Colchester Borough Council election, 2016

Colchester Borough Council election, 2016

5 May 2016 (2016-05-05)
All 51 seats to Colchester Borough Council 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	36.0%
First party Second party   Party Conservative Liberal Democrat Seats before 27 20 Seats won 22 15 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 47,088 28,331 Percentage 37.5 22.6   Third party Fourth party   Party Labour Independent Seats before 9 3 Seats won 11 3 Seat change 2 Popular vote 27,846 5,079 Percentage 22.2 4.1
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election No overall control

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 Conservatives 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.

Candidates by Party

Results Summary

Colchester Borough Council election, 2016

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	22	1	6	5	43.1	37.5	47,088	-2.6
	Liberal Democrat	15	2	7	5	29.4	22.6	28,331	+2.8
	Labour	11	2	0	2	21.6	22.2	27,846	+3.8
	Independent	3	0	0		5.9	4.1	5,079	+1.7
	Green	0	0	0		0.0	9.7	12,046	+1.5
	UKIP	0	0	0		0.0	4.1	5,129	-7.0

The total number of seats on the council was reduced from 60 to 51 seats, resulting in a nominal loss of 5 Conservative and 4 Liberal Democrats councillors. This is reflected in the changes in seats.

Council Composition

Prior to the election the composition of the council was:

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Ward Results

Due to boundary changes the number of wards was reduced from 27 to 17. Each ward is 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.

Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk*

Berechurch

Berechurch ward

Berechurch

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Dave Harris*	1,710	27.4
	Labour	Chris Pearson*	1,283	20.5
	Labour	Martyn Warnes	1,206	19.3
	Conservative	Annabel Glayzer	366	5.9
	Conservative	Michael Brown	359	5.7
	Conservative	Chris Brown	356	5.7
	UKIP	Ralph Morse	353	5.6
	Liberal Democrat	Katie Hood	181	2.9
	Liberal Democrat	George Penny	155	2.5
	Liberal Democrat	Jakub Makowski	144	2.3
	Green	Sam Borley	142	2.3
Turnout			2,361	32.4
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Labour	62.1	+11.9
	Conservative	13.3	-8.7
	UKIP	12.8	-0.5
	Liberal Democrat	6.6	-3.8
	Green	5.2	+1.3

Castle

Castle ward

Castle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Nick Barlow	881	11.1
	Conservative	Darius Laws*	854	10.7
	Conservative	Daniel Ellis	801	10.1
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Frame*	792	9.9
	Green	Mark Goacher	781	9.8
	Liberal Democrat	Jo Hayes*	769	9.7
	Conservative	Kate Martin	759	9.5
	Green	Amanda Kirke	511	6.4
	Labour	Isobel Merry	484	6.1
	Labour	Barry Gilheany	452	5.7
	Green	Charles Ham	451	5.7
	Labour	Jordan Newell	427	5.4
Turnout			2,781	37.4
	Liberal Democrat hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Liberal Democrat	29.4	+4.1
	Conservative	28.5	-7.4
	Green	26.0	+5.0
	Labour	16.1	-1.6

Greenstead

Greenstead ward

Greenstead was created from the following wards:

• St. Andrew's
• St. Anne's

Greenstead

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

Top-candidate result Labour   40.2% Conservative   18.2% UKIP   14.8% Liberal Democrat   13.6% Green Party   6.8% Independent   6.4%

Highwoods

Highwoods ward

Highwoods

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Gerard Oxford*	1,126	17.0
	Independent	Bev Oxford*	1,038	15.7
	Independent	Phil Oxford*	954	14.4
	Conservative	Chris Hayter	690	10.4
	Conservative	James Child	588	8.9
	Conservative	Steph Hayward	522	7.9
	Labour	David McCulloch	287	4.3
	Labour	Gary Braddy	285	4.3
	Labour	Diane Stevens	283	4.3
	Liberal Democrat	John Baker	273	4.1
	UKIP	Alexei Knupffer	251	3.8
	Green	Robbie Spence	139	2.1
	Green	Bonnie Murphy	92	1.4
	Green	Leo Palmer	91	1.4
Turnout			2,348	33.4
	Independent hold
	Independent hold
	Independent hold

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Independent	40.7	+3.8
	Conservative	24.9	-2.7
	Labour	10.4	-0.7
	Liberal Democrat	9.9	-0.9
	UKIP	9.1	-0.1
	Green	5.0	+0.7

Lexden & Braiswick

Lexden & Braiswick ward

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	21.1
	Conservative	Lewis Barber*	1,704	21.0
	Conservative	Brian Jarvis*	1,609	19.8
	Liberal Democrat	Thomas Stevenson	515	6.4
	Liberal Democrat	Gemma Graham	410	5.1
	Green	Steve Ford	386	4.8
	Liberal Democrat	Susan Waite	367	4.5
	Labour	Alison Inman	335	4.1
	Labour	Sioux Blair-Jordan	321	4.0
	Labour	Megan Saliu	284	3.5
	Green	Rosa Chandler	247	3.0
	Green	Emmanuel Blondel	219	2.7
Turnout			2,886	40.4
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Top-candidate result Conservative   58.1% Liberal Democrat   17.5% Green Party   13.1% Labour   11.4%

Marks Tey & Layer

Marks Tey & Layer ward

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	23.4
	Conservative	Andrew Ellis*	1,248	20.5
	Conservative	Jackie Maclean*	1,135	18.7
	UKIP	John Pitts	523	8.6
	Labour	John Wood	379	6.2
	Liberal Democrat	Gillian Collings	340	5.6
	Green	Clare Palmer	302	5.0
	Labour	John Spademan	296	4.9
	Labour	Michael Wagstaff	231	3.8
	Green	Matt Stemp	206	3.4
Turnout			2,396	35.8
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Top-candidate result Conservative   48.0% UKIP   17.6% Labour   12.8% Liberal Democrat   11.5% Green Party   10.2%

Mersea & Pyefleet

Mersea & Pyefleet ward

Mersea & Pyefleet was created from the following wards:

• West Mersea
• Pyefleet

Mersea & Pyefleet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Jowers*	1,643	18.6
	Conservative	Patricia Moore*	1,433	16.2
	Conservative	Robert Davidson*	1,392	15.8
	UKIP	David Broise	768	8.7
	UKIP	David Holmes	768	8.7
	Labour	Bry Mogridge	515	5.8
	UKIP	Maria Vigneau	507	5.7
	Green	Lisa Britton	459	5.2
	Green	Peter Banks	426	4.8
	Labour	Neil Belcher	301	3.4
	Labour	Ron Smith	269	3.0
	Liberal Democrat	Barry Woodward	202	2.3
	Green	Bartosz Mizgier	143	1.6
Turnout			3,175	39.5
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Top-candidate result		%
	Conservative	45.8
	UKIP	21.4
	Labour	14.4
	Green	12.8
	Liberal Democrat	5.6

Mile End

Mile End ward

Mile End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Goss*	1,666	22.6
	Liberal Democrat	Phillip Coleman	1,375	18.6
	Liberal Democrat	Dominic Graham*	1,344	18.2
	Conservative	Ben Locker*	731	9.9
	Conservative	Stephen Rowe	543	7.4
	Conservative	Thomas Rowe	525	7.1
	Labour	Martin Camroux	302	4.1
	Labour	Beverly Pearce	258	3.5
	Labour	Elisa Vasquez-Walters	221	3.0
	Green	David Traynier	206	2.8
	Green	Mary Bryan	127	1.7
	Green	Peter Lynn	88	1.2
Turnout			2,622	37.7
	Liberal Democrat hold
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative
	Liberal Democrat hold

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Liberal Democrat	57.3	+25.1
	Conservative	25.2	-13.2
	Labour	10.4	-2.5
	Green	7.1	+0.4

New Town & Christ Church

New Town & Christ Church ward

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	13.7
	Liberal Democrat	Nick Cope*	1,113	13.4
	Liberal Democrat	Annie Feltham*	1,032	12.4
	Labour	Abigail Fuller	710	8.5
	Conservative	Annesley Hardy*	691	8.3
	Conservative	Simon Crow	666	8.0
	Conservative	Ben Payne	616	7.4
	Labour	Oladipo Odedengbe	563	6.8
	Labour	Jaki Whyte	559	6.7
	Green	Bob Brannan	555	6.7
	Green	Ruby Runnalls Palmer	346	4.2
	Green	Laurence Knight	317	3.8
Turnout			2,900	33.9
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

Top-candidate result		%
	Liberal Democrat	36.8
	Conservative	22.9
	Labour	22.3
	Green	17.9

Old Heath & The Hythe

Old Heath & The Hythe ward

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	15.4
	Labour	Adam Fox	1,025	13.8
	Labour	Lee Scordis	925	12.5
	Liberal Democrat	Julia Havis*	747	10.1
	Liberal Democrat	Janet Knight	711	9.6
	Liberal Democrat	Justin Knight*	689	9.3
	Green	Susan Allen	451	6.1
	Conservative	Liam Gallagher	435	5.9
	Conservative	Richard Brown	403	5.4
	Conservative	Alan Scattergood	344	4.6
	Green	Jan Plummer	302	4.1
	Green	Andrew Canessa	258	3.5
Turnout			2,699	34.8
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Top-candidate result Labour   40.8% Liberal Democrat   27.1% Green Party   16.3% Conservative   15.8%

Prettygate

Prettygate ward

Prettygate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Sue Lissimore*	2,024	22.8
	Conservative	Beverly Davis*	1,675	18.9
	Conservative	Roger Buston*	1,637	18.4
	Liberal Democrat	Jake Beavan	649	7.3
	Labour	Mike Dale	599	6.7
	Liberal Democrat	Glanville Williams	585	6.6
	Labour	Richard Bourne	563	6.3
	Labour	Clive Needle	379	4.3
	Green	Ruby Butler	369	4.2
	Green	Luke O'Loughlin	209	2.4
	Green	Mike Stewart	192	2.2
Turnout			3,227	40.6
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Conservative	55.6	+4.5
	Liberal Democrat	17.8	-3.9
	Labour	16.5	+4.7
	Green	10.1	+5.7

Rural North

Rural North ward

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	24.1
	Conservative	Nigel Chapman*	1,824	23.0
	Conservative	Peter Chillingworth*	1,665	21.0
	Green	Roger Bamforth	488	6.1
	Liberal Democrat	Will Brown	478	6.0
	Green	Blake Roberts	367	4.6
	Labour	Kevin Finnigan	322	4.1
	Labour	Judith Short	319	4.0
	Green	Janita Le Fevre	282	3.6
	Labour	Paul Fryer-Kelsey	278	3.5
Turnout			3,030	36.2
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Top-candidate results Conservative   59.8% Green Party   15.2% Liberal Democrat   14.9% Labour   10.1%

Shrub End

Shrub End ward

Shrub End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Lyn Barton*	960	16.9
	Liberal Democrat	Karen Chaplin	569	10.0
	Conservative	Pauline Hazell*	526	9.2
	Conservative	Mike Hardy	510	9.0
	Liberal Democrat	Jamie Chaplin	508	8.9
	Conservative	Vic Flores	496	8.7
	UKIP	Bruno Hickman	379	6.7
	Independent	Sharron Lawrence	349	6.1
	Labour	Bruce Tuxford	324	5.7
	Labour	Steve Dunt	322	5.7
	Labour	Stuart Ellis	305	5.4
	Green	Wolfgang Fauser	206	3.6
	Green	Stuart Welham	143	2.5
	Green	Maria Harrison	92	1.6
Turnout			2,165	28.2
	Liberal Democrat hold
	Liberal Democrat hold
	Conservative hold

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Liberal Democrat	35.0	+8.8
	Conservative	19.2	-15.2
	UKIP	13.8	-3.3
	Independent	12.7	N/A
	Labour	11.8	-4.9
	Green	7.5	+1.8

St. Anne's & St. John's

St. Anne's & St. John's ward

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	17.9
	Liberal Democrat	Helen Chuah*	1,352	17.0
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Smith*	1,215	15.3
	UKIP	Jason Berry	637	8.0
	Conservative	Charles McKay	568	7.1
	UKIP	Bill Faram	529	6.6
	Conservative	Peter Klejna-Wendt	511	6.4
	Conservative	Terry Sutton	465	5.8
	Labour	Sam Fuller	276	3.5
	Labour	Amanda Stannard	274	3.4
	Labour	Alex Yeandle	251	3.2
	Green	Callum Fauser	191	2.4
	Green	Robert Chambers	160	2.0
	Green	Megan Maltby	111	1.4
Turnout			2,883	35.7
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

Top-candidate result Liberal Democrat   46.0% UKIP   20.6% Conservative   18.3% Labour   8.9% Green Party   6.2%

Stanway

Stanway ward

Stanway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Fiona Maclean*	963	15.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Lesley Scott-Boutell	962	15.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jessica Scott-Boutell*	944	14.8	N/A
	Conservative	Paul Dundas	839	13.1	N/A
	Conservative	Christopher Manby	792	12.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jon Manning*	629	9.8	N/A
	Labour	David Hough	302	4.7	N/A
	Labour	Carol Spademan	302	4.7	N/A
	Labour	Ian Yates	256	4.0	N/A
	Green	Walter Schwartz	137	2.1	N/A
	Green	Will Price	137	2.1	N/A
	Green	Nicholas Blondel	136	2.1	N/A
Turnout			2,331	36.2	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrat gain from Independent		Swing
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Party		%	+/-
	Conservative	40.7	-1.7
	Liberal Democrat	40.7	+3.7
	Labour	12.8	-1.4
	Green	5.8	-0.2

Tiptree

Tiptree ward

Tiptree

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Elliott*	1,459	24.1
	Conservative	Barbara Wood	1,403	23.2
	Conservative	Derek Loveland	1,370	22.6
	Labour	Joanne Devine	400	6.6
	Labour	Barbara Nichols	400	6.6
	Labour	Robert Spademan	371	6.1
	Green	Kathy Bamforth	291	4.8
	Green	Rob Cronshaw	196	3.2
	Green	Adam Abo Henriksen	165	2.7
Turnout			2,247	31.5
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Top-candidate result		%	+/-
	Conservative	67.9	+25.1
	Labour	18.6	+5.4
	Green	13.5	+10.3

Wivenhoe

Wivenhoe ward

Wivenhoe was created from the following wards:

• Wivenhoe Cross
• Wivenhoe Quay

Wivenhoe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour Co-op	Cyril Liddy*	1,154	12.2
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Cory*	1,141	12.0
	Labour Co-op	Rosalind Scott*	1,137	12.0
	Labour Co-op	Phil Finn	998	10.5
	Conservative	Peter Hill	906	9.5
	Liberal Democrat	Sanchia Nash	892	9.4
	Independent	Andrea Luxford Vaughan	549	5.8
	Liberal Democrat	Alex Hale	499	5.3
	Independent	Mike Newton	464	4.9
	Conservative	Craig Stuart	447	4.7
	Independent	Shaun Boughton	416	4.4
	Conservative	Roman Perrior	379	4.0
	Green	Tim Glover	278	2.9
	Green	Laura Pountney	123	1.3
	Green	Lora Aziz	113	1.2
Turnout			3,185	53.3
	Labour Co-op win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrat win (new seat)
	Labour Co-op win (new seat)

Top-candidate result Labour   28.6% Liberal Democrat   28.3% Conservative   22.5% Independent   13.6% Green Party   6.9%

References