1999 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council election

The 1999 Southend-on-Sea Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Southend-on-Sea Unitary Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 19
• Liberal Democrat 12
• Labour 8^[2]

Election result

Before the election the Conservatives needed a swing of less than 5% in order to win a majority on the council,^[3] but despite targeting the council they failed to take control.^[4] However they came within a single vote of a majority, after Labour came top in both of the seats that were being contested in Milton ward.^[5] The second Labour candidate for the ward, Stephen George, was only one vote ahead of the sitting Conservative councillor, Joyce Lambert, thus preventing the Conservatives from holding the critical seat that would have seen them win control of the council.^[5]

The Conservatives did gain one seat from the Liberal Democrats in Leigh ward, as the Liberal Democrats lost votes across the council.^[5] This saw a number of close results for the Liberal Democrats as they only held Prittlewell by 5 votes from the Conservatives and Westborough by 4 votes over Labour.^[5] Overall turnout in the election was 26.5%.^[6]

The results meant that the Liberal Democrat and Labour administration, which had run the council for the previous 5 years, would continue.^[5]

Southend-on-Sea Local Election Result 1999^[2]^[7]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	7	1	1	0	50.0	46.2	16,448
	Labour	4	1	0	+1	28.6	29.2	10,409
	Liberal Democrats	3	0	1	-1	21.4	23.9	8,508
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.7	238

Ward results

Belfairs^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gwendoline Horrigan	1,997	58.4
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Ritchie	940	27.5
	Labour	Raymond Hales	482	14.1
Majority			1,057	30.9
Turnout			3,419	38.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Blenheim^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Smith	1,069	40.6
	Conservative	Peter Collins	1,034	39.2
	Labour	Teresa Merrison	533	20.2
Majority			35	1.3
Turnout			2,636	28.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Chalkwell^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Brown	1,450	54.4
	Liberal Democrats	Alistair Miller	766	28.8
	Labour	Philip Hannan	448	16.8
Majority			684	25.7
Turnout			2,664	28.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Eastwood^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Walker	1,563	49.5
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Betson	1,075	34.0
	Labour	Ernest Webb	520	16.5
Majority			488	15.5
Turnout			3,158	29.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Leigh^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Lamb	1,224	40.3
	Liberal Democrats	Albert Smulian	1,140	37.5
	Labour	Alan Harley	438	14.4
	Independent Against Leigh Town Council	Brian Isaacs	238	7.8
Majority			84	2.8
Turnout			3,040	33.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Milton (2)^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lilias Felton	934
	Labour	Stephen George	913
	Conservative	Joyce Lambert	912
	Conservative	Ahmad Khwaja	829
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Howes	198
	Liberal Democrats	Amanda Smith	191
Turnout			3,977	23.9
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Prittlewell^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Elf	918	38.3
	Conservative	Christopher Kerr	913	38.0
	Labour	Paul White	569	23.7
Majority			5	0.2
Turnout			2,400	26.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St Lukes^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Royston	902	54.8
	Conservative	Johnathan Garston	566	34.4
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Clark	179	10.9
Majority			336	20.4
Turnout			1,647	19.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Shoebury^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Verina Wilson	1,796	53.0
	Labour	Lesley Wisken	1,290	38.1
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Newton	300	8.9
Majority			506	14.9
Turnout			3,386	22.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Southchurch^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Kelly	1,463	63.3
	Labour	Denis Garne	627	27.1
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Woolcott	220	9.5
Majority			836	36.2
Turnout			2,310	26.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Thorpe^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sally Carr	1,656	68.5
	Labour	John Townsend	518	21.4
	Liberal Democrats	Timothy Ray	242	10.0
Majority			1,138	47.1
Turnout			2,416	24.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Victoria^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christopher Dandridge	1,201	59.2
	Conservative	Anthony Delaney	597	29.4
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Collins	232	11.4
Majority			604	29.8
Turnout			2,030	22.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Westborough^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Howard Gibeon	1,038	41.2
	Labour	Mark Flewitt	1,034	41.0
	Conservative	Michael Samuel	448	17.8
Majority			4	0.2
Turnout			2,520	29.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

References

1. "Southend-on-Sea". BBC News Online. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
2. "Local Councils: Results round-up". The Times. 7 May 1999. p. 4.
3. Pike, Alan (5 May 1999). "Tories may figure a way back into some local affections: Relatively modest voting swings could see Conservatives return to control of councils lost in the 1995 debacle, Alan Pike writes". Financial Times. p. 13.
4. "Lib Dems make big gains in early results: Local elections victories in Sheffield and Stockport". Financial Times. 7 May 1999. p. 12.
5. "Election summary: Essex voters go blue and green". Echo. 10 May 1999. Retrieved 31 March 2010. ^{[dead link‍]}
6. "Local Election Results, 1999". Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
7. "Southend Borough Council: Borough Council Election" (PDF). Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. Retrieved 31 March 2010.^{[permanent dead link‍]}