2008 Denbighshire County Council election

The 2008 Denbighshire County Council election took place in Denbighshire, Wales, on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Denbighshire Council.^[1] This was the same day as other 2008 United Kingdom local elections. The previous elections took place in 2004 and the next all-council elections took place in 2012.

Background

Six months before the election, the Independent council leader, Rhiannon Hughes, and her entire cabinet had been voted out of their positions, following the release of a critical schools report. ^[2]

Contests in May 2008 took place in all of the 30 electoral wards.

Results

Overview

The Conservatives became the largest group on the council after taking new seats, largely from Independent councillors.^[1]

Denbighshire County Council election 2008 ^[3]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	18	11		+11	38.2	29.0	10,053	+11.5
Independent	13	1	8	-7	27.6	31.8	11,023	-5.0
Plaid Cymru	8	1		+1	17.0	15.1	5,237	-0.6
Labour	7		1	-1	14.9	16.0	5,548	-3.8
Liberal Democrats	1	1	2	-1	2.1	7.2	2,479	-0.3
DAW	0		3	-3	0.0	N/A	0	-2.7
UKIP	0			0	0.0	0.5	162	New
BNP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.4	138	New

Ward results

Bodelwyddan (one seat)

Bodelwyddan 2008 ^[3]^[4]^(a)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Elizabeth Jones *	246	45.6
	Conservative	Nan Jones	190	35.2
	Independent	James Warner	104	19.3
Majority			56
Turnout				33.5
Registered electors			1,628
	Independent hold		Swing

Corwen (one seat)

Corwen 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Huw Jones	531	55.2
	Independent	Nigel Roberts *	311	32.3
	Conservative	John Broughton	77	8.0
	Independent	Anthony Dilworth	43	4.5
Majority			220
Turnout				51.2
Registered electors			1,883
	Plaid Cymru gain from Independent		Swing

Denbigh Central (one seat)

Denbigh Central 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Gwyneth Kensler *	256	45.0
	Independent	Peter Glynn	141	24.8
	Labour	Graham Maudsley	77	13.5
	Independent	Robert Parkes	62	10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Young	33	5.8
Majority			115
Turnout				40.8
Registered electors			1,410
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Denbigh Lower (two seats)

Denbigh Lower 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	John Bartley *	993	41.6
	Plaid Cymru	Neville Jones *	664	27.8
	Conservative	Dilwyn Edwards	471	19.7
	Labour	Robert Roberts	261	10.9
Majority			193
Turnout				41.8
Registered electors			3,430
	Independent hold		Swing
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Denbigh Upper/Henllan (two seats)

Denbigh Upper/Henllan 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Colin Hughes *	266	26.8
	Conservative	Jane Yorke	236	23.7
	Labour	Keith Stevens	219
	Independent	Jennifer Rowley-Williams	197	19.8
	Plaid Cymru	Jean Gwynn	193	19.4
	Plaid Cymru	Philip Williams	129
	Independent	Robb Jenkins	119
	Liberal Democrats	Colin L. Hughes *	102	10.3
	Liberal Democrats	John Larsen	96
Majority			17
Turnout				36.5
Registered electors			2,484
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Dyserth (one seat)

Dyserth 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Owen *	327	46.1
	Independent	Hugh Hughes	181	25.5
	Labour	Richard Gumm	87	12.3
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Prydderch	58	8.2
	Plaid Cymru	Arwel Roberts	56	7.9
Majority			146
Turnout				38.0
Registered electors			1,881
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Peter Owen was previously elected as an Independent, in 2004.

Efenechtyd (one seat)

Efenechtyd 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Eryl Williams *	397	54.9
	Independent	John Price	326	45.1
Majority			71
Turnout				55.9
Registered electors			1,303
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Llanarmon-Yn-Lal/Llandelga (one seat)

Llanarmon-Yn-Lal/Llandelga 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Christine Evans	514	47.5
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Barton *	285	26.3
	Conservative	Donald Holder	283	26.2
Majority			229
Turnout				57.1
Registered electors			1,908
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd (one seat)

Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd 2008 ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Pauline Dobb	297	43.8
	Independent	Huw Williams	258	38.1
	Independent	Gwynfor Evans	87	12.8
	Labour	Mary Chaffé	36	5.3
Majority			39
Turnout				56.1
Registered electors			1,209
	Conservative hold		Swing

Llandrillo (one seat)

Llandrillo 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Cefyn Williams *	405	78.3
	Independent	David Robinson	93	18.0
	Conservative	Richard Wishart	19	3.7
Majority			312
Turnout				54.6
Registered electors			962
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Llandyrnog (one seat)

Llandyrnog 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Gwilym Evans *	469	56.5
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Young	361	43.5
Majority			108
Turnout				49.6
Registered electors			1,678
	Independent hold		Swing

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd Gwyddelwern (one seat)

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd Gwyddelwern 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Hugh Evans *	690	69.9
	Independent	Dewi Jones	297	30.1
Majority			393
Turnout				53.6
Registered electors			1,846
	Independent hold		Swing

Llangollen (two seats)

Llangollen 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Trefor Hughes *	671	33.8
	Independent	Lucy Morris	613	30.9
	Independent	Stuart Davies *	491
	Conservative	Mark Pendlebury	383	19.3
	Labour	John Palmer	319	16.1
	Plaid Cymru	Jonathan Haddy	154
	Independent	Janet Wakefield	129
Majority			32
Turnout				46.6
Registered electors			3,342
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch (one seat)

Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Paul Marfleet *	455	56.5
	Plaid Cymru	Huw Williams	351	43.5
Majority			104
Turnout				53.1
Registered electors			1,523
	Independent hold		Swing

Prestatyn Central (two seats)

Prestatyn Central 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Peter Duffy *	564	39.9
	Conservative	June Cahill	504	35.6
	Independent	Neville Jones *	450
	Conservative	Margaret Horobin	442
	Labour	Robert Kelly	180	12.7
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Penlington	167	11.8
	Independent	Colin Hall	124
Majority			54
Turnout				48.7
Registered electors			2,736
	Independent hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Prestatyn East (two seats)

Prestatyn East 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	James Davies *	847	72.6
	Conservative	Julian Thompson-Hill *	739
	Labour	Alan Marsden	320	27.4
Majority			419
Turnout				39.1
Registered electors			3,100
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Prestatyn Meliden (one seat)

Prestatyn Meliden 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Rhiannon Hughes *	307	44.7
	Conservative	Gerald Frobisher	210	30.6
	Labour	Peter Newell	154	22.4
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Newell	16	2.3
Majority			97
Turnout				44.7
Registered electors			1,552
	Independent hold		Swing

Prestatyn North (three seats)

Prestatyn North 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Green	741	40.7
	Conservative	Allan Pennington	709
	Conservative	Michael Eckersley	696
	Independent	Michael German *	684	37.6
	Independent	Isobel German *	634
	Independent	David Cooper *	476
	Labour	Velma Wilshaw-Cryer	396	21.7
	Labour	Patricia Dawson	391
	Labour	Amanda Wiggan	366
Majority			12
Turnout				39.1
Registered electors			4,695
	Conservative gain from DAW		Swing
	Conservative gain from DAW		Swing
	Conservative gain from DAW		Swing

In 2008 the DAW councillors stood as Independents

Prestatyn South West (two seats)

Prestatyn South West 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Glyn Jones *	559	46.0
	Conservative	Sharon Frobisher *	524
	Labour	Paul Roberts	425	35.0
	Labour	Adrian West	385
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathon Bentley	232	19.1
Majority			99
Turnout				41.8
Registered electors			2,820
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Rhuddlan (two seats)

Rhuddlan 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Janet Davies	671	47.0
	Independent	Selwyn Thomas *	497	34.8
	Independent	Gareth Rowlands *	422
	Independent	Stephen Rafferty	325
	Conservative	Melanie Jones	318
	Labour	George Williams	261	18.3
Majority			75
Turnout				49.4
Registered electors			2,915
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Rhyl East (two seats)

Rhyl East 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bellis	756	49.6	+49.6
	Conservative	Diana Hannam *	581
	Labour	Margaret McCarroll	410	26.9	−16.9
	Independent	Susan Roberts *	358	23.5	−32.7
	Labour	William Tasker	353
Majority			171
Turnout				40.0
Registered electors			3,721
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Councillor Hannam was previously elected as an Independent.

Rhyl South (two seats)

Rhyl South 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Lee	674	45.1	+19.8
	Labour	Jeanette Chamberlain-Jones *	574	38.4	+4.4
	Conservative	Lynette Edwards	568
	Labour	Brian Moylan	386
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Edwards	248	16.6	−1.4
Majority			6
Turnout				43.8
Registered electors			3,083
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhyl South East (three seats)

Rhyl South East 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Gunning	826	38.7	+38.7
	Labour	Brian Blakeley *	823	38.6	−12.4
	Conservative	Carl Davies	766
	Labour	Glyn Pickering *	746
	Conservative	Paul Sumner	714
	Labour	Barry Mellor	673
	Plaid Cymru	Stephen Marlor	247	11.6	+11.6
	Independent	Hugh Jones *	238	11.2	−37.8
	Independent	Martin Gibson	121
Majority			20
Turnout				33.8
Registered electors			5,935
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Rhyl South West (two seats)

Rhyl South West 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Thomas *	587	59.2	−4.9
	Labour	Glyn Williams *	532
	Conservative	Christopher Geddes	267	26.9	+26.9
	Conservative	Maria Espley	266
	BNP	Ian Si'ree	138	13.9	+13.9
Majority			265
Turnout				29.9
Registered electors			3,560
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Rhyl West (two seats)

Rhyl West 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joan Butterfield *	276	35.6	−23.7
	Labour	Ian Armstrong	236
	Independent	Colin Jones	195	25.1	−15.6
	Independent	Mark Webster *	188
	Conservative	Michael Espley	175	22.6	+22.6
	Conservative	Linda Gordon	163
	Liberal Democrats	Columbus McCormack	130	16.8	+16.8
Majority			41
Turnout				23.5
Registered electors			3,494
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Mark Webster had been elected as a Labour councillor in 2004.

Ruthin (three seats)

Ruthin 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	David Smith	992	26.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robina Feeley	978	25.7
	Plaid Cymru	Morfudd Jones *	887	23.3
	Independent	Elwyn Edwards *	861
	Conservative	Richard Costain	789	20.7
	UKIP	Warwick Nicholson	162	4.3
Majority			26
Turnout				49.9
Registered electors			4,197
	Independent hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent		Swing
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

St Asaph East (one seat)

St Asaph East 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Dewi Owens *	333	58.3
	Independent	David Roberts	145	25.4
	Independent	Charles Leach	93	16.3
Majority			288
Turnout				42.4
Registered electors			1,348
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Asaph West (one seat)

St Asaph West 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William Cowie	209	46.4
	Independent	John Smith *	128	28.4
	Conservative	John Horden	113	25.1
Majority			81
Turnout				33.9
Registered electors			1,337
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

Trefnant (one seat)

Trefnant 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Plaid Cymru	Meirick Davies *	331	45.2
	Conservative	David Dudley	305	41.7
	Labour	Stephen Ellison	96	13.1
Majority			26
Turnout				48.4
Registered electors			1,525
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing

Tremeirchion (one seat)

Tremeirchion 2008 ^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Barbara Smith	309	47.5
	Independent	Robert Williams *	224	34.5
	Liberal Democrats	Rhodri Jones	117	18.0
Majority			85
Turnout				51.1
Registered electors			1,280
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing

(a) Election Centre/Andrew Teale source also compares the percentage vote of the lead candidate for each party in the ward

* = sitting councillor in this ward prior to election

References

^ ^a ^b "Latest news from the 2008 council elections". Wales Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ Darren Devine (23 October 2007). "Leader resigns over schools vote". Wales Online. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z Teale, Andrew. "Local Election Results 2008: Denbighshire". Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z "Denbighshire County Council Election Results 1995-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre, Plymouth University. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

[WO_election_latest-1] "Latest news from the 2008 council elections". Wales Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

[2] Darren Devine (23 October 2007). "Leader resigns over schools vote". Wales Online. Retrieved 20 November 2020.

[teale_2008-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z Teale, Andrew. "Local Election Results 2008: Denbighshire". Retrieved 14 November 2020.

[Elections_Centre-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z "Denbighshire County Council Election Results 1995-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre, Plymouth University. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

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