2002 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election

The 2002 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from the Labour Party.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Conservative 26
• Labour 22^[2]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives win a majority of 4 on the council after gaining 3 seats from Labour.^[3] The Conservatives gained seats in Hatfield West and Sherrards wards, as well as one of the 2 seats being contested in Hatfield North, where 3 recounts were needed to separate the top 4 candidates who all finished within 17 votes of each other.^[3] The Liberal Democrats failed to win any seats, but came second in 4 wards and were within 22 votes of the Conservative winner in Handside ward.^[3] Overall turnout in the election was 35.3%,^[4] a rise of about 3% on the 2000 election after all voters were able to get postal votes for the first time.^[3]

Welwyn Hatfield Local Election Result 2002^[4]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	11	3	0	+3	64.7	48.2	12,413	+2.4%
	Labour	6	0	3	-3	35.3	34.3	8,827	-4.7%
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	17.5	4,506	+4.5%

Ward results

Brookmans Park & Little Heath^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Dean	1,289	75.9	+0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Catherine Edwards	217	12.8	+1.9
	Labour	Derek Marcus	192	11.3	−2.2
Majority			1,072	63.1	+1.0
Turnout			1,698
	Conservative hold		Swing

Haldens^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Orrett	760	54.6	−2.5
	Conservative	Stuart Jackson	407	29.2	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Bassett	225	16.2	+3.7
Majority			353	25.4	−1.2
Turnout			1,392
	Labour hold		Swing

Handside^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Carl Storer	888	41.6	−7.2
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Cooke	866	40.5	+21.5
	Labour	Pascal Jacquemain	383	17.9	−4.3
Majority			22	1.1	−25.5
Turnout			2,137
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hatfield Central^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin Croft	558	42.6	−2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Hazel Laming	470	35.9	+10.1
	Conservative	Andrew Peffer	283	21.6	−7.8
Majority			88	6.7	−8.7
Turnout			1,311
	Labour hold		Swing

Hatfield East^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter O'Brien	969	58.1	+8.8
	Labour	Margaret White	423	25.4	−15.5
	Liberal Democrats	Lis Meyland-Smith	276	16.5	+6.7
Majority			546	32.7	+24.3
Turnout			1,668
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hatfield North (2)^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Davidson	617
	Labour	Bridgit Croft	609
	Conservative	John Morgan	606
	Labour	Linda Mendez	600
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Griffiths	214
	Liberal Democrats	Maurice Richardson	206
Turnout			2,852
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Hatfield West^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Atkinson	838	50.5	+9.3
	Labour	Samuel Smith	625	37.7	−9.3
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Archer	195	11.8	0.0
Majority			213	12.8
Turnout			1,658
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Hollybush^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Birleson	780	60.2	−3.1
	Conservative	Marian Pile	356	27.5	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Gammage	160	12.3	+0.8
Majority			424	32.7	−5.4
Turnout			1,296
	Labour hold		Swing

Howlands^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Chesterman	780	53.4	−3.0
	Conservative	John Burnapp	468	32.0	−0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Arch	214	14.6	+3.4
Majority			312	21.4	−2.7
Turnout			1,462
	Labour hold		Swing

Northaw^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Nicholls	1,196	79.6	+20.1
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Edwards	162	10.8	+0.9
	Labour	Brenda Marcus	145	9.6	+0.9
Majority			1,034	68.8	+31.2
Turnout			1,503
	Conservative hold		Swing

Panshanger^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Russell Le Page	837	50.9	−2.5
	Labour	Julia Harrison	486	29.6	−6.0
	Liberal Democrats	Ted Naseby	321	19.5	+8.5
Majority			351	21.3	+3.5
Turnout			1,644
	Conservative hold		Swing

Peartree^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jacqueline Russell	637	59.1	−0.7
	Conservative	David Perkins	242	22.5	−5.0
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Armstrong-Bridges	198	18.4	+5.7
Majority			395	36.6	+4.3
Turnout			1,077
	Labour hold		Swing

Sherrards^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Scarff	1,074	47.0	+2.3
	Labour	Lynn Chesterman	967	42.4	−3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Lotz	242	10.6	+0.7
Majority			107	4.6
Turnout			2,283
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Welham Green^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patricia Storey	622	63.3	0.0
	Labour	Margaret Toch	225	22.9	−2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Bain	136	13.8	+2.6
Majority			397	40.4	+2.6
Turnout			983
	Conservative hold		Swing

Welwyn North^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Scarff	719	63.5
	Labour	Jan Burnell	216	19.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Bartlett	198	17.5
Majority			503	44.4
Turnout			1,133
	Conservative hold		Swing

Welwyn South^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Amanda Perkins	1,002	60.8	−2.7
	Labour	Julia Henderson	441	26.7	+5.7
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Skidmore	206	12.5	−3.0
Majority			561	34.1	−8.4
Turnout			1,649
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Welwyn Hatfield". BBC News Online. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
2. "Election results; Local Elections". The Times. 3 May 2002. p. 6.
3. "Tories seize control in Welwyn Hatfield elections". Southern Daily Echo. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
4. "Welwyn Hatfield District Elections 2002" (PDF). Welwyn Hatfield Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2004. Retrieved 5 March 2010.