Cannock Chase District Council election, 2016

Elections to Cannock Chase District Council took place on 5 May 2016. This election was held on the same day as other local elections as well as Police and Crime Commissioner elections. A total of 13 councillors were elected from all but two of the council's wards as a third of the council was up for election.

The Labour Party held control of the council with a slightly reduced majority of one compared with their tally following the previous election. Labour lost one seat of their 2012 election total but held all of the other seats they were defending, albeit many with reduced majorities.

The Conservative Party won the highest number of seats and votes at the previous election but did not make any net gains on their 2012 result. They did, however, regain a seat in Hawks Green which was held by a former Conservative councillor who had defected to UKIP. This left the Conservatives with 13 seats on the council, confirming their status as the official opposition party. UKIP failed to match their 2014 success and did not win any seats at this election.

The Liberal Democrats only fielded two candidates, both in former areas of strength for them in Rugeley. Although one of these wards went to a recount, they did not manage to regain any of the losses they suffered in 2012. Meanwhile, the Green Party once again stood candidates in every ward and made a surprise gain in the Hednesford South ward, ousting a sitting Labour councillor and giving them their first representation on Cannock Chase District Council. Unlike previous years, there are no independent candidates.

Results

Cannock Chase District Council election, 2016
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	9	0	1	1	69.2	36.9	7,018	16.7
	Conservative	3	0	0	0	23.1	27.5	5,219	3.8
	Green	1	1	0	1	7.7	6.9	1,321	N/A
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0.0	25.4	4,821	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	0	0	0	0	0.0	3.3	619	5.2

Council Composition

The composition of the council before the election can be found in the following table:

Party		Previous council	Staying councillors	Up for election	Election result	New council
	Labour	22	12	10	9	21
	Conservatives	11	10	3	3	13
	UKIP	5	4	0	0	4
	Liberal Democrats	1	1	0	0	1
	Greens	0	0	0	1	1
	Independent	1	1	0	0	1
	Vacant	1				0
Total		41	28	13	13	41

Ward results

Vote share changes are based on the results achieved by parties in 2012 when these seats were last contested.

Brereton and Ravenhill

Brereton and Ravenhill (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Dudson	478	31.6	13.8
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Fisher	475	31.4	9.2
	UKIP	Sarah Thomas-Dean	302	20.0	N/A
	Conservative	Pam Owen	223	14.7	0.7
	Green	Michael Lees	34	2.3	N/A
Majority			3	0.2	4.6
Turnout			1,523	30.0	3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	2.3

Cannock East

Cannock East (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Mitchell	687	44.6	29.6
	UKIP	Dave Morris	495	32.2	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Hewitt	315	20.5	5.3
	Green	Glen Tapper	42	2.7	N/A
Majority			192	12.4	36.0
Turnout			1,546	30.1	6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	30.9

Cannock North

Cannock North (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Alcott	760	53.2	27.7
	UKIP	Rob Branson	399	27.9	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Jones	201	14.1	5.0
	Green	Jodie Winter	68	4.8	N/A
Majority			361	25.3	36.5
Turnout			1,432	26.1	2.7
	Labour hold		Swing	27.8

Cannock South

Cannock South (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maureen Freeman	749	46.6	20.0
	Conservative	Johnny McMahon	423	26.3	0
	UKIP	Kev Whittaker	389	24.2	N/A
	Green	Leo Harrison	46	2.9	N/A
Majority			326	20.3	20.0
Turnout			1,615	27.7	4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	10.0

Cannock West

Cannock West (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Doug Smith	982	51.5	7.1
	Labour	Pat Frondigoun	510	26.8	14.6
	UKIP	Paul Allen	310	16.3	N/A
	Green	Maire Smith	102	5.4	N/A
Majority			472	24.7	7.5
Turnout			1,915	33.9	3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.8

Etching Hill and the Heath

Etching Hill and the Heath (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Johnson	500	32.7	2.6
	UKIP	Danny Davies	451	29.4	N/A
	Labour	Jeffrey Winter	389	25.4	6.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ray Jones	144	9.4	16.3
	Green	David Thawley	47	3.1	N/A
Majority			49	3.3	0.6
Turnout			1,539	29.5	6.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	16.0

Hagley

Hagley (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Chris Martin	409	47.9	0.5
	UKIP	Mark Deakin	234	27.4	N/A
	Conservative	Robert Hughes	175	20.5	7.7
	Green	Stuart Crabtree	36	4.2	N/A
Majority			175	20.5	3.3
Turnout			862	26.0	1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	13.5

Hawks Green

Hawks Green (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dan Snape	483	36.0	4.0
	UKIP	Ann Bernard ^	419	31.2	N/A
	Labour	Matthew Freeman	374	27.8	8.9
	Green	Kelly Tuft	67	5.0	N/A
Majority			64	4.8	1.5
Turnout			1,347	24.5	6.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	17.6

^ Anne Bernard was the sitting councillor for the Hawks Green ward and previously defected from the Conservatives to UKIP.

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Diane Todd	505	40.1	21.3
	UKIP	John Bernard	373	29.6	N/A
	Conservative	Helen Borton	310	24.6	14.0
	Green	Kenny Beardmore	71	5.7	N/A
Majority			132	10.5	12.3
Turnout			1,270	26.5	3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	25.5

Hednesford North

Hednesford North (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Pearson	697	47.9	14.2
	UKIP	Sue Hardman	382	26.3	N/A
	Conservative	James Moffat	317	21.8	4.6
	Green	Arlette Carmichael	59	4.0	N/A
Majority			315	21.6	14.2
Turnout			1,463	27.6	0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	20.3

Hednesford South

Hednesford South (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Paul Woodhead	618	42.6	N/A
	Conservative	Olivia Lyons	322	22.2	10.9
	Labour	Brian Gamble	298	20.5	31.8
	UKIP	Grahame Wiggin	213	14.7	N/A
Majority			296	20.4	N/A
Turnout			1,462	35.7	9.3
	Green gain from Labour		Swing	37.2

Norton Canes

Norton Canes (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Zaphne Stretton	659	39.4	16.3
	Conservative	Val Jones	512	30.6	9.4
	UKIP	Chris Cox	444	26.5	N/A
	Green	Richard Jenking	59	3.5	N/A
Majority			147	8.8	6.9
Turnout			1,679	29.8	2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	3.5

Western Springs

Western Springs (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carl Bennett	503	34.9	4.1
	Conservative	Sara Allt	456	31.6	3.2
	UKIP	Sarah Rose	410	28.5	N/A
	Green	Sara Anderson	72	5.0	N/A
Majority			47	3.3	0.9
Turnout			1,452	28.5	6.9
	Labour hold		Swing	0.5