2015 Wyre Forest District Council election

Map of the results of the 2015 Wyre Forest District Council election. Conservatives in blue, Labour in red, independents in light grey, Health Concern in pink, UK Independence Party in purple, Liberal in orange and vacant in white.

The 2015 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of Wyre Forest District Council in Worcestershire, England. The whole council was up for election after boundary changes reduced the number of seats by nine. ^[1] The Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. ^[2]

Background

After the last election in 2014 no party had a majority on Wyre Forest District Council. ^[3] The Conservatives were the largest party with 15 councillors, while Labour had 9, Health Concern 7, the UK Independence Party 5, independents 4 and there were 2 Liberals. ^[3] Following the election the Conservatives formed an alliance with the 4 independents and 2 Liberals to run the council with exactly half of the seats. ^[4]

In June 2014 Mike Price defected from the Liberal Party to the Conservatives, meaning that Fran Oborski was left as the only Liberal councillor. ^[5] By the time of the 2015 election the Conservative group had increased to 17 councillors, as independent Julian Phillips joined the party. ^{[6] [7]}

The whole of Wyre Forest District Council was elected in 2015 after boundary changes reduced the number of wards from 17 to 12 and the number of councillors from 42 to 33. ^[2] These changes meant ten wards elected three councillors each, while one ward elected two councillors and one ward elected a single councillor. ^[8] However the election in the Areley Kings and Riverside ward was delayed until June 2015 after the death of one of the candidates. ^[9]

Four councillors stood down and did not seek re-election in 2015, Douglas Godwin, Pauline Hayward, Lynn Hyde and Mike Kelly. ^[10]

Election result

The Conservatives gained a majority on the council after winning 21 of the 30 seats contested on 7 May. ^[2] Both Labour and Health Concern were reduced to two seats on the council, while the UK Independence Party only won one seat. ^[2] Among those to lose seats were the leader of the UK Independence Party on the council, Michael Wrench, and the Health Concern mayor of Stourport, Cliff Brewer. ^[2] Independents won all three seats in Aggborough and Spennells, while Fran Oborski was re-elected as the only Liberal councillor. ^[2]

Opposition candidates were concerned that the reduction in the number of polling stations after the boundary changes had resulted in long queues to vote. ^[2]

After the delayed election in Areley Kings and Riverside resulted in two Conservatives and one Labour councillors being elected, the Conservatives had 23 seats and Labour had 3 seats. ^[11]

Wyre Forest local election result 2015 ^{[6] [11] [12]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	23			+6	69.7	38.1	42,669	+11.9%
	Labour	3			-6	9.1	15.8	17,693	-2.2%
	Independent	3			0	9.1	3.9	4,421	+0.6%
	Health Concern	2			-5	6.1	13.6	15,261	-7.2%
	UKIP	1			-4	3.0	20.7	23,180	-5.1%
	Liberal	1			0	3.0	2.4	2,651	-1.8%
	Green	0			0	0	4.5	4,992	+3.1%
	Liberal Democrats	0			0	0	0.6	642	+0.6%
	TUSC	0			0	0	0.4	469	+0.1%
	Patriotic Socialist Party	0			0	0	0.0	34	+0.0%

The above results include the delayed election in Areley Kings and Riverside.

Ward results

Aggborough and Spennells (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Helen Dyke	1,706
	Independent	Peter Dyke	1,441
	Independent	John Aston	1,274
	Conservative	Tracey Onslow-Fage	1,239
	Conservative	Ian Siddall	1,046
	Conservative	Andrew Tromans	993
	Labour	Brian Rushbrook	704
	UKIP	Graham Gardner	653
	Health Concern	Keith Robertson	617
	UKIP	Mark Humphries	591
	UKIP	Philip Jeanes	505
	Green	Douglas Hine	410
Turnout			11,179	65.1

Bewdley and Rock (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John-Paul Campion	2,194
	Conservative	Stephen Clee	1,953
	Conservative	Jennifer Greener	1,874
	Health Concern	Calne Edginton-White	1,080
	Health Concern	John Beeson	959
	Labour	Mark Flello	904
	UKIP	Maurice Alton	875
	Health Concern	Philip Edmundson	837
	UKIP	Christopher Wood	757
	Labour	Rodney Stanczyszyn	730
	UKIP	Gary Talbot	627
	Green	Phillip Oliver	566
Turnout			13,356	73.7

Blakebrook and Habberley South (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hart	1,232
	Conservative	Ruth Gregory	1,194
	Conservative	Juliet Smith	1,070
	UKIP	David Hollyoak	871
	UKIP	Philip Daniels	833
	Labour	Bernadette Connor	792
	Labour	Paul Connor	790
	UKIP	Caroline Moran	699
	Health Concern	Julie Bennett	669
	Labour	Leroy Wright	612
	Green	Natalie McVey	481
	Green	Victoria Lea	289
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Troth	211
	Green	Martin Layton	206
	TUSC	Kevin Young	68
Turnout			10,017	55.8

Broadwaters (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Health Concern	Mary Rayner	931
	Conservative	John Desmond	923
	UKIP	Steven Harrington	748
	Labour	Mumshad Ahmed	745
	Labour	Steven Walker	722
	Labour	Adrian Sewell	717
	Conservative	Gillian Onslow	689
	Health Concern	Peter Young	655
	UKIP	William Hopkins	637
	UKIP	Paul Wooldridge	602
	Conservative	Greta Smith	561
	Green	David Finch	358
	Liberal	Esther Smart	192
	Patriotic Socialist Party	Brian Ryder	34
Turnout			8,514	53.0

Foley Park and Hoobrook (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nathan Desmond	1,348
	Conservative	Sally Chambers	1,297
	Labour	Samuel Arnold	1,046
	Conservative	Nichola Gale	1,036
	UKIP	Michael Wrench	901
	UKIP	Sophie Edginton	891
	UKIP	Charlotte Stokes	792
	Health Concern	Louise Hinett	770
	Liberal Democrats	Clare Cassidy	431
	Green	Ronald Lee	392
Turnout			8,904	55.0

Frances and Habberley North (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeffrey Baker	2,006
	Conservative	Anne Hingley	1,930
	Labour	Nigel Knowles	1,443
	Conservative	Daniel McCann	1,347
	Health Concern	Caroline Shellie	1,137
	Labour	Barry McFarland	1,113
	UKIP	Anthony Clent	1,039
	UKIP	David White	809
	UKIP	Peter Willoughby	742
	Green	Jonathan Mills	437
	TUSC	Nigel Gilbert	155
	TUSC	Ingra Kirkland	112
Turnout			12,270	64.3

Lickhill ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Little	581	38.2
	Health Concern	Brian Glass	336	22.1
	UKIP	Adrian Dawes	285	18.7
	Labour	Carol Warren	259	17.0
	Green	Nicholas Atkinson	61	4.0
Majority			245	16.1
Turnout			1,522	68.9

Mitton (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sara Fearn	1,517
	Conservative	Christopher Rogers	1,273
	Conservative	Tony Muir	1,170
	Health Concern	Clifford Brewer	1,122
	Health Concern	James Parish	1,118
	UKIP	John Holden	1,022
	Health Concern	Michael Salter	987
	UKIP	Berenice Dawes	952
	UKIP	Wayne Sheldon	840
	Labour	Jillian Hawes	823
	Labour	George Jones	675
	Green	Gilda Davis	350
Turnout			11,849	61.6

Offmore and Comberton (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frances Oborski	1,353
	Conservative	Rosemary Bishop	1,274
	Health Concern	Graham Ballinger	985
	Conservative	Paul Harrison	953
	UKIP	Martin Stooke	949
	Conservative	Michael Price	903
	Labour	Margaret Bradley	881
	UKIP	Kathleen Breese	842
	UKIP	Anthony Whitmore	685
	Labour	John Rocks	661
	Liberal	Rachel Akathiotis	558
	Liberal	Shazu Miah	548
	Green	Brett Caulfield	405
	TUSC	Lawrence Boyle	134
Turnout			11,131	61.5

Wribbenhall and Arley (2 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gordon Yarranton	1,195
	Conservative	Julian Phillips	1,078
	Labour	George Court	581
	Health Concern	Linda Candlin	545
	Health Concern	Elizabeth Davies	525
	UKIP	David Field	525
	Labour	Conan Norton	422
	UKIP	Melanie Mannion	394
	Green	Louise Ryan	215
Turnout			5,480	69.7

Wyre Forest Rural (3 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Marcus Hart	2,517
	Conservative	Ian Hardiman	2,417
	Conservative	Stephen Williams	2,141
	Labour	Christopher Nicholls	1,347
	UKIP	Dan Collins	898
	Health Concern	Derek Killingworth	880
	UKIP	Sarah Hopkins	874
	Green	Katherine Spohrer	756
	UKIP	Craig Leonard	724
Turnout			12,554	74.4

Areley Kings and Riverside delayed election

The election in Areley Kings and Riverside ward took place on 9 June 2015, delayed from 7 May when the rest of the council voted. ^[9] This came after the death of a Health Concern candidate for the ward and former councillor for Areley Kings, Nigel Thomas, on 12 April. ^[9]

Conservatives Ken and Lin Henderson won two of the three seats, while the Labour group leader Jamie Shaw was also elected. ^[11] There was a recount after Lin Henderson took the third seat, three votes ahead of Labour's Vi Higgs. ^[11] Meanwhile, the failure of Health Concern to win seats in the ward meant that they had no councillors for Stourport for the first time in over a decade. ^[11]

Areley Kings and Riverside (3 seats) ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ken Henderson	662
	Labour	Jamie Shaw	633
	Conservative	Lin Henderson	564
	Labour	Vi Higgs	561
	Labour	Rob Lloyd	532
	Conservative	Malcolm Gough	492
	Health Concern	John Thomas	404
	Health Concern	Cliff Brewer	378
	Health Concern	Dixon Sheppard	326
	UKIP	Martin Clapton	213
	UKIP	Ian Jones	209
	UKIP	Trevor Newman	196
	Green	John Davis	66
Turnout			5,236	27.0

By-elections between 2015 and 2016

A by-election took place in Blakebrook and Habberley South on 24 September 2015 after the resignation of Conservative councillor Ruth Gregory due to ill health. ^{[14] [15]}

Blakebrook and Habberley South by-election 24 September 2015 ^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tracey Onslow	595	40.0	+11.5
	UKIP	Michael Wrench	252	16.9	-3.2
	Labour	Bernadette Connor	247	16.6	-1.7
	Green	Natalie McVey	173	11.6	+0.5
	Health Concern	Jim Lawson	167	11.2	-4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Adrian Beavis	54	3.6	-1.3
Majority			343	25.1
Turnout			1,488
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. Bate, Gema (22 April 2015). "Record numbers register for postal vote". The Shuttle . Retrieved 8 May 2015.
2. "Tories take total control of Wyre Forest Council". The Shuttle . 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
3. "Results Elections 2014". The Times . NewsBank. 24 May 2014. pp. 88–89.
4. Tomaney, William (10 June 2014). "Wyre Forest Tories form ruling political alliance with Liberal and Independent group". The Shuttle . NewsBank.
5. Tomaney, William (17 June 2014). "Councillor Mike Price in shock switch from Liberals to Conservative party". Worcester News . Retrieved 9 May 2015.
6. "Your District Councillor". Wyre Forest District Council. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
7. "Councillor Information". Wyre Forest District Council. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
8. "New boundaries and less councillors for Wyre Forest District Council". The Shuttle . 14 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
9. Farrington, Dayna (1 May 2015). "Areley Kings & Riverside election date announced". The Shuttle . Retrieved 9 May 2015.
10. Bate, Gema (24 April 2015). "Tributes paid to retiring councillors". The Shuttle . Retrieved 9 May 2015.
11. "Wyre Forest Tories tighten grip on council". Evesham Journal. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
12. "Election Results". Wyre Forest District Council. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
13. "Areley Kings & Riverside - Election held 9th June 2015". Wyre Forest District Council. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
14. "Illness forces Kidderminster councillor to stand down". The Shuttle . 10 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
15. Farrington, Dayna (14 August 2015). "Blakebrook & Habberley South election date announced". The Shuttle . Retrieved 22 August 2015.
16. "Local Elections Archive Project — Blakebrook and Habberley South Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2022.