Wokingham District Council election, 2002

The 2002 Wokingham District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Wokingham Unitary Council in Berkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. ^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 30
• Liberal Democrat 22
• Labour 1
• Independent 1 ^[2]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives win a majority on the council, after having had the same number of seats as the Liberal Democrats for the previous 2 elections. ^[3] The Conservatives won 14 of the 20 seats which were up for election, including one uncontested seat in Wokingham Without. ^[4] They made 4 gains from the Liberal Democrats in the wards of Coronation, Finchampstead North and Little Hungerford to finish the election with 30 seats as compared to 22 for the Liberal Democrats. ^[3] Meanwhile, Labour won their first seat on the council since 1994 after making a gain in Bulmershe ward from the Liberal Democrats. ^[3] Overall turnout was 32.8%. ^[4]

The Conservatives said they were delighted with the results which they put down to their campaign on issues including green fields, crime and transport, and to the Liberal Democrats being out of touch with local residents. ^{[3] [4]} They said that now they had control of the council they would take action on crime and traffic congestion and review the number of new houses planned. ^[3] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy described the results in Wokingham as predictable and a "slight set-back", which he put down to them defending seats from when the Conservatives were performing much less strongly nationally. ^[3]

Wokingham Local Election Result 2002 ^{[2] [5]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	14	4	0	+4	73.7	49.1	16,030	+6.6%
	Liberal Democrat	4	0	5	-5	21.1	38.4	12,544	-1.5%
	Labour	1	1	0	+1	5.3	8.9	2,921	-8.2%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	2.6	862	+2.6%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.9	306	+0.8%

One Conservative candidate was unopposed in the election. ^[5]

Ward results

Arborfield ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gary Cowan	503	85.8	+20.3
	Liberal Democrat	John Eastwell	83	14.2	-20.3
Majority			420	71.6	+40.6
Turnout			586	37.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bulmershe ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Nelson Bland	503	42.0	+6.1
	Liberal Democrat	Edward Preston	467	38.9	+2.2
	Conservative	William Henderson	168	14.0	-13.4
	UKIP	Jeremy Allison	61	5.1	+5.1
Majority			36	3.1
Turnout			1,199	38.9	-25.1
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Coronation (2) ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Ashman	1,102
	Conservative	Paul Swaddle	1,041
	Liberal Democrat	David Glover	863
	Liberal Democrat	Thomas McCann	811
	UKIP	Amy Thornton	230
	Labour	Ian Hills	218
Turnout			4,265	36.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Emmbrook ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Raymond Eke	966	51.7	+10.2
	Liberal Democrat	Josephine Shockley	606	32.4	-14.5
	UKIP	Ann Davis	163	8.7	+8.7
	Labour	John Woodward	133	7.1	-4.6
Majority			360	19.3
Turnout			1,868	39.5	-28.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Evendons ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Denis Morgan	1,349	49.9	+3.9
	Liberal Democrat	John Griffin	1,060	39.2	-2.9
	Labour	Paul French	159	5.9	-6.0
	UKIP	Franklin Carstairs	135	5.0	+5.0
Majority			289	10.7	+6.8
Turnout			2,703	31.6	-34.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Finchampstead North ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Stanton	1,194	57.5	+4.7
	Liberal Democrat	Roland Cundy	884	42.5	-4.7
Majority			310	15.0	+9.4
Turnout			2,078	46.1	-22.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Finchampstead South ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gerald Cockroft	1,012	71.5	+9.8
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Bristow	403	28.5	-9.8
Majority			609	43.0	+19.6
Turnout			1,415	29.9	+0.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Little Hungerford ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Edmunds	1,417	50.8	+12.2
	Liberal Democrat	Caroline Smith	1,106	39.6	-4.3
	Labour	Jacqueline Rupert	268	9.6	-7.9
Majority			311	11.2
Turnout			2,791	33.9	-29.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Loddon ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Denis Thair	710	47.9	+6.0
	Conservative	Joanna Vosser	478	32.2	-1.6
	Labour	Janice Kite	224	15.1	-9.2
	UKIP	Noel Squire	71	4.8	+4.8
Majority			232	15.7	+7.6
Turnout			1,483	23.0	-37.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Norreys ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Marian Robertson	1,241	59.0	+8.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Gray	392	18.6	-8.8
	Labour	Paul Sharples	372	17.7	-4.0
	UKIP	Antony Whitfield	97	4.6	+4.6
Majority			849	40.4	+16.9
Turnout			2,102	33.6	-31.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Redhatch ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Spratling	1,607	53.2	+7.8
	Conservative	Norman Jorgensen	1,111	36.8	+1.4
	Labour	Nirmala Harlow	305	10.1	-4.2
Majority			496	16.4	+6.4
Turnout			3,023	24.8	-34.6
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Remenham & Wargrave ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Haacke	973	69.0	-5.6
	Liberal Democrat	Lindsay Ferris	437	31.0	+13.6
Majority			536	38.0	-19.2
Turnout			1,410	41.8	+9.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shinfield ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Anthony Pollock	1,075	63.9	+11.5
	Liberal Democrat	Rebecca Rowland	351	20.9	-5.0
	Labour	Owen Waite	256	15.2	-6.6
Majority			724	43.0	+12.5
Turnout			1,682	28.0	-32.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

South Lake ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Rowland	596	53.0	+1.8
	Conservative	William Soane	223	19.8	-5.2
	Labour	David Kay	201	17.9	-5.9
	UKIP	Peter Williams	105	9.3	+9.3
Majority			373	33.2	+7.0
Turnout			1,125	24.2	-34.8
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Swallowfield ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Diana Beatty	419	78.8	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Harper	113	21.2	+10.7
Majority			306	57.6	-7.7
Turnout			532	36.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Twyford & Ruscombe ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Deirdre Tomlin	1,415	61.6	+4.4
	Conservative	John Jarvis	707	30.8	-1.3
	Labour	Roy Mantel	175	7.6	-3.1
Majority			708	30.8	+5.7
Turnout			2,297	39.7	-27.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Winnersh ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Ball	1,051	50.0	+0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Morag Ward	640	30.4	-9.1
	Independent	Robert Turner	306	14.5	+14.5
	Labour	Robert Woodrow	107	5.1	-6.2
Majority			411	19.6	+9.9
Turnout			2,104	34.8	-27.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wokingham Without ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Angus Ross	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Wokingham". BBC News Online . Retrieved 10 January 2010. 
2. "Election results; Local Elections". The Times. 3 May 2002. p. 6. 
3. "Joy for Tories in Wokingham". Reading Evening Post . 3 May 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2010. 
4. "Lib Dem blues as Tories take control". getwokingham. 8 May 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2010. 
5. "Local election results". Wokingham Borough Council. Retrieved 10 January 2010.