2007 Rushmoor Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2007 Rushmoor council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and Labour in red.

The 2007 Rushmoor Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Rushmoor Borough Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Campaign

Before the election the Conservatives held 26 seats, the Liberal Democrats 10, Labour 5 and 1 independent.[3] 14 seats were being contested with candidates from the 3 main parties on the council, as well as 4 from the British National Party, 1 Official Monster Raving Loony Party and 1 independent.[3]

Issues in the election included the recent introduction of alternate weekly collection of rubbish and recycling, town centre redevelopments, council tax and anti-social behaviour.[3] Another issue that arose during the campaign was the responsibility for a new play area in North Town, Aldershot, with different parties claiming the credit.[4]

Rushmoor saw a trial of internet voting with votes able to be cast this way in the week before the election.[5] 6,600 voters had registered to vote online as well as 5,500 who had opted to vote by post.[6] When the online voting opened however there was a problem with the Conservative candidate in Wellington ward being placed against the Labour emblem, but this was spotted and corrected sufficiently quickly that the candidates accepted that the result had not been compromised.[7]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives keep control of the council with an increased majority after gaining 2 seats from the Liberal Democrats.[8] The Conservatives gained in Cove and Southwood by 226 votes and in West Heath by 144 votes to hold 28 of the 42 seats.[9] The Liberal Democrats defended the other 2 seats they had held, after coming closest to gaining a seat in St Mark's ward where the Conservatives had a majority of 40.[9] Labour held their 2 seats, while an independent who had campaigned against alternate week refuse collection was well beaten in Knellwood by Conservative Roland Dibbs who won 56% of the vote.[9][10]

The trial of internet voting failed to increase turnout, which dropped to 35.2% from the 36% in the 2006 election.[9] In total 3,827 of the 6,686 people registered to vote online did so, 57.2%, with disagreement over whether the trial was a success.[11]

Following the election the only independent councillor, Peter Sandy, resigned from the council causing a by-election in Heron Wood ward.[12]

Rushmoor Local Election Result 2007[13][14]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 10 2 0 +2 71.4 48.6 10,394 +2.9%
  Liberal Democrats 2 0 2 -2 14.3 30.7 6,553 +0.3%
  Labour 2 0 0 0 14.3 14.8 3,169 +0.2%
  BNP 0 0 0 0 0 4.1 867 +0.5%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 1.3 288 -1.7%
  Monster Raving Loony 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 103 +0.2%

Ward results

Cove & Southwood[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alan Chainey 915 53.8 +0.3
Liberal Democrats Anoop Verma 689 40.5 +6.3
Labour Edward Shelton 97 5.7 −1.3
Majority 226 13.3 −5.9
Turnout 1,701
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Empress[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Brian Parker 1,150 63.9 +0.1
Liberal Democrats Toby Smith 480 26.7 −1.7
Labour Christopher Wright 169 9.4 +1.6
Majority 670 37.2 +1.8
Turnout 1,799
Conservative hold Swing
Fernhill[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kenneth Muschamp 844 57.8 +1.7
Liberal Democrats Josephine Murphy 269 18.4 −7.0
BNP Cheryl Glass 252 17.3 −1.2
Labour Martin Coule 95 6.5 +6.5
Majority 575 39.4 +8.7
Turnout 1,460
Conservative hold Swing
Grange[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Hazel Manning 614 40.7 +16.2
Conservative Jacqueline Vosper 568 37.7 −7.2
BNP Janette Brunning 198 13.1 −3.8
Labour Clive Grattan 128 8.5 −5.2
Majority 46 3.0
Turnout 1,508
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Heron Wood[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Donald Cappleman 501 39.0 +2.0
Conservative Bruce Thomas 451 35.1 +7.9
Liberal Democrats Ian Colpus 332 25.9 −3.4
Majority 50 3.9 −3.8
Turnout 1,284
Labour hold Swing
Knellwood[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Roland Dibbs 950 56.3 +10.0
Liberal Democrats Abu Bakar 320 19.0 +2.3
Independent Keith Parkins 288 17.1 −13.6
Labour William Tootill 129 7.6 +1.3
Majority 630 37.3 +21.6
Turnout 1,687
Conservative hold Swing
Manor Park[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Crerar 888 56.2 +7.9
Liberal Democrats Phillip Thompson 522 33.1 +1.9
Labour Lesley Pestridge 169 10.7 +2.0
Majority 366 23.2 +6.1
Turnout 1,579
Conservative hold Swing
Mayfield[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Neville Dewey 558 44.7 −1.8
Conservative Stephen Smith 306 24.5 +1.9
BNP Warren Glass 218 17.5 −2.7
Labour June Smith 167 13.4 +2.7
Majority 252 20.2 −3.7
Turnout 1,249
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
North Town[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Rust 775 56.6 −0.9
Conservative Sabaah Choudhary 383 28.0 −1.2
Liberal Democrats Laura Kilburn 212 15.5 −8.2
Majority 392 28.6 +0.3
Turnout 1,370
Labour hold Swing
Rowhill[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mohammad Choudhary 907 59.7 −1.2
Liberal Democrats Peter Pearson 297 19.6 +3.3
Labour Jill Clark 211 13.9 +1.8
Monster Raving Loony Robert Stanton 103 6.8 +3.1
Majority 610 40.2 −4.3
Turnout 1,518
Conservative hold Swing
St John's[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Tucker 931 53.2 +11.3
Liberal Democrats Leola Card 712 40.7 −10.4
Labour Mary Lawrance 108 6.2 −0.8
Majority 219 12.5
Turnout 1,751
Conservative hold Swing
St Mark's[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Diane Bedford 816 47.6 +6.7
Liberal Democrats Crispin Allard 776 45.3 −3.5
Labour Barry Jones 121 7.1 −3.2
Majority 40 2.3
Turnout 1,713
Conservative hold Swing
Wellington[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Francis Williams 485 49.2 +4.6
Labour Alexander Crawford 384 39.0 +4.3
Liberal Democrats John Campagnoli 116 11.8 −1.1
Majority 101 10.3 +0.4
Turnout 985
Conservative hold Swing
West Heath[13][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Staplehurst 800 45.2 −1.3
Liberal Democrats Shaun Murphy 656 37.1 −8.6
BNP Gary Brunning 199 11.2 +11.2
Labour Phillip Collins 115 6.5 −1.4
Majority 144 8.1 +7.3
Turnout 1,770
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing

References

  1. ^ "Rushmoor". BBC News Online. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Elections 2007: Town and country go to the polls". The Guardian. 4 May 2007. p. 6.
  3. ^ a b c "Will anything change?". gethampshire. 26 April 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  4. ^ "'Play area was not a Tory idea'". gethampshire. 1 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  5. ^ Coates, Sam (2 March 2007). "Ministers ignore e-voting fraud warning". The Times. p. 4.
  6. ^ "Vote from home". gethampshire. 26 April 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  7. ^ Coates, Sam (30 April 2007). "E-votes put wrong name next to the Labour rose". The Times. p. 24.
  8. ^ "Mixed results in Hampshire vote". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d "Election Results". gethampshire. 4 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  10. ^ "Independent's bid fails". gethampshire. 10 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  11. ^ "Embarrassing errors put future of e-voting in doubt". gethampshire. 25 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  12. ^ "Rushmoor's independent resigns". gethampshire. 18 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Local Election Results May 2007". Rushmoor Borough Council. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  14. ^ "Election 2007 Results". The Times. 4 May 2007. p. 8.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Tories tighten their grip on the borough". gethampshire. 11 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
Preceded by
2006 Rushmoor Council election 		Rushmoor local elections Succeeded by
2008 Rushmoor Council election