2008 West Lancashire District Council election

The 2008 West Lancashire District Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of West Lancashire District Council in Lancashire, 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:

	Seats	±
Conservative	35	+2
Labour	18	-2
Independent	1	0

^[2]

Campaign

Before the election, in which 19 seats were being contested, the Conservatives ran the council with 33 of the 52 seats.^[3] The seat in Tanhouse was being contested after the death of Labour councillor Sally Keegan in December 2007,^[2] while Conservative Martin Forshaw was unopposed in Hesketh with Becconsall.^[4] The Conservatives were strongly favoured to remain in control and were particularly targeting the last Labour held seat in Burscough.^[3]

The Conservatives campaigned on plans to regenerate Skelmersdale, build new council offices on a site in Ormskirk and a pledge to keep council tax rises as low as possible.^[3]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives increase their control of the council after making 2 gains from Labour.^[2] They gained the seats of Burscough West and Up Holland, with the margin of victory in Up Holland being only 3 votes after 2 recounts were required.^[2] Labour also only held the Tanhouse seat by 34 votes after a recount.^[2] The results meant the Conservatives had 35 seats compared to 18 for Labour and 1 independent.^[2] Overall turnout in the election was 30.51%.^[5]

The Conservative council leader, Geoff Roberts, saw the results as a sign they could take the parliamentary seat in the next general election, while Labour blamed their defeats on national issues.^[4]

West Lancashire Local Election Result 2008^[5]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	12	2	0	+2	63.2	54.2	11,101	+1.4%
Labour	7	0	2	-2	36.8	36.8	7,543	-1.1%
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	4.2	857	+3.3%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	3.1	638	-0.5%
Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.6	336	+0.3%

Ward results

Ashurst

Ashurst^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoff Roberts	533	51.2	−17.0
	Conservative	James Coomber	302	29.0	−2.8
	UKIP	Roy Green	207	19.9	+19.9
Majority			231	22.2	−14.3
Turnout			1,042	21.5	+0.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Aughton and Downholland

Aughton and Downholland^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Una Atherley	1,073	65.0	−7.1
	Labour	Julie Gibson	302	18.3	−9.6
	UKIP	Jim Bevan	276	16.7	+16.7
Majority			771	46.7	+2.6
Turnout			1,651	36.7	+0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Birch Green

Birch Green^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mary Pendleton	394	75.9	−5.5
	Conservative	Malcolm Barron	125	24.1	+5.5
Majority			269	51.8	−11.0
Turnout			519	17.1	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Burscough East

Burscough East^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Pratt	737	65.6	−0.6
	Labour	Kate Anderson	386	34.4	+0.6
Majority			351	31.3	−1.1
Turnout			1,123	34.6	−3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Burscough West

Burscough West^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jason Grice	853	58.6	+2.7
	Labour	Cynthia Dereli	602	41.4	−2.7
Majority			251	17.3	+2.5
Turnout			1,455	37.0	+0.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Derby

Derby^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Adrian Owens	904	61.8	+4.6
	Labour	Alexander Gilmore	336	23.0	−3.5
	Green	Anne Doyle	223	15.2	−1.1
Majority			568	38.8	+8.1
Turnout			1,463	29.1	−2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Digmoor

Digmoor^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terence Aldridge	515	76.5	−3.3
	Conservative	Graham Jones	158	23.5	+3.3
Majority			357	53.0	−6.7
Turnout			673	21.6	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Halsall

Halsall^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Doreen Stephenson	395	64.4	+9.0
	Independent	David Corfield	152	24.8	−19.8
	Labour	Susan Jones	66	10.8	+10.8
Majority			243	39.6	+28.8
Turnout			613	34.6	−12.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hesketh-with-Becconsall

Hesketh-with-Becconsall^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Forshaw	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Knowsley

Knowsley^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Lea	1,003	63.8	+8.0
	Labour	Ann Rice	357	22.7	−9.2
	Green	John Watt	211	13.4	+1.0
Majority			646	41.1	+17.2
Turnout			1,571	35.4	+0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Moorside

Moorside^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christopher Mawdsley	478	74.5	−5.2
	Conservative	Richard Shepherd	164	25.5	+5.2
Majority			314	48.9	−10.5
Turnout			642	22.7	+0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Rufford

Rufford^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joan Colling	524	84.8	+7.1
	Labour	Jacqueline Citarella	94	15.2	−7.1
Majority			430	69.6	+14.2
Turnout			618	37.6	−9.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Scott

Scott^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cyril Ainscough	861	55.7	+8.4
	Labour	Noel Delaney	482	31.2	−3.1
	Green	Maurice George	204	13.2	+2.0
Majority			379	24.5	+11.5
Turnout			1,547	34.8	−1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Skelmersdale North

Skelmersdale North^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil Furey	'563	62.9	−14.4
	Independent	Joan Morrison	184	20.6	+20.6
	Conservative	Dave Rydings	148	16.5	−6.2
Majority			379	42.3	−12.2
Turnout			895	29.0	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Skelmersdale South

Skelmersdale South^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sydney Jones	778	66.7	−6.5
	Conservative	Joanne Rushton	389	33.3	+6.5
Majority			389	33.3	−13.0
Turnout			1,167	23.3	−0.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Tanhouse

Tanhouse^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nikki Hennessy	402	52.2	−8.3
	Conservative	Cindy Miller	368	47.8	+21.4
Majority			34	4.4	−29.7
Turnout			770	22.7	+3.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Tarleton

Tarleton^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Mee	1,526	87.7	+18.2
	Labour	Stephen Hanlon	215	12.3	+3.0
Majority			1,311	75.3	+27.1
Turnout			1,741	38.9	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Up Holland

Up Holland^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ruth Pollock	728	43.1	−0.4
	Labour	Maggie Skilling	725	42.9	−2.2
	UKIP	Marie Settle	238	14.1	+2.8
Majority			3	0.2
Turnout			1,691	34.4	−0.3
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Wrightington

Wrightington^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Gartside	843	65.1	+2.2
	Labour	Pauline Bailey	315	24.3	−12.8
	UKIP	Iain Routh	136	10.5	+10.5
Majority			528	40.8	+14.9
Turnout			1,294	38.8	−1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ "West Lancashire". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Two wins sees grip tighten". Liverpool Echo. 2 May 2008. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Tories confident of maintaining their grip". Liverpool Daily Post. 25 April 2008. p. 9.
^ ^a ^b Byrne, Michael (2 May 2008). "Tories 'strong' in W Lancs". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u "Election Summary - District Council Elections 2008". West Lancashire Borough Council. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2010.

External links

Reactions to the results from the group leaders

[change-1] "West Lancashire". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2010.

[grip-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Two wins sees grip tighten". Liverpool Echo. 2 May 2008. p. 5.

[confident-3] "Tories confident of maintaining their grip". Liverpool Daily Post. 25 April 2008. p. 9.

[strong-4] Byrne, Michael (2 May 2008). "Tories 'strong' in W Lancs". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 6.

[results-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u "Election Summary - District Council Elections 2008". West Lancashire Borough Council. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2010.

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