Colchester Borough Council election, 2016

Colchester Borough Council election, 2016

May 5, 2016 (2016-05-05)
51 seats 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	36.0%
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative Liberal Democrat Labour Seats won 22 15 11 Popular vote 47,088 28,331 27,846 Percentage 37.5 22.6 22.2 Swing 2.6 2.8 3.8   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Independent Green UKIP Seats won 3 0 0 Popular vote 5,079 12,042 5,129 Percentage 4.1 9.6 4.1 Swing 1.7 1.4 7.0

Elections to Colchester Borough Council took place on 5 May 2016. Colchester Borough Council normally elects one third of its councillors each year, however, due to boundary changes, the whole council is up for election.

Prior to this election, the cabinet (8 seats) was held by a coalition including the Liberal Democrats (5 seats), the Labour Party (2 seats) and a Highwoods & Stanway Independent (1 seat). Paul Smith (Liberal Democrat), a councillor from St. John's ward, was elected Leader of the Council by 32 to 28 votes.

Each voter had three available votes instead of the usual one vote.

Background

Following the 2015 election the Liberal Democrat-Labour-Independent coalition maintained control of the Council, although with a much reduced majority (14 to 4). The Liberal Democrats suffered heavy losses in North and West Colchester with 4 councillors being unseated, all by the Conservative Party. The Conservative's subsequently became the largest party on the Council but short of a majority by 4 councillors. Although failing to win additional seats, the Labour Party made moderate gains in vote share across the Borough. Following a promising performance at the 2014 election, the UK Independence Party failed to build on their success and lost in vote share across Colchester, failing to take a single ward. Like UKIP, and despite a notable boost in local and national membership, the Green Party of England and Wales also fell in vote share and failed to win any seats. However, both UKIP and the Green Party received the highest number of votes for their respective parties in a Colchester local election.

Prior to the election, Independent member for Stanway, Laura Sykes, resigned her post as Borough Councillor due to moving away from the area. This left the ruling coalition with a majority of 3 over the Conservative group.

Boundary Changes

A boundary review was undertaken throughout 2014/2015 as part of a review of local authority electoral wards. The new electoral wards will take effect from this election and will reduce the number of councillors by 9 (from 60 to 51), reduce the number of wards by 10 (from 27 to 17) and standardise the number of councillors representing each ward (3 councillors per ward). Each ward is designed to contain approximately 8,000 electors, taking into account the projected population growth over the next 10 years.

Candidates by Party

Conservative Party (51/51)

Labour Party (51/51)

Green Party (48/51)

Liberal Democrats (38/51)

UKIP (10/51)

Independent (8/51)

Results Summary

Colchester Borough Council election, 2016
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	22	N/A	N/A	N/A	43.1	37.5	47,088	-2.6
	Liberal Democrat	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	29.4	22.6	28,331	+2.8
	Labour	11	N/A	N/A	N/A	21.6	22.2	27,846	+3.8
	Independent	3	N/A	N/A	N/A	5.9	4.1	5,079	+1.7
	Green	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.0	9.6	12,046	+1.4
	UKIP	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.0	4.1	5,129	-7.0

Ward Results

Due to boundary changes the number of wards is reduced from 27 to 17. Each ward will be represented by 3 councillors. The length of an elected councillor's term will depend on the position of election within that ward (1st, 4 years; 2nd, 3 years; 3rd, 2 years). Terms will revert to 4-years as standard from the 2018 election.

The Statement of Nominated Persons was released by Colchester Borough Council's Returning Officer following the closing of nominations on 7 April 2016. This detailed the list of candidates nominated to stand in each ward.

Previously sitting councillors are marked with an asterisk*

Berechurch

Berechurch was created from the following wards:

• Berechurch
• East Donyland

Berechurch

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dave Harris*	1,710	27.4	N/A
	Labour	Chris Pearson*	1,283	20.5	N/A
	Labour	Martyn Warnes	1,206	19.3	N/A
	Conservative	Annabel Glayzer	366	5.9	N/A
	Conservative	Michael Brown	359	5.7	N/A
	Conservative	Chris Brown	356	5.7	N/A
	UKIP	Ralph Morse	353	5.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Katie Hood	181	2.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	George Penny	155	2.5	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jakub Makowski	144	2.3	N/A
	Green	Sam Borley	142	2.3	N/A
Turnout			6,255
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Party results
Labour			67.1%
Conservative			17.3%
Liberal Democrat			7.7%
UKIP			5.6%
Green Party			2.3%

Castle

Castle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nick Barlow	881
	Conservative	Darius Laws*	854
	Conservative	Daniel Ellis	801
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Frame*	792
	Green	Mark Goacher	781
	Liberal Democrat	Jo Hayes*	769
	Conservative	Kate Martin	759
	Green	Amanda Kirke	511
	Labour	Isobel Merry	484
	Labour	Barry Gilheany	452
	Green	Charles David Ham	451
	Labour	Jordan Newall	427
Majority
Turnout			2,781	37.4
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Party results
Liberal Democrat			30.7%
Conservative			30.3%
Green Party			21.9%
Labour			17.2%

Greenstead

Greenstead was created from the following wards:

• St. Andrew's
• St. Anne's

Greenstead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Young*	1,144	18.7	N/A
	Labour	Tim Young*	1,134	18.5	N/A
	Labour	Tina Bourne*	999	16.3	N/A
	Conservative	Chris Hill	517	8.4	N/A
	UKIP	Jamie Middleditch	421	6.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Owen Bartholomew	388	6.3	N/A
	Conservative	Paul Hanslow	341	5.6	N/A
	Conservative	Andrew Higginson	309	5.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Josef Schumacher	288	4.7	N/A
	Green	Chris Flossman	193	3.1	N/A
	Independent	Christopher Lee	183	3.0	N/A
	Green	Poppy Gerrard-Abbott	115	1.9	N/A
	Green	Asa Bortherton	103	1.7	N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,279	30.3	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Party results
Labour			53.4%
Conservative			19.0%
Liberal Democrat			11.0%
UKIP			6.9%
Green Party			6.7%
Independent			3.0%

Highwoods

Highwoods

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Gerard Oxford*	1,126		N/A
	Independent	Bev Oxford*	1,038		N/A
	Independent	Phil Oxford*	954		N/A
	Conservative	Chris Hayter	690		N/A
	Conservative	James Child	588		N/A
	Conservative	Steph Hayward	522		N/A
	Labour	David McCulloch	287		N/A
	Labour	Gary Braddy	285		N/A
	Labour	Diane Stevens	283		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	John Baker	273		N/A
	UKIP	Alex Knupffer	251		N/A
	Green	Robbie Spence	139		N/A
	Green	Bonnie Murphy	92		N/A
	Green	Leo Palmer	91		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,348	33.4	N/A
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Vote share
Independent			47.1%
Conservative			27.2%
Labour			12.9%
Green Party			4.9%
Liberal Democrat			4.1%
UKIP			3.8%

Lexden & Braiswick

Lexden & Braiswick was created from the following wards:

• Lexden
• West Bergholt & Eight Ash Green
• Mile End
• Great Tey

Lexden & Braiswick

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dennis Willits*	1,712		N/A
	Conservative	Lewis Barber*	1,704		N/A
	Conservative	Brian Jarvis*	1,609		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Thomas Stevenson	515		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Gemma Graham	410		N/A
	Green	Steve Ford	386		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Susan Waite	367		N/A
	Labour	Alison Inman	335		N/A
	Labour	Sioux Blair-Jordan	321		N/A
	Labour	Megn Saliu	284		N/A
	Green	Rosa Chandler	247		N/A
	Green	Emmanuel Blondel	219		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,886	40.4	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Party results
Conservative			62.0%
Liberal Democrat			15.9%
Labour			11.6%
Green Party			10.5%

Marks Tey & Layer

Marks Tey & Layer was created from the following wards:

• Marks Tey
• Birch & Winstree
• Copford & West Stanway

Marks Tey & Layer

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kevin Bentley*	1,424		N/A
	Conservative	Andrew Ellis*	1,248		N/A
	Conservative	Jackie Maclean*	1,135		N/A
	UKIP	John Pitts	523		N/A
	Labour	John Wood	379		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Gillian Collings	340		N/A
	Green	Clare Palmer	302		N/A
	Labour	John Spademan	296		N/A
	Labour	Michael Wagstaff	231		N/A
	Green	Matt Stemp	206		N/A
Majority
Turnout			2,396	35.8	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Vote share
Conservative			62.6%
Labour			14.9%
UKIP			8.6%
Green Party			8.4%
Liberal Democrat			5.6%

Mersea & Pyefleet

Mersea & Pyefleet was created from the following wards:

• West Mersea
• Pyefleet

Mersea & Pyefleet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Jowers*	1,643		N/A
	Conservative	Patricia Moore*	1,433		N/A
	Conservative	Robert Davidson*	1,392		N/A
	UKIP	David Holmes	768		N/A
	UKIP	David Broise	768		N/A
	Labour	Bry Mogridge	515		N/A
	UKIP	Maria Vigneau	507		N/A
	Green	Lisa Britton	459		N/A
	Green	Peter Banks	426		N/A
	Labour	Neil Belcher	301		N/A
	Labour	Ron Smith	269		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Barry Woodward	202		N/A
	Green	Bartosz Mizgier	143		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			3,175	39.5	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Vote share
Conservative			50.7%
UKIP			23.9%
Labour			12.3%
Green Party			11.7%
Liberal Democrat			2.3%

Mile End

Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Goss*	1,666		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Phillip Coleman	1,375		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Dominic Graham*	1,344		N/A
	Conservative	Ben Locker*	731		N/A
	Conservative	Stephen Rowe	543		N/A
	Conservative	Thomas Rowe	525		N/A
	Labour	Martin Camroux	302		N/A
	Labour	Beverly Pearce	258		N/A
	Labour	Elisa Vasquez-Walters	221		N/A
	Green	David Traynier	206		N/A
	Green	Mary Bryan	127		N/A
	Green	Peter Lynn	88		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,622	37.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

Vote share
Liberal Democrat			59.4%
Conservative			24.4%
Labour			10.8%
Green Party			5.7%

New Town & Christ Church

New Town & Christ Church was created from the following wards:

• New Town
• Christ Church

New Town & Christ Church

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Theresa Higgins*	1,140		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Nick Cope*	1,113		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Annie Feltham*	1,032		N/A
	Labour	Abigail Fuller	710		N/A
	Conservative	Annesley Hardy*	691		N/A
	Conservative	Simon Crow	666		N/A
	Conservative	Ben Payne	616		N/A
	Labour	Oladipo Odedengbe	563		N/A
	Labour	Jaki Whyte	559		N/A
	Green	Bob Brannan	555		N/A
	Green	Ruby Runnalls Palmer	346		N/A
	Green	Laurence Knight	317		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,900	33.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

Vote share
Liberal Democrat			39.5%
Conservative			23.8%
Labour			22.1%
Green Party			14.7%

Old Heath & The Hythe

Old Heath & The Hythe was created from the following wards:

• Old Heath
• New Town
• East Donyland

Old Heath & The Hythe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Lilley*	1,126		N/A
	Labour	Adam Fox	1,025		N/A
	Labour	Lee Scordis	925		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Julia Havis*	747		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Janet Knight	711		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Justin Knight*	689		N/A
	Green	Susan Allen	451		N/A
	Conservative	Liam Gallagher	435		N/A
	Conservative	Richard Brown	403		N/A
	Conservative	Alan Scattergood	344		N/A
	Green	Jan Plummer	302		N/A
	Green	Andrew Canessa	258		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,699	34.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Vote share
Labour			41.5%
Liberal Democrat			29.0%
Conservative			15.9%
Green Party			13.6%

Prettygate

Prettygate was created from the following wards:

• Prettygate
• Lexden

Prettygate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sue Lissimore*	2,024		N/A
	Conservative	Beverly Davis*	1,675		N/A
	Conservative	Roger Buston*	1,637		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jake Beavan	649		N/A
	Labour	Mike Dale	599		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Glanville Williams	585		N/A
	Labour	Richard Bourne	563		N/A
	Labour	Clive Needle	379		N/A
	Green	Ruby Butler	369		N/A
	Green	Luke O'Loughlin	209		N/A
	Green	Mike Stewart	192		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			3,227	40.6	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Vote share
Conservative			60.1%
Labour			17.4%
Liberal Democrat			13.9%
Green Party			8.7%

Rural North

Rural North was created from the following wards:

• Dedham & Langham
• Fordham & Stour
• Great Tey
• West Bergholt & Eight Ash Green

Rural North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Arnold*	1,913		N/A
	Conservative	Nigel Chapman*	1,824		N/A
	Conservative	Peter Chillingworth*	1,665		N/A
	Green	Roger Bamforth	488		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Will Brown	478		N/A
	Green	Blake Roberts	367		N/A
	Labour	Kevin Finnigan	322		N/A
	Labour	Judith Short	319		N/A
	Green	Janita Le Fevre	282		N/A
	Labour	Paul Fryer-Kelsey	278		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			3,030	36.2	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Vote share
Conservative			68.1%
Green Party			14.3%
Labour			11.6%
Liberal Democrat			6.0%

Shrub End

Shrub End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Lyn Barton*	960		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Karen Chaplin	569		N/A
	Conservative	Pauline Hazell*	526		N/A
	Conservative	Mike Hardy	510		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jamie Chaplin	508		N/A
	Conservative	Vic Flores	496		N/A
	UKIP	Bruno Hickman	379		N/A
	Independent	Sharron Lawrence	349		N/A
	Labour	Bruce Tuxford	324		N/A
	Labour	Steve Dunt	322		N/A
	Labour	Stuart Ellis	305		N/A
	Green	Wolfgang Fauser	206		N/A
	Green	Stuart Welham	143		N/A
	Green	Maria Harrison	92		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,165	28.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Vote share
Liberal Democrat			35.8%
Conservative			26.9%
Labour			16.7%
Green Party			7.8%
UKIP			6.7%
Independent			6.1%

St. Anne's & St. John's

St. Anne's & St. John's was created from the following wards:

• St. Anne's
• St. John's

St. Anne's & St. John's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Hogg*	1,426		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Helen Chuah*	1,352		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Smith*	1,215		N/A
	UKIP	Jason Berry	637		N/A
	Conservative	Charles McKay	568		N/A
	UKIP	Bill Faram	529		N/A
	Conservative	Peter Klejna-Wendt	511		N/A
	Conservative	Terry Sutton	465		N/A
	Labour	Sam Fuller	276		N/A
	Labour	Amanda Stannard	274		N/A
	Labour	Alex Yeandle	251		N/A
	Green	Callum Fauser	191		N/A
	Green	Robert Chambers	160		N/A
	Green	Megan Maltby	111		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,883	35.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

Vote share
Liberal Democrat			50.1%
Conservative			19.4%
UKIP			14.6%
Labour			10.1%
Green Party			5.8%

Stanway

Stanway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Fiona Maclean*	963		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Lesley Scott-Boutell	962		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jessica Scott-Boutell*	944		N/A
	Conservative	Paul Dundas	839		N/A
	Conservative	Christopher Manby	792		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jon Manning*	629		N/A
	Labour	David Hough	302		N/A
	Labour	Carol Spademan	302		N/A
	Labour	Ian Yates	256		N/A
	Green	Walter Schwartz	137		N/A
	Green	Will Price	137		N/A
	Green	Nicholas Blondel	136		N/A
Majority
Turnout			2,331	36.2	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

Vote share
Conservative			40.5%
Liberal Democrat			39.6%
Labour			13.4%
Green Party			6.4%

Tiptree

Tiptree was created from the following wards:

• Tiptree
• Birch & Winstree

Tiptree

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Elliott*	1,459		N/A
	Conservative	Barbara Wood	1,403		N/A
	Conservative	Derek Loveland	1,370		N/A
	Labour	Joanne Devine	400		N/A
	Labour	Barbara Nichols	400		N/A
	Labour	Robert Spademan	371		N/A
	Green	Kathy Bamforth	291		N/A
	Green	Rob Cronshaw	196		N/A
	Green	Adam Abo Henriksen	165		N/A
Majority			N/A	N/A	N/A
Turnout			2,247	31.5	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Vote share
Conservative			69.9%
Labour			19.4%
Green Party			10.8%

Wivenhoe

Wivenhoe was created from the following wards:

• Wivenhoe Cross
• Wivenhoe Quay

Wivenhoe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Cyril Liddy*	1,154		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Cory*	1,141		N/A
	Labour Co-op	Rosalind Scott*	1,137		N/A
	Labour Co-op	Phil Finn	998		N/A
	Conservative	Peter Hill	906		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Sanchia Nash	892		N/A
	Independent	Andrea Luxford Vaughan	549		N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Alex Hale	499		N/A
	Independent	Mike Newton	464		N/A
	Conservative	Craig Stuart	447		N/A
	Independent	Shaun Boughton	416		N/A
	Conservative	Roman Perrior	379		N/A
	Green	Tim Glover	278		N/A
	Green	Laura Pountney	123		N/A
	Green	Lora Aziz	113		N/A
Majority
Turnout
	Labour Co-op win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Labour Co-op win (new seat)

Vote share
Labour			34.6%
Liberal Democrat			26.7%
Conservative			18.2%
Independent			15.1%
Green Party			5.4%