2008 Rossendale Borough Council election

Elections to Rossendale Borough Council were held on 1 May 2008. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.^[1] Overall turnout was up by one per cent from the last election in 2007 at 36.3%.^[2]

The Conservative party gained three seats in the election including Worsley, the seat of the former Conservative leader of the council, Duncan Ruddick, who had defected from the party in 2007 to become an independent councillor.^[2] The Liberal Democrats gained one seat, while the Labour party lost three seats, with one defeated Labour councillor, Tina Durkin, blaming the Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the losses.^[3]

After the election, the composition of the council was

Election result

Rossendale Local Election Result 2008
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	10	3	0	+3	76.9	42.4	7,512	+3.0%
Liberal Democrats	2	1	0	+1	15.4	17.7	3,129	-2.3%
Labour	1	0	3	-3	7.7	30.4	5,385	-4.9%
BNP	0	0	0	0	0	5.6	998	+0.3%
Independent	0	0	1	-1	0	3.8	680	+3.8%

Ward results

Cribden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Janet Graham	386	35.4	+14.3
	Labour	Andrea Fletcher	367	33.6	−8.0
	Liberal Democrats	Bob Sheffield	338	31.0	+4.6
Majority			19	1.8
Turnout			1,091	38.9	+0.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Eden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Darryl Smith	916	79.5	+15.2
	Labour	John Pilling	236	20.5	−3.7
Majority			680	59.0	+18.9
Turnout			1,152	41.7	+2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Facit and Shawforth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lynda Barnes	336	29.0	+5.7
	Liberal Democrats	Reggie Lane	298	25.7	−10.9
	BNP	Michael Crossley	218	18.8	+18.8
	Independent	Karen Ruane	185	16.0	+16.0
	Labour	Ian Mycock	121	10.4	−29.7
Majority			38	3.3
Turnout			1,158	41.7	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Goodshaw
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dorothy Farrington	631	55.3	+2.3
	Conservative	Judy Bates	510	44.7	−2.3
Majority			121	10.6	+4.6
Turnout			1,141	36.9	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Greenfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gladys Sandiford	993	60.8	+18.3
	Liberal Democrats	Sadaqut Amin	350	21.4	−36.1
	Labour	John McManus	290	17.8	+17.8
Majority			643	39.4
Turnout			1,633	37.4	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Greensclough
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Judith Driver	697	43.2	+15.4
	Labour	Dale Connearn	422	26.1	−1.0
	BNP	Peter Salt	273	16.9	−4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Carr	223	13.8	−9.5
Majority			275	17.1	+16.4
Turnout			1,615	36.5	−1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hareholme
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicola May	775	53.3
	Labour	Amanda Hewlett	679	46.7
Majority			96	6.6
Turnout			1454	34.8	−0.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Helmshore
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Evans	975	60.1	+4.2
	Labour	Emma Harding	320	19.7	−8.5
	Liberal Democrats	Cliff Adamson	181	11.2	−4.7
	Independent	Noel O'Brien	145	8.9	+8.9
Majority			655	40.4	+12.7
Turnout			1,621	36.0	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Irwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hazel Steen	529	41.1	+8.9
	Labour	Tina Durkin	450	35.0	+3.0
	BNP	Kevin Bryan	307	23.9	−2.4
Majority			79	6.1	+5.9
Turnout			1,286	33.3	+1.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Longholme
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jason Gledhill	679	44.9
	Labour	Maurice Jones	484	32.0
	Independent	Leonard Entwistle	350	23.1
Majority			195	12.9
Turnout			1513	36.3	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whitewell (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Nuttall	1,006
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Pilling	733
	Labour	Trisha Dearden	433
	Labour	Michael Wilkinson	277
	BNP	Matthew Perry	200
Turnout			2,649	34.1	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Worsley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Stansfield	716	51.5	+8.2
	Labour	Ann Kenyon	675	48.5	+12.3
Majority			41	3.0	−4.1
Turnout			1,391	32.5	−1.7
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

References

^ "Tories take control of Rossendale". BBC Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Tories take charge in election". Rossendale Free Press. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.
^ "Rossendale election results: Conservative strengthen control". Lancashire Telegraph. 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.

[control-1] "Tories take control of Rossendale". BBC Online. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.

[charge-2] "Tories take charge in election". Rossendale Free Press. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.

[strengthen-3] "Rossendale election results: Conservative strengthen control". Lancashire Telegraph. 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2008.

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