2007 Hertsmere Borough Council election

The 2007 Hertsmere Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Hertsmere Borough Council in Hertfordshire, 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:

Background

Before the election the Conservatives controlled the council with 28 seats, while the Liberal Democrats were the main opposition with 6 seats.^[3] 15 of the 39 seats were being contested at the election.^[3]

The election in Borehamwood Kenilworth ward saw the sitting Labour councillor for the previous 24 years, Frank Ward, stand as an independent against Conservative and Labour candidates.^[4]^[5] This came after Ward was deselected by the local Labour Party, with Ward accusing local Labour party members of a conspiracy and religious discrimination.^[4]^[5] However this was denied by Labour, with Labour saying he had "failed to meet the required standards to be considered as a Labour Party candidate".^[4]^[5]

Election result

The Conservatives maintained their majority on the council, staying on 28 seats after both gaining and losing a seat.^[6] The Liberal Democrats gained Bushey St James from the Conservatives to rise to 7 seats, but the Conservatives also gained a seat from Labour in Borehamwood Kenilworth, meaning that Labour was reduced to 4 councillors.^[6]

Conservative Penelope Swallow won in Borehamwood Kenilworth with a 49-vote majority over Labour, with independent Frank Ward having taken 216 votes.^[6] Ward said he was pleased with the result as he "was only determined that I would split the Labour vote, so to some extent I did win."^[6] However the retiring Labour group leader Leon Reefe said they felt "betrayed" by Ward.^[6]

Hertsmere Local Election Result 2007^[2]^[7]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	10	1	1	0	66.7	56.3	12,162	-1.3%
Liberal Democrats	3	1	0	+1	20.0	16.6	3,586	-4.7%
Labour	2	0	1	-1	13.3	21.3	4,608	+3.2%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	3.6	779	+2.4%
Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	234	+0.3%
Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	216	+1.0%

Ward results

Aldenham East^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Goldstein	854	75.2	−5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Silverman	100	8.8	−2.8
	Green	Jeanette McDermott	99	8.7	+8.7
	Labour	Richard Kirk	83	7.3	−0.9
Majority			754	66.4	−2.3
Turnout			1,136	39	−10
	Conservative hold		Swing

Aldenham West^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Daniel Griffin	834	74.3	+9.1
	Green	Caroline Boydell	152	13.5	+13.5
	Labour	Peter Halsey	137	12.2	−4.7
Majority			682	60.7	+13.4
Turnout			1,123	31	−7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Borehamwood Brookmeadow (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Darren Solomons	636
	Labour	Ian Feeney	623
	Labour	Richard Butler	617
	Conservative	Farida Turner	596
	Green	David Harris	227
Turnout			2,699	24	−13
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Borehamwood Cowley Hill^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Butler	724	49.0	+8.1
	Conservative	Alan Gellatly	521	35.2	−0.2
	Socialist Labour	James Dry	234	15.8	+3.9
Majority			203	13.7	+8.2
Turnout			1,479	26	−5
	Labour hold		Swing

Borehamwood Hillside^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jean Heywood	1,019	62.4	−0.3
	Labour	Lee Petar	615	37.6	+0.3
Majority			404	24.7	−0.7
Turnout			1,634	27	−8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Borehamwood Kenilworth^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Penelope Swallow	467	42.4	−1.0
	Labour	Peter Hedges	418	38.0	−4.4
	Independent	Francis Ward	216	19.6	+19.6
Majority			49	4.5	+3.5
Turnout			1,101	28	−4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Bushey Heath^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anne Swerling	1,308	75.3	+1.8
	Liberal Democrats	Patrick Forsyth	250	14.4	−3.8
	Labour	David Bearfield	178	10.3	+.0
Majority			1,058	60.9	+5.5
Turnout			1,736	34	−8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bushey North^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Kutchinsky	748	47.7	−11.0
	Conservative	Stephen O'Brien	607	38.7	+11.4
	Green	Arjuna Krishna-Das	110	7.0	+0.4
	Labour	Samuel Russell	102	6.5	−0.9
Majority			141	9.0	−22.5
Turnout			1,567	34	−8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bushey St James (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Anita Gamble	957
	Liberal Democrats	Laura Richards	838
	Conservative	Abul Choudhury	789
	Conservative	Pervez Choudhury	754
	Green	Edward Canfor-Dumas	191
	Labour	Yue Cheng	154
Turnout			3,683	38	−3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Elstree^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Morris Bright	1,029	88.3	+13.0
	Labour	Tim Sandle	136	11.7	−0.2
Majority			893	76.7	+14.3
Turnout			1,165	32	−3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Furzefield^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Morris	890	64.7	+5.4
	Liberal Democrats	James Hurd	277	20.1	−4.5
	Labour	James Fisher	209	15.2	−0.9
Majority			613	44.5	+9.9
Turnout			1,376	28	−14
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Oakmere^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Calcutt	1,199	75.1	+8.9
	Labour	Russell Ramshaw	398	24.9	+8.1
Majority			801	50.2	+1.1
Turnout			1,597	30	−6.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Parkfield^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Hodgson-Jones	1,579	71.5	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Bonner	416	18.8	−1.6
	Labour	Derek Marcus	214	9.7	+0.3
Majority			1,163	52.6	+2.7
Turnout			2,209	37	−4
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ "Hertsmere". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Local and Mayoral elections 2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b Hutchings, Emma (27 April 2007). "Can anyone get near the dominant Tories?". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ward goes independent". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hutchings, Emma (12 April 2007). "Labour Party breaks its silence in election dispute". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Hutchings, Emma (4 May 2007). "Former Labour councillor celebrates Tory borough victory". News Shopper. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "Election results - 2007". Hertsmere Borough Council. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[hold-1] "Hertsmere". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[mayoral-2] "Local and Mayoral elections 2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[dominant-3] Hutchings, Emma (27 April 2007). "Can anyone get near the dominant Tories?". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 25 October 2011.

[ward-4] "Ward goes independent". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2011.

[silence-5] Hutchings, Emma (12 April 2007). "Labour Party breaks its silence in election dispute". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 25 October 2011.

[former-6] Hutchings, Emma (4 May 2007). "Former Labour councillor celebrates Tory borough victory". News Shopper. Retrieved 25 October 2011.

[results-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "Election results - 2007". Hertsmere Borough Council. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

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