2007 West Somerset District Council election

The 2007 West Somerset District Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of West Somerset District Council in Somerset, England. The whole council was up for election and independents gained overall control of the council from the Conservative party.^[1]

Election result

The Conservatives dropped to 13 seats, a net loss of 4, and fell behind the independents who became the largest group with 16 councillors.^[2]^[3] Conservative losses included defeats in the seats of Alcombe East, Old Cleeve, Porlock, Quantock Vale and West Quantock, but they did make some gains, including in Watchet where an independent lost a seat.^[3] Both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats lost a seat, to only have one councillor each.^[4] Overall turnout at the election was 46.9%.^[3]

Following the election independent councillor Keith Ross became the new leader of the council, taking over from the Conservatives, with Labour councillor Simon Stokes becoming deputy leader.^[5]

West Somerset local election result 2007^[1]^[6]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Independent	16	9	3	+6	51.6	48.0	10,292	+18.8%
Conservative	13	4	8	-4	41.9	43.0	9,218	+0.9%
Labour	1	0	1	-1	3.2	5.4	1,150	-11.3%
Liberal Democrats	1	0	1	-1	3.2	3.6	776	-7.1%

Ward results

Alcombe East (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ian Melhuish	323
	Conservative	Nicolas Messarra	201
	Conservative	Jamie Anderson	157
Turnout			681	43.7	+22.8
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Alcombe West (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Simon Stokes	479
	Conservative	Norman Hercock	355
	Labour	Marcus Kravis	348
Turnout			1,182	39.2	+4.4
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Aville Vale^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Webber	313	55.4	−23.1
	Independent	Aron Cody-Boutcher	252	44.6	+23.2
Majority			61	10.8	−46.5
Turnout			565	56.2	+7.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Brompton Ralph and Haddon^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Turner	255	63.1	+23.3
	Independent	David Gliddon	149	36.9	−23.3
Majority			106	26.2
Turnout			404	54.3	+9.4
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Carhampton and Withycombe^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Humber	417	71.8
	Conservative	Brian Jenkinson	164	28.2
Majority			253	43.6
Turnout			581	56.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Crowcombe and Stogumber^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Tim Taylor	315	58.0
	Independent	Roy Harbour	228	42.0
Majority			87	16.0
Turnout			543	58.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Dulverton and Brushford (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Keith Ross	684
	Independent	Michael Gammon	451
	Conservative	Paul Chamberlain	341
Turnout			1,476	53.3	+0.8
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Dunster^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bryan Leaker	186	59.8	−0.4
	Independent	Julie Harvey-Smith	125	40.2	+19.3
Majority			61	19.6	−19.6
Turnout			311	47.9	−2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Exmoor^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steven Pugsley	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Minehead North (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Doug Ross	822
	Conservative	Christine Lawrence	580
	Conservative	David Sanders	453
	Conservative	Jeremy White	415
Turnout			2,270	41.4	+3.9
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Minehead South (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Terry Venner	822
	Independent	Michael Downes	706
	Independent	John Walker	631
	Conservative	Anthony Berry	571
	Conservative	Dudley Seale	442
	Conservative	Stan Taylor	331
Turnout			3,503	43.4	+2.2
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Old Cleeve (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Kate Kravis	532
	Independent	Neil Parbrook	479
	Conservative	Pamela Driver	302
Turnout			1,313	42.7
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Porlock and District (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Angela Palmer	656
	Independent	Jon Freeman	427
	Conservative	Mike Padgett	273
Turnout			1,356	47.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Quantock Vale (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Chris Morgan	424
	Independent	Paul Tipney	420
	Conservative	Mary Crowley	335
	Conservative	Loretta Whetlor	243
Turnout			1,422	46.6	+4.8
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Quarme^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Christopher White	347	71.0
	Independent	John Bray	142	29.0
Majority			205	42.0
Turnout			489	59.3
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Watchet (3)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Westcott	716
	Conservative	Anthony Knight	505
	Independent	Jennifer Hill	441
	Independent	David Banks	425
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Bowden	359
	Labour	Peter Murphy	323
	Conservative	Ann Snelling	300
Turnout			3,069	42.3	+0.7
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

West Quantock^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Mitch Wicking	301	58.2	+14.4
	Conservative	Barbara Child	216	41.8	−14.4
Majority			85	16.4
Turnout			51.7	54.6	+1.6
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Williton (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Hugh Davies	696
	Independent	Edwin May	298
	Independent	Ian Aldridge	269
	Conservative	Rose Woods	246
	Independent	John Holden	214
	Independent	William Gulliford	31
Turnout			1,754	47.7	+1.8
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

By-elections between 2007 and 2011

Alcombe East

Alcombe East By-Election 1 May 2008^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dudley Seale	263	59.4	+21.0
	Independent	Sandra Slade	103	23.3	−38.3
	Labour	Ronald Bridle	42	9.5	+9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Bowden	35	7.9	+7.9
Majority			160	36.1
Turnout			443	41.1	−2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Minehead South

Minehead South By-Election 16 April 2009^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Sandra Slade	393	51.5	−7.5
	Conservative	Leslie Smith	370	48.5	+7.5
Majority			23	3.0
Turnout			763
	Independent hold		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b "West Somerset". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
^ "Election round-up: Somerset". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Alder, Chris (4 May 2007). "Independents wrest control at West Somerset". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ "Tories lose out to independents". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ Alder, Chris (18 May 2007). "New faces take the helm". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "West Somerset District Council – May 2007". West Somerset Council. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
^ "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). West Somerset Council. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
^ "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). West Somerset Council. Retrieved 4 September 2009.

[gain-1] "West Somerset". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2011.

[round-2] "Election round-up: Somerset". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[wrest-3] Alder, Chris (4 May 2007). "Independents wrest control at West Somerset". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[out-4] "Tories lose out to independents". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[helm-5] Alder, Chris (18 May 2007). "New faces take the helm". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[results-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "West Somerset District Council – May 2007". West Somerset Council. Retrieved 26 November 2011.

[alcombe-7] "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). West Somerset Council. Retrieved 4 September 2009.

[minehead-8] "Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). West Somerset Council. Retrieved 4 September 2009.

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