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The 2007 Eastbourne Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Eastbourne Borough Council in East Sussex, England. The whole council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats gained overall control of the council from the Conservative Party.^[1]

Background

After the 2006 election the Conservatives controlled the council with a majority of 3,^[2] with 15 seats, compared to 12 for the Liberal Democrats.^[3] For 2007 the council changed from the previous system whereby a third of the council was elected each year, to instead have the whole council elected every 4 years, after a unanimous vote by the council.^[2] Earlier in 2007 Norman Marsh left the Liberal Democrats to sit as an Independent, while Liberal Democrat Irene Sims resigned from the council.^[2]

A record 89 candidates stood at the election,^[3] up from the previous high of 81 in 2002 when the entire council was last elected.^[2] Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats stood a full 27 candidates, compared to 12 for Labour, 9 Green Party and 5 UK Independence Party.^[2] Councillors standing down at the election included Conservatives Patrick Bowker and David Stevens, Liberal Democrat Robert Slater and independent Norman Marsh.^[3]

Election result

The Liberal Democrats made 9 gains to take control of the council from the Conservatives^[4] for the first time since 2004, with 8 of the gains being from the Conservatives.^[5] The Liberal Democrats gained seats in Old Town, Sovereign and Upperton wards to hold 20 seats and have a majority of 13, while the Conservatives were reduced to 7 seats.^[6] The Conservatives losses included the leader of the council, Ian Lucas, in Old Town and the cabinet member for finance, Chris Williams, in Sovereign.^[7] Overall turnout at the election was 42.26%,^[8] compared to 40.70% in 2006.^[9]

The Liberal Democrat victory was attributed to the introduction of parking charges in Eastbourne by Conservative controlled East Sussex County Council and to a decision by borough councillors to increase their expenses by 52%.^[6] Following the election David Tutt became the new leader of the council, while the national Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell came to Eastbourne to celebrate the result.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Eastbourne local election result 2007^[8]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Liberal Democrats	20	9	0	+9	74.1	48.6	40,571	+8.1
Conservative	7	0	8	-8	25.9	41.9	34,975	-4.6
Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	5.8	4,846	-2.1
Labour	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.6	2,211	-2.5
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.1	909	+1.1
Independent	0	0	1	-1	0.0	N/A	0	N/A

Ward results

Devonshire (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Bannister	1,598
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Stanley	1,442
	Liberal Democrats	Steven Wallis	1,395
	Conservative	Camilla Lau	632
	Conservative	Sandra Elkin	619
	Conservative	Marco Giorgi	569
	Green	Simon Payne	229
	Green	Zoe Vonderdell	224
	Labour	Keith Gell	160
	UKIP	Len Richardson	157
	Labour	Richard Goude	154
Turnout			7,179	34.5	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Hampden Park (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Pooley	1,338
	Liberal Democrats	Olive Woodall	1,277
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Thompson	1,138
	Conservative	Christopher Brenchley	555
	Conservative	Bill Bailey	499
	Conservative	Milly Skriczka	417
	Labour	Ann Ring	274
	Labour	David Brinson	230
	Green	Leslie Dalton	208
	Labour	David Salmon	197
	Green	Finn O'Shea	181
	Green	Ivor Hueting	164
Turnout			6,478	31.9	−1.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Langney (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Harun Miah	1,453
	Liberal Democrats	Troy Tester	1,333
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Purchese	1,310
	Conservative	Tony Freebody	912
	Conservative	Marcus Maddison-White	826
	Conservative	John Stanbury	806
	Green	Chris Quarrington	192
	Labour	Colin Akers	174
	Green	Amy Erridge	163
Turnout			7,169	34.0	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Meads (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barry Taylor	2,407
	Conservative	David Elkin	2,387
	Conservative	Nigel Goodyear	2,329
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Ticehurst	729
	Liberal Democrats	Jean Fisher	692
	Liberal Democrats	Brendan Creaven	681
	Green	Kate Arnold	457
	Green	Harry Boys	375
	Green	Dorothy Forsyth	299
	Labour	Dennis Scard	220
Turnout			10,576	47.9	−1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Old Town (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Carolyn Heaps	2,202
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Goodwin	2,007
	Liberal Democrats	Gregory Szanto	1,939
	Conservative	Anne Angel	1,890
	Conservative	Ian Lucas	1,772
	Conservative	Simon Herbert	1,667
	Green	Clive Gross	681
	UKIP	Anne Chambers	191
	Labour	Ann Cottrell	190
Turnout			12,539	54.8	+4.3
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Ratton (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Belsey	2,076
	Conservative	Barbara Goodall	1,970
	Conservative	Sandie Howlett	1,920
	Liberal Democrats	Patricia Hearn	1,184
	Liberal Democrats	John Moore	1,128
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Staker	1,023
	Green	Nancy Dalton	332
	UKIP	Ken Alderton	270
	Green	Kev Moore	240
	Labour	Jim Nolan	172
Turnout			10,315	48.3	+1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Anthony's (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Tutt	2,344
	Liberal Democrats	Jon Harris	2,242
	Liberal Democrats	Gill Mattock	2,193
	Conservative	Jane Challen	766
	Conservative	Tom Stoddart	735
	Conservative	Susan Steinberg	710
	Green	Hugh Norris	199
	Labour	Ian Culshaw	170
	Green	Rob Sier	156
Turnout			9,515	41.3	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent		Swing

Sovereign (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Morris	1,762
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Bloom	1,756
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Salsbury	1,692
	Conservative	Patrick Warner	1,379
	Conservative	Tracy Moles	1,298
	Conservative	Christopher Williams	1,294
	Green	Jocelyn McCarthy	269
	Labour	David Mieres	121
Turnout			9,571	39.0	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Upperton (3 seats)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Hough	1,610
	Liberal Democrats	Rebecca Madell	1,573
	Conservative	Graham Marsden	1,557
	Conservative	Bob Lacey	1,534
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Rodohan	1,530
	Conservative	Ann Murray	1,449
	Green	Stephanie Lewis	253
	Green	Liam Stephens	224
	Labour	Elizabeth Goude	149
	UKIP	Geraldine Mackillop	146
	UKIP	Paul Murden	145
Turnout			10,170	46.3	+5.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing