2011 Babergh District Council election

The 2011 Babergh Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Babergh District Council in Suffolk, England. The whole council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

Background

The previous election in 2007 saw no party win a majority, with the Conservatives being the largest party.^[2] Labour won no seats at the election, but recovered one seat when Tony Bavington gained a seat back in a 2010 by-election in Great Cornard.^[3] A further change in composition came in March 2010 when councillor Dean Walton defected to the Green Party from the Conservatives, but sat as an independent on Babergh Council.^[4]

A total of 122 candidates were nominated for the 43 seats being contested, which was reported to be a record for an election to Babergh Council, and up from 78 at the 2003 election and 87 in 2007.^[5] These were comprised on 34 Conservatives, 31 Labour, 27 Liberal Democrats, 14 United Kingdom Independence Party, 1 Green Party and 15 candidates from no party.^[5] The 31 candidates from Labour was a record for the party in Babergh,^[6] while the Liberal Democrat leader on Suffolk County Council, Kathy Pollard, was among the Liberal Democrat candidates.^[3]

Election result

The results saw the council remain under no overall control, with the Conservatives staying as the largest party on 18 seats.^[2] The Liberal Democrats dropped to 12 seats, while Labour increased from the 1 seat they had held after a by-election gain to 3 seats.^[2]

Individual results included an independent gain from the Conservatives in Lavenham, Liberal Democrat Kathy Pollard winning a place back on the council after 16 years, while author and Labour candidate Nicci Gerrard lost in South Cosford, coming third with 187 votes.^[2]

Babergh Local Election Result 2011^[7]^[8]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	18	4	3	+1	41.9	38.6	17,691	+2.0%
Liberal Democrats	12	1	4	-3	27.9	23.6	10,787	-17.8%
Independent	10	1	1	0	23.3	15.4	7,046	+3.7%
Labour	3	2	0	+2	7.0	17.0	7,776	+10.6%
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	4.5	2,048	+0.5%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.9	428	+0.9%

2 Liberal Democrat and 1 Independent candidates were unopposed.

Ward results

Alton (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Ward	902
	Liberal Democrats	David Wood	823
	Conservative	Christopher Chambers	503
	Conservative	Patricia Cave	396
	Labour	Keith Rawlings	231
	Labour	Carol Tilbury	219
Turnout			3,074
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Berners (2)^[7]
	Candidate	Votes
Liberal Democrats	Mackenzie Deacon	unopposed
Liberal Democrats	Charles Roberts	unopposed
Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Boxford^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Bryn Hurren	695	65.6	−3.1
	Conservative	Tasia Kavvadias	365	34.4	+3.1
Majority			330	31.1	−6.3
Turnout			1,060
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Brett Vale^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Desmond Keane	434	50.3	−12.7
	Green	Robert Lindsay	428	49.7	+12.7
Majority			6	0.7	−25.3
Turnout			862
	Conservative hold		Swing

Brook (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Nicholas Ridley	721
	Independent	Peter Jones	598
	Liberal Democrats	Gloria Wallace	562
	Conservative	Barry Gasper	555
	Labour	Emma Cookson	264
Turnout			2,700
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Bures St Mary^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Holbrook	585	82.0
	Labour	Iain Scott	128	18.0
Majority			457	64.0
Turnout			713
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chadacre^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	James Long	792	89.7
	Labour	John Finnigan	91	10.3
Majority			701	79.4
Turnout			883
	Independent hold		Swing

Dodnash (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Alan Hinton	792
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Bamford	495
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Miller	451
	Independent	Clive Totman	354
	Labour	Joy Harrison	262
	Labour	Emma Nordon	174
Turnout			2,528
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Glemsford and Stanstead (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Rex Thake	694
	Independent	Leonard Young	611
	Conservative	David Burch	397
	Labour	Heath Brown	203
	Labour	David Hayes	183
Turnout			2,088
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Great Cornard North (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Labour	Anthony Bavington	508
	Labour	Neil Macmaster	432
	Conservative	Nicholas Antill	387
	UKIP	Derek Allen	248
	Liberal Democrats	Marion Press	229
	UKIP	Cynthia Allen	207
Turnout			2,011
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Great Cornard South (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Peter Beer	464
	Conservative	Mark Newman	426
	Labour	Todd Bellaris	210
	Independent	Anthony Harman	205
	Labour	Robert Porter	205
	Independent	Thomas Keane	170
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Platt	158
	Liberal Democrats	Catherine Press	134
Turnout			1,972
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hadleigh North (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Brian Riley	595
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Munson	448
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Whiting	367
	Labour	Angela Wiltshire	247
	Labour	David Westwood	233
	UKIP	Reginald Smith	215
Turnout			2,105
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Hadleigh South (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Democrats	David Grutchfield	659
	Conservative	Kathryn Grandon-White	508
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Matthews	380
	Labour	Susan Monks	204
	Independent	David Cooper	186
	Labour	Stephen Cockerton	158
	UKIP	John Smith	66
	UKIP	Josephine Smith	57
Turnout			2,218
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Holbrook^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	David Rose	unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

Lavenham^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Andrea Norman	411	50.3
	Conservative	Philip Gibson	337	41.2
	Labour	James Coleman	69	8.4
Majority			74	9.1
Turnout			817
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Leavenheath^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jennifer Jenkins	648	77.7	+10.0
	Labour	Andrew Jameson	186	22.3	+22.3
Majority			462	55.4	+9.8
Turnout			834
	Conservative hold		Swing

Long Melford (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Richard Kemp	1,089
	Independent	John Nunn	743
	Conservative	William Shropshire	474
	Conservative	Margaret Maybury	419
	Labour	Susan Bishop	153
Turnout			2,878
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Lower Brett^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Susan Wigglesworth	592	60.3	−22.8
	Conservative	John Ward	390	39.7	+39.7
Majority			202	20.6	−45.6
Turnout			982
	Independent hold		Swing

Mid Samford (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Carpendale	819
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Pollard	808
	Conservative	Gerald White	766
	Conservative	Theresa Bloomfield	671
	Labour	Susan Thomas	228
	UKIP	Richard Hudson-Smith	112
	UKIP	Christopher Streatfield	108
Turnout			3,512
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Nayland^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Cave	498	57.3	+3.5
	Labour	William Kennedy	160	18.4	+18.4
	UKIP	James Carver	123	14.2	+3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Breeze	88	10.1	−25.5
Majority			338	38.9	+20.7
Turnout			869
	Conservative hold		Swing

North Cosford^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Clive Arthey	601	59.2	−4.3
	Conservative	Brian Tora	288	28.3	−8.2
	Labour	Gerald Gould	127	12.5	+12.5
Majority			313	30.8	+3.8
Turnout			1,016
	Independent hold		Swing

Pinewood (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Peter Burgoyne	423
	Liberal Democrats	David Busby	418
	Labour	David Plowman	400
	Liberal Democrats	Leonard Johnson	336
	Conservative	Susan Powell	327
Turnout			1,904
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

South Cosford^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dawn Kendall	492	48.8	+7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Lazenby	330	32.7	−26.3
	Labour	Nicola Gerrard	187	18.5	+18.5
Majority			162	16.1
Turnout			1,009
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Sudbury East (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Adrian Osborne	500
	Labour	Jack Owen	479
	Conservative	Janice Osborne	476
	Labour	Russell Smith	392
	Liberal Democrats	Emma Hewett	153
	UKIP	Susan Smith	137
	UKIP	Donald Martin	133
	Liberal Democrats	Oliver Forder	99
Turnout			2,369
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Sudbury North (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Sayers	690
	Conservative	Raymond Smith	537
	Labour	Joanne Connah	405
	Labour	Ian Pointon	370
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Welsh	277
Turnout			2,279
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Sudbury South (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Bennett	508
	Conservative	Simon Barrett	371
	Conservative	Peter Goodchild	364
	Liberal Democrats	Martyn Booth	337
	Labour	Luke Cresswell	336
	Labour	Michael Cornish	332
	UKIP	Jane Martin	132
	UKIP	Christine Wardrop	107
Turnout			2,487
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Waldingfield (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Jennifer Antill	1,068
	Conservative	Frank Lawrenson	824
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Scott	311
	UKIP	Robert Armstrong	228
	UKIP	Leon Stedman	175
Turnout			2,606
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ "England council elections". BBC News Online. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Babergh: No overall control for district council as Lib Dems lose out". Evening Star. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b Geater, Paul (7 April 2011). "Labour hoping for rural breakthrough". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
^ "Councillor Quits Blues for Greens". Green Party. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Babergh elections: More candidates than ever before, the fewest uncontested seats and a reminder about postal voting". Babergh District Council. 5 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
^ McGurran, Deborah (4 April 2011). "The strength of Labour's slate". BBC News Online. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
^ ^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 ^aa ^ab "Result of Poll - 5 May 2011". Babergh District Council. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
^ "Election results 2011: English council summary results". The Guardian. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

[hold-1] "England council elections". BBC News Online. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.

[overall-2] "Babergh: No overall control for district council as Lib Dems lose out". Evening Star. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

[rural-3] Geater, Paul (7 April 2011). "Labour hoping for rural breakthrough". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

[quits-4] "Councillor Quits Blues for Greens". Green Party. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

[candidates-5] "Babergh elections: More candidates than ever before, the fewest uncontested seats and a reminder about postal voting". Babergh District Council. 5 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

[slate-6] McGurran, Deborah (4 April 2011). "The strength of Labour's slate". BBC News Online. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

[results-7] ^ ^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 ^aa ^ab "Result of Poll - 5 May 2011". Babergh District Council. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.

[summary-8] "Election results 2011: English council summary results". The Guardian. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

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