The 2006 Worthing Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Worthing Borough Council in West Sussex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council. [1]
Worthing is a large seaside town in England, and district with borough status in West Sussex. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, 10 miles (16 km) west of Brighton, and 18 miles (29 km) east of the county town of Chichester. With an estimated population of 104,600 and an area of 12.5 square miles (32.37 km2) the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, which makes it part of the 15th most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Since 2010 northern parts of the borough, including the Worthing Downland Estate, have formed part of the South Downs National Park.
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering East Sussex to the east, Hampshire to the west and Surrey to the north, and to the south the English Channel.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
Contents
The results saw the Conservatives suffer a net loss of three seats to the Liberal Democrats although they remained in control of the council. [2] The Liberal Democrats gained a seat in Gaisford and Northbrook wards and both seats in Durrington, with the winner in Northbrook, Diane Jones, becoming the youngest female councillor in Worthing at the age of 22. [3] However the Conservatives narrowly gained a seat back in Central ward. [3] After the results were declared an investigation was ordered when 452 ballots were spoilt in just the one ward of Offington as compared to an average of 30 in other wards. [3]
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal, centrist political party in the United Kingdom. They presently have 11 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 96 members of the House of Lords, and one member of the European Parliament. They also have five Members of the Scottish Parliament and a member each in the Welsh Assembly and London Assembly. The party reached the height of its influence in the early 2010s, forming a junior partner in a coalition government from 2010 to 2015. It is presently led by Vince Cable.
A Councillor is a member of a local government council.
In voting, a ballot is considered spoilt, spoiled, void, null, informal, invalid or stray if a law declares or an election authority determines that it is invalid and thus not included in the vote count. This may occur accidentally or deliberately. The total number of spoilt votes in a United States election has been called the residual vote. In Australia, such votes are generally referred to as informal votes, and in Canada they are referred to as rejected votes.
After the election, the composition of the council was:
- Conservative — 23
- Liberal Democrat — 14 [4]
