[3] The Conservative leader of the council, Chris Knowles-Fitton, was among the councillors to defend their seats, standing in Barden Fell ward, while in Ingleton and Clapham, the sitting independent councillor David Ireton stood at the election as a Conservative. ^[3] Meanwhile, the Conservative councillor for Hellifield and Long Preston for the past 13 years, Helen Firth, resigned from the council in March 2012 to leave that seat vacant before the election. ^[3]

Election result

The number of Conservative councillors was reduced by 2 to 16, but they retained a majority of 2 seats over the 10 independents and 4 Liberal Democrats. ^[4]

Independents gained 2 seats from the Conservatives after John Kerwin-Davy took Skipton North from the Conservatives, while Chris Moorby won by 34 votes the seat in Hellifeild and Long Preston vacated by Conservative Helen Firth. ^{[3] [5]} However the Conservatives picked up a seat in Ingleton and Clapham as David Ireton won the seat as a Conservative, after previously being an independent councillor for the same seat. ^{[3] [6]} Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats also gained up a seat from the Conservatives in Skipton East, where Eric Jaquin took the seat from Pam Heseltine. ^[7]

Craven local election result 2012 ^{[2] [6]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	7	1	3	-2	58.3	50.1	5,135	+14.5%
	Independent	3	2	1	+1	25.0	14.2	1,457	-20.9%
	Liberal Democrat	2	1	0	+1	16.7	17.1	1,748	+6.8%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	16.4	1,681	-0.8%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	2.3	231	+0.5%

Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Patricia Fairbank	610	63.0	+20.7
	Labour	Paul Routledge	359	37.0	+26.6
Majority			251	25.9
Turnout			969	33.4	-41.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Barden Fell ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Knowles-Fitton	377	72.4	-10.9
	Liberal Democrat	Clive Bowers	144	27.6	+10.9
Majority			233	44.7	-22.0
Turnout			521	39.8	-9.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cowling ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Adrian Green	311	60.4	-9.1
	Labour	Andrew Rankine	204	39.6	+9.1
Majority			107	20.8	-18.3
Turnout			515	28.9	-10.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grassington ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Foster	390	73.7	-3.4
	Liberal Democrat	Edward Walker	139	26.3	+3.4
Majority			251	47.4	-6.8
Turnout			529	39.9	-12.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hellifield and Long Preston ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Robert Moorby	489	51.8	+51.8
	Conservative	Richard Thwaite	455	48.2	-11.0
Majority			34	3.6
Turnout			944	53.5	-17.4
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Ingleton and Clapham ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Ireton	807	74.7	+16.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Christie	273	25.3	-7.4
Majority			534	49.4	+23.5
Turnout			1,080	35.2	-37.1
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Settle and Ribblebanks ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Donald Whaites	696	66.5	+24.2
	Labour	Christopher Baker	350	33.5	+33.5
Majority			346	33.1	+28.4
Turnout			1,046	35.6	-36.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skipton East ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Eric Jaquin	480	46.7	+15.9
	Conservative	Pamela Heseltine	289	28.1	-16.7
	Labour	Christine Rose	259	25.2	+0.7
Majority			191	18.6
Turnout			1,028	37.3	-10.4
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Skipton North ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	John Kerwin-Davey	358	30.3	+5.1
	Conservative	Paul Whitaker	296	25.0	-9.8
	Green	Claire Nash	231	19.5	+5.2
	Liberal Democrat	Roland Wohlrapp	185	15.7	+2.1
	Labour	James Black	112	9.5	-2.6
Majority			62	5.2
Turnout			1,182	42.0	-11.1
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Skipton South ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Andrew Solloway	382	54.7	-2.1
	Labour	Duncan Hall	179	25.6	+4.1
	Conservative	Nathan Harrison	83	11.9	-2.6
	Liberal Democrat	Maureen Greene	54	7.7	+0.6
Majority			203	29.1	-6.2
Turnout			698	24.7	-8.2
	Independent hold		Swing

Skipton West ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Paul English	379	36.5	+9.4
	Independent	Bernard Clarke	228	22.0	+4.3
	Labour	Peter Madeley	218	21.0	-0.8
	Conservative	Kelly Hayes-Head	213	20.5	-6.0
Majority			151	14.5	+13.9
Turnout			1,038	34.6	-4.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Upper Wharfedale ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Roberts	608	86.6	+13.0
	Liberal Democrat	Hazel Bulcock	94	13.4	-13.0
Majority			514	73.2	+25.9
Turnout			702	45.9	-16.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Vote 2012". BBC News Online. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2015. 
2. "Non-Metro". The Guardian . NewsBank. 5 May 2012. ISSN   0261-3077. 
3. "Candidates battle it out in Craven District Council elections". Craven Herald & Pioneer . NewsBank. 13 April 2012. ISSN   0961-1908. 
4. "Tories stay in control in Harrogate". The Press . NewsBank. 4 May 2012. 
5. "Tories hang onto power despite losing seats to Lib Dems and Independent". The Yorkshire Post . NewsBank. ISSN   0963-1496. 
6. "Declaration of result of poll". Craven District Council. Retrieved 18 March 2015. 
7. "Tories lose two seats in Skipton". Craven Herald & Pioneer . NewsBank. 4 May 2012. ISSN   0961-1908.