2007 Gravesham Borough Council election

2007 Gravesham Borough Council election
All 44 seats in the Gravesham Borough Council; 23 seats needed for a majority
	Map of the results of the 2007 Gravesham council election. Labour in red and Conservatives in blue.
Council control before election; ; Labour	Council control after election ; ; Conservative

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

Background

Before the election Labour had run the council since 1995 and since the 2003 election had 23 seats, compared to 21 for the Conservatives.^[2] The Conservatives had therefore needed to gain 2 seats to take control from Labour.^[2]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives gain control of the council from Labour, the first time the Conservatives had control of the council in 20 years.^{[citation needed]} The Conservatives moved to 26 seats after winning 54% of the vote, while Labour dropped to 16 seats on a 40% vote share.^[3] Overall turnout at the election was 36.4%, up from 31% at the 2003 election.^[3]

The Conservative gains included taking all 3 seats in the wards of Painters Ash and Singlewell from Labour.^[3] The Conservatives also held the seats in Whitehill where the two sitting councillors, George Lambton and Derek Robinson, had stood as independents after being deselected by the Conservatives before the election.^[3] The leader of the Conservatives on the council, Michael Snelling, said "I am over the moon. I think we have exceeded our expectations.", while the Labour council leader, John Burden said he planned "to come back in four years' time".^[3]

The election in Meopham North was postponed after the death of one of the Conservative councillors Malcolm Burgoyne on 25 April.^[4] The delayed election in Meopham North was held on 21 June and saw the Conservatives hold both seats in the ward.^[5] The Conservative leader, Michael Snelling, was one of the two winners in Meopham North and as a result was able to then become the new leader of the council.^[3]

Gravesham Local Election Result 2007^[6]^[7]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	28	7	0	+7	61.9	54.8	13,786	-0.5%
Labour	16	0	7	-7	38.1	35.5	8,918	-7.5%
Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	5.8	1,459	+5.0
Green	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	491	+1.1
Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.5	383	+1.5
Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	114	+0.5

Ward results

Central (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Greta Goatley	1,081
	Conservative	Bronwen McGarrity	1,041
	Conservative	Samir Jassal	998
	Labour	Lana Aitchison	727
	Labour	Mukhtar Goraya	667
	Labour	Maureen Newell	651
Turnout			5,165	43	+6
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chalk^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Hills	501	76.6	+10.6
	Labour	Colin Pritchard	153	23.4	−10.6
Majority			348	53.2	+21.2
Turnout			654	38	+0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Coldharbour^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Howes	564
	Labour	Rosemary Leadley	535
	Conservative	Murray Barrett	383
	Conservative	John Stubbings	364
Turnout			1,846	31	+9
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Higham (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patricia Oakeshott	994
	Conservative	Bryan Sweetland	799
	Labour	Eileen Rice	251
	Green	Gwen Easdown	197
	Labour	Leslie Howes	190
Turnout			2,431	41	+4
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Istead Rise (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Turner	1,023
	Conservative	Kenneth Jones	1,013
	Labour	Douglas Christie	185
	Labour	David Webber	170
Turnout			2,391	44	+5
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Meopham North (2)^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Michael Snelling	681
	Conservative	Laura Hryniewicz	662
	Liberal Democrats	James Willis	200
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian McGill	178
	Green	Richard Crawford	104
	Labour	Mary Williams	59
	Labour	Pamela Sales	57
	Monster Raving Loony	Lord Toby Jug	31
Turnout			1,972	29.0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Meopham South and Vigo (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslye Boycott	853
	Conservative	Ray Collins	767
	Labour	Mark Waterfield	209
	Green	Ann Wakeman	190
	Labour	Colin Meredith	162
	Monster Raving Loony	Lord Toby Jug	83
Turnout			2,264	36	+6
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Note: The election in Meopham North was delayed to 21 June due to the death of a candidate.

Northfleet North (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ronald Bowman	886
	Labour	Tanmanjeet Dhesi	849
	Labour	Andrea Webb	841
	Conservative	Clarice Masterson	437
	Conservative	Eileen Tuff	431
	Conservative	Arthur Fitz-Simon	417
	Liberal Democrats	Bruce Parmenter	178
	Liberal Democrats	James Willis	178
	Liberal Democrats	Emily Slight	166
Turnout			4,383	32	+11
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Northfleet South (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Loughlin	740
	Labour	John Burden	730
	Labour	Narinder Thandi	706
	Conservative	John Nichols	551
	Conservative	Julia Burgoyne	510
	Conservative	Anne Welldon	463
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian McGill	192
Turnout			3,892	31	+5
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Painters Ash^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Craske	874
	Conservative	Adrian Warburton	812
	Conservative	Peter Barbuti	790
	Labour	John Thompson	779
	Labour	Dick Target	770
	Labour	Harry Smith	743
	Liberal Democrats	Amanda Crane	248
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Stevenson	220
	Liberal Democrats	Mervyn McGill	195
Turnout			5,431	43	+7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Pelham (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Makhan Singh	967
	Labour	Jane Cribbon	956
	Labour	Derek Sales	943
	Conservative	Christopher Barnes	759
	Conservative	Doreen Fairbrother	694
	Conservative	Laura Hryniewicz	658
	Liberal Democrats	Robert McGill	203
	Liberal Democrats	Jodi Parmenter	148
Turnout			5,328	39	+6
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Riverside (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lyn Milner	753
	Labour	Richard Smith	752
	Labour	Lee Croxton	738
	Conservative	Juliet Baker	469
	Conservative	Heather Frost	450
	Conservative	Helen Skellorn	447
Turnout			3,609	29	+4
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Riverview^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Lambert	777
	Conservative	David Hurley	726
	Labour	Kenneth Green	407
	Labour	Robin McLauchlan	378
Turnout			2,288	36	+1
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shorne, Cobham & Luddesdown (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alex Moore	1,295	43.8
	Conservative	Robin Theobald	1,255	42.4
	Labour	Rita Mitchell	205	6.9
	Labour	Dorothy Riley	203	6.9
Turnout			2,958	48	+8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Singlewell (3)^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sara Langdale	786
	Conservative	John Cubitt	763
	Conservative	Conrad Broadley	750
	Labour	Peggy Mersh	633
	Labour	Hopeton Robinson	593
	Labour	Stephen Webb	569
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Scott	201
Turnout			4,295	32	+9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Westcourt (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin Caller	662
	Labour	John Caller	636
	Conservative	Graeme Biggs	613
	Conservative	Thomas Ballard	612
	Labour	Brian Newell	602
	Conservative	Teresa Sweetland	585
Turnout			3,710	29	+4
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Whitehill (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Diane Marsh	675
	Conservative	Glen Handley	670
	Labour	Brian Francis	382
	Labour	Alfred Mersh	371
	Independent	Derek Robinson	164
	Independent	George Lambton	153
Turnout			2,415	40	+3
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Woodlands (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Dyke	1,034
	Conservative	Mick Wenban	1,013
	Conservative	Anthony Pritchard	966
	Labour	Carole Bowman	356
	Labour	Andrew Delapena	329
	Labour	Peter Leadley	323
	Liberal Democrats	David Bigelow	237
	Independent	Ronald Stanford	219
Turnout			4,477	37	+8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ "Gravesham". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b Sherman, Jill (19 April 2007). "Cameron talks rubbish to gain votes". The Times. Retrieved 26 September 2011.^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Goodson, Barry; White, Alison (4 May 2007). "Tories rule in Gravesham". News Shopper. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
^ "Election for last ward today". News Shopper. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Election results for Meopham North". Gravesham Borough Council. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "The final outcome". Gravesham Borough Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
^ "Local and Mayoral elections 2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
^ "Election results for Singlewell". Gravesham Borough Council. Retrieved 26 September 2011.

[gain-1] "Gravesham". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2011.

[rubbish-2] Sherman, Jill (19 April 2007). "Cameron talks rubbish to gain votes". The Times. Retrieved 26 September 2011.^{[dead link]}

[rule-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Goodson, Barry; White, Alison (4 May 2007). "Tories rule in Gravesham". News Shopper. Retrieved 26 September 2011.

[last-4] "Election for last ward today". News Shopper. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2011.

[meopham-5] "Election results for Meopham North". Gravesham Borough Council. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.

[results-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "The final outcome". Gravesham Borough Council. Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.

[mayoral-7] "Local and Mayoral elections 2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2011.

[singlewell-8] "Election results for Singlewell". Gravesham Borough Council. Retrieved 26 September 2011.

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