Monmouthshire County Council election, 2004

Elections to Monmouthshire County Council were held on 10 June 2004 on the same day of the European Elections.

The whole council was up for election and following boundary changes the number of seats was increased to 43. The Conservatives gained overall control of the council from a previous minority Labour administration.

The Conservatives formed a minority administration from the previous county council election in May 1999, being largest group on the council by one seat.

Following two by-elections in 2002 (the Conservatives losing one seat to the Liberal Democrats and Labour taking a seat from an Independent), the Labour party became the largest group by one seat.

Having secured the support of Independent and Liberal Democrat councillors, Labour formed a minority administration from July 2002 until the election in June 2004.

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Conservative 23
• Labour 9
• Liberal Democrats 4
• Plaid Cymru 2
• Independents 5

The election results were noticeable seeing two Plaid Cymru councillors elected in Caldicot, a first for the Welsh nationalists in heavily anglicised Monmouthshire, and the election of a 21-year-old student, Matthew Jones [1], for the Liberal Democrats in Chepstow.

The Labour party suffered heavy losses to the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and Independents.

The election result saw a fragmentation of the non-conservative vote; the emergence of the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru onto the council. Of note was the number of close races in individual wards, as well as several individual contests where the winning candidate polled far less than a majority of the votes cast.

Election results: overview

Monmouthshire Local Election Result 2004
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	23	7	2	+5	53.49	43.60	13,888	-
	Labour	9	1	11	-10	20.93	19.92	6,345	-
	Liberal Democrat	4	3	1	+3	9.30	18.17	5,786	-
	Independent	5	3	1	+2	11.63	14.32	4,560	-
	Plaid Cymru	2	2	0	+2	4.65	3.01	958	-
	UKIP	0	0	0	=	0.00	0.80	256	-
	Green	0	0	0	=	0.00	0.18	58	-

Monmouthshire Local Election Result 2004 (wards in Monmouth constituency)
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	22	7	2	+5	65.71	47.57	12,699	-
	Liberal Democrat	4	4	1	+3	11.43	21.67	5,786	-
	Labour	4	0	8	-8	11.43	16.72	4,466	-
	Independent	4	2	0	+2	11.43	13.09	3,494	-
	Plaid Cymru	0	0	0	=	0.00	0.73	194	-
	Green	0	0	0	=	0.00	0.22	58	-
	UKIP	0	0	0	=	0.00	0.00	-	-

Monmouthshire Local Election Result 2004 (wards in Newport East constituency)
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	4	1	3	-2	37.50	36.46	1,879	-
	Conservative	2	0	0	=	25.00	23.07	1,189	-
	Independent	1	1	1	=	12.50	20.68	1,066	-
	Plaid Cymru	2	2	0	+2	25.00	14.82	764	-
	UKIP	0	0	0	=	0.00	4.97	256	+4.97
	Liberal Democrat	0	0	0	=	0.00	-	-	-
	Green	0	0	0	=	0.00	-	-	-

Electoral division (ward) results

Abergavenny, Cantref

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher D. Woodhouse [2]	560	57.20	-
	Independent	Lawrence R. Jones	263	26.86	-
	Labour	Paul M. Nicholson	156	15.94	-
Majority			297	30.34	-
Turnout			979	57.88
	Conservative hold		Swing

---

Abergavenny, Castle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan W. Breeze [3]	352	45.48	-
	Independent	Anthony (Tony) O'Donovan	174	22.48	-
	Labour	Margaret E. Phillips	130	16.80	-
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher (Chris) P. Lines	82	10.59	-
	Plaid Cymru	Ceri L. Thomas	36	4.65	-
Majority			178	23.00	-
Turnout			774	54.04
	Conservative hold		Swing

Abergavenny, Grofield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Douglas L. Edwards [4]	324	44.02	-
	Conservative	Maureen Powell	183	24.86	-
	Labour	Andre J. Arkell	182	24.73	-
	Independent	Graham D. Preece	47	6.39	-
Majority			141	19.16	-
Turnout			736	56.95
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing

Abergavenny, Lansdown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin A. Griffiths [5]	248	40.72	-
	Independent	Raymond Hill	175	28.73	-
	Conservative	Victor Barrett	121	19.87	-
	Plaid Cymru	Richard F. Olding	37	6.08	-
	Liberal Democrat	Vera M. Grice	28	4.60	-
Majority			73	11.99	-
Turnout			609	37.37
	Labour hold		Swing

Abergavenny, Priory

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jane P. Foulser [6]	375	46.29	-
	Labour	Christine M. Walby	198	28.37	-
	Plaid Cymru	John R. Walters	63	9.03	-
	Liberal Democrat	Rosemary (Rose) E. Carr	62	8.89	-
Majority			177	17.92	-
Turnout			698	45.94
	Conservative hold		Swing

Caerwent

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip (Phil) Murphy[7]	384	55.41	+5.73
	Labour	Brian W. Counsell	249	35.93	-6.97
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Butcher	60	8.66	+1.24
Majority			135	19.48	+51
Turnout			693	50.51
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.35

Caldicot Castle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Ronald (Ron) G. Stewart[8]	228	35.73	-
	Conservative	Richard J. Harries	213	33.39	-
	Labour	Gareth J. Jenkins	197	30.88	-
Majority			15	2.34	-
Turnout			638	45.29
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

Caldicot, Dewstow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William (Bill) Edwards [9]	238	42.34	-
	Independent	Julie A. Fry	142	25.27	-
	Plaid Cymru	John I. Marshall	133	23.67	-
	Conservative	Nicholas W. L. Hackett-Pain	49	8.72	-
Majority			96	17.07	-
Turnout			562	37.18
	Labour hold		Swing

Caldicot, Green Lane

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	David J. Ashwin[10]	219	34.71	-
	Labour	David J. Evans	165	26.15	-
	Independent	Paul D. Tidmarsh	108	17.12	-
	Independent	Colin Babb	79	12.51	-
	Conservative	Leslie R. Harries	60	9.51	-
Majority			54	8.56	-
Turnout			631	38.69
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

Caldicot, Severn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ronald J. Higginson [11]	201	39.19	-
	Plaid Cymru	Joanne S. Daniels	136	26.51	-
	Independent	Graham Powell	100	19.49	-
	Conservative	Penelope Howe	76	14.81	-
Majority			65	12.68	-
Turnout			513	38.81
	Labour hold		Swing

Caldicot, West End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	James D. Harris [12]	329	65.93	-
	Labour	Elaine G. Davies	170	34.07	-
Majority			159	31.86	-
Turnout			499	35.01
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Chepstow, Larkfield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Phylip (Phil) Hobson[13]	436	53.56	+41.70
	Conservative	Clifford (Cliff) Meredith	378	46.44	-0.51
	Labour	DNS	0	-	-41.19
Majority			58	7.12	n/a
Turnout			814	52.67
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing	+20.60

Chepstow, St. Christopher’s

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pamela (Pam) Birchall [14]	240	40.20	-17.57
	Conservative	David Dovey	171	28.64	+4.56
	Independent	Andrew Huntley	110	18.43	+8.66
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony (Tony) Redhead	76	12.73	+4.35
Majority			69	11.52	-22.13
Turnout			597	34.70
	Labour hold		Swing	-11.07

Chepstow, St. Kingsmark

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Theodore (Ted) Dorel [15]	422	47.20	-10.26
	Liberal Democrat	Henry W. Hodges	385	43.07	+24.31
	Labour	Eric Taylor	87	9.73	-14.05
Majority			37	4.13	-29.56
Turnout			894	45.35
	Conservative hold		Swing	-17.29

Chepstow, St. Mary’s

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Matthew A. Jones [16]	337	49.26	+34.87
	Conservative	Gethyn J. Davies	217	31.73	-1.31
	Labour	Gwyneth Eburne	130	19.01	-33.57
Majority			120	17.53	n/a
Turnout			684	47.24
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing	34.22 L to LD

Chepstow, Thornwell

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Armand C. Watts [17]	373	54.14	+12.83
	Conservative	James M. Brady	232	33.67	+17.46
	Liberal Democrat	Lynda Pitt Mitchell	84	12.19	+3.57
	Independent	DNS	-	-	-33.86
Majority			141	20.47	+13.20
Turnout			689	37.35
	Labour hold		Swing	+15.15

Croesonen

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger G. Harris [18]	247	40.16	-
	Conservative	John L. Prosser	192	31.22	-
	Independent	Norma C. Watkins	99	16.10	-
	Plaid Cymru	Edward H. O. Evans	44	7.15	-
	Liberal Democrat	Anthea M. Dewhurst	33	5.37	-
Majority			55	8.94	-
Turnout			615	39.63
	Labour hold		Swing

Crucorney

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Robert (Bob) J. B. Wilcox [19]	585	70.65	-
	Conservative	Jean E. Laws	143	17.27	-
	Liberal Democrat	David John Williams	100	12.08	-
Majority			442	53.38	-
Turnout			828	53.49
	Independent hold		Swing

Devauden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert J. W. Greenland [20]	509	76.20	-
	Liberal Democrat	David Stevens	159	23.80	-
Majority			350	52.40	-
Turnout			668	57.57
	Conservative hold		Swing

Goetre Fawr

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sidney Brian Jones[21]	509	45.65	-
	Liberal Democrat	Sylvia E. Heighton	497	44.57	-
	Labour	Dorothy M. McLeod	109	9.78	-
Majority			12	1.08	-
Turnout			1,115	59.94
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llanbadoc

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Valerie (Val) E. Smith [22]	uncontested	-	-
	Conservative hold		Swing	-

Llanelly Hill (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Simon G. M. Howarth[23]	695	21.98	-
	Independent	Anthony (Tony) R. Carrington [24]	609	19.26	-
	Labour	Giles Howard	521	16.48	-
	Conservative	Barrie O'Keefe	475	15.02	-
	Labour	Martin L. Thomas	412	13.03	-
	Conservative	Jennifer Swattridge	207	6.55	-
	Liberal Democrat	Browen R. A. Jones	136	4.30	-
	Liberal Democrat	Sarah L. James	107	3.38	-
Turnout			3,162	47.36
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Llanfoist Fawr

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eric Saxon[25]	496	70.06	-
	Labour	Roger P. Howells	121	17.09	-
	Liberal Democrat	Vivien Mitchell	91	12.85	-
Majority			375	52.97	-
Turnout			708	55.68
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llangybi Fawr

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter R. Clarke [26]	537	74.48	-
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Sutherland	184	25.52	-
Majority			353	48.96	-
Turnout			721	53.51
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llanover

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian R. Hood[27]	773	75.71	-
	Labour	Margaret M. R. Harris	133	13.03	-
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen R. Poole	115	11.26	-
Majority			640	62.68	-
Turnout			1,021	56.32
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llantilio Crossenny

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ruth Edwards[28]	350	41.81	-
	Independent	Christopher D. Lewis	290	34.64	-
	Liberal Democrat	Drewe W. Lacey	66	7.89	-
	Independent	Avice C. Field	66	7.89	-
	Independent	Benjamin C. Herbet	65	7.77	-
Majority			60	7.20	-
Turnout			837	62.98
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llanwenarth Ultra

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Verona M. R. Nelmes[29]	266	41.69	-
	Liberal Democrat	Peter A. Jones	205	32.13	-
	Conservative	John G. Jones	167	26.18	-
Majority			61	9.56	-
Turnout			1,021	56.32
	Labour hold		Swing

Magor with Undy, Mill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Major[30]	551	64.82	-
	Labour	Nita S. Baicher	299	35.18	-
Majority			252	29.64	-
Turnout			850	40.62
	Conservative hold		Swing

Magor with Undy, The Elms

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Olive G. Evans [31]	262	30.32	-
	UKIP	Victor G. Bashford	256	29.63	-
	Conservative	Paul F. Cawley	194	22.45	-
	Independent	Brian A. Burt	104	12.04	-
	Plaid Cymru	Peter Howells-Meadowcroft	48	5.56	-
Majority			6	0.69	-
Turnout			864	36.68
	Labour hold		Swing

Mardy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas (Nick) H. Ramsay [32]	228	36.18	+7.82
	Independent	Ralph F. Chapman	174	27.62	-1.96
	Labour	Hazel E. Bennett	144	22.86	-7.21
	Liberal Democrat	Charlotte Jones	51	8.10	-3.88
	Plaid Cymru	Stuart K. Neale	33	5.24	+5.24
Majority			54	8.56	n/a
Turnout			630	46.82
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-4.89

Mitchel Troy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey (Geoff) C. Burrows[33]	313	53.60	+17.69
	Liberal Democrat	Lesley M. Williams	271	46.40	-17.69
Majority			42	7.20	n/a
Turnout			721	53.51
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	-8.85

Monmouth, Dixton with Osbaston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Eileen J. Goodrich	554	52.56	-
	Conservative	Richard (Dick) Le Gros Cass	500	47.44	-
Majority			54	5.12	-
Turnout			1054	57.82
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Monmouth, Drybridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan M. Wintle [34]	384	46.66	-
	Liberal Democrat	Lloyd Williams	327	39.73	-
	Independent	Gary Witcombe	112	13.61	-
Majority			57	6.93	-
Turnout			823	43.43
	Conservative hold		Swing

Monmouth, Overmonnow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Susan (Sue) White[35]	282	39.72	-
	Labour	Maureen Roach	235	33.10	-
	Liberal Democrat	Richard J. Bond	135	19.01	-
	Green	Ann Were	58	8.17	-
Majority			47	6.62	-
Turnout			710	40.15
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Monmouth, Wyesham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Elizabeth (Liz) J. Hacket-Pain [36]	334	45.66	-
	Labour	Marcus J. Roach	242	32.79	-
	Liberal Democrat	Selwyn Roberts	118	15.99	-
	Plaid Cymru	David J. Taylor	44	5.96	-
Majority			92	12.87	-
Turnout			738	45.20
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Portskewett

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter A. Fox[37]	505	66.71	-
	Labour	Paul T. Wall	177	23.38	-
	Liberal Democrat	Janet Ellard	75	9.91	-
Majority			328	43.33	-
Turnout			757	48.00
	Conservative hold		Swing

Raglan

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William A. L. Crump [38]	621	74.02	-
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Blakebrough	218	25.98	-
Majority			403	48.04	-
Turnout			839	55.72
	Conservative hold		Swing

Rogiet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael (Mike) R. Smith [39]	347	58.11	-
	Independent	Gerald P. Robbins	204	34.18	-
	Conservative	Margaret Lawrence	46	7.71	-
Majority			143	23.93	-
Turnout			597	46.95
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Shirenewton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham L. Down [40]	655	68.51	-
	Liberal Democrat	Pamela (Pam) A. Johnston	173	18.10	-
	Labour	Phyllis R. Higginson	128	13.39	-
Majority			482	50.41	-
Turnout			956	57.30
	Conservative hold		Swing

St. Arvans

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ann E. Webb [41]	378	61.87	-
	Independent	Anthony (Tony) J. Newman	131	21.44	-
	Liberal Democrat	Jane M. J. Robbins	102	16.69	-
Majority			247	40.43	-
Turnout			611	52.52
	Conservative hold		Swing

Trellech United

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ashley Thomas [42]	551	51.54	+1.67
	Conservative	Duncan N. Armstrong	418	36.76	-1.44
	Liberal Democrat	Linda Campbell	168	14.78	+2.85
Majority			133	14.78	+3.11
Turnout			1,137	54.03
	Independent hold		Swing	+1.56

Usk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund J. Harrhy [43]	669	65.52	+0.90
	Labour	Sandrina Gay	204	19.98	-5.90
	Liberal Democrat	Alison L. Willott	148	14.50	+5.00
Majority			465	45.54	+6.8
Turnout			1,021	58.87
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.4

References

• Close call in 'swing' County, BBC News article, May 18th, 2004 [44]
• Monmouthshire County Council, table of results for 2004 elections.[45]
• Monmouthshire County Council, list of councillors.[46]
• Article on County Council election results 2004 by local Monmouth news website www.towncrier.org. [47]
• Monmouthshire County Council election results 2004, South Wales Argus[48]
• BBC results table 2004 [49]