2012 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2012 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, England. One third of the council was up for election. The shock result^{[citation needed]} of the election came in Blythe where the Independent Ratepayers ousted a Tory Incumbent.^[1]^[2] Prior to the election, the defending councillor in Shirley West had joined the Greens, having previously sat as an Independent Liberal Democrat.^[3] Following the election another Shirley West Liberal Democrat councillor, Andy Hodgson, joined the Greens, taking their total up to 6 seats, and the Liberal Democrats down to 10.^[4]

Election result

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Election, 2012
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	9	1	2	-1	52.9	42.0	19,562	-6.3%
Liberal Democrats	3	0	1	-1	17.6	19.5	9,095	-0.0%
Green	3	1	0	+1	17.6	11.9	5,547	+4.4%
Labour	1	1	1	0	5.9	17.3	8,075	+0.7%
Independent Ratepayers & Residents	1	1	0	+1	5.9	6.4	2,997	+0.8%
English Democrat	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.4	1,115	+1.3%
BNP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.3	150	-0.2%

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections :^[2]

Party		Previous council	New council
	Conservatives	29	28
	Liberal Democrat	12	11
	Labour	6	6
	Green	4	5
	Independent Ratepayers & Residents	0	1
Total		51	51
Working majority		7	5

Ward results

Bickenhill^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jim Ryan	1,349	57.62	−2.7
	Labour	Margaret Elizabeth Brittin	573	24.48	+3.2
	Green	Alex Hawkeswood	312	13.33	+8.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Charles Lee	107	4.57	−0.8
Majority			776	33.15	−5.9
Turnout			2,341	25.6	−10.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.9

Blythe^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Ratepayer & Residents	Linda Brown	1,181	42.91	+23.1
	Conservative	Martin McCarthy	1,020	37.06	−18.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jo Hodgson	285	10.36	−0.2
	Labour	Raj Singh	266	9.67	−2.3
Majority			161	5.85	−29.6
Turnout			2,752	27.1	−14.3
	Independent Ratepayers & Residents gain from Conservatives		Swing	+20.6

Castle Bromwich^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ted Richards	1,565	64.43	+0.3
	Labour	Ben Semens	632	26.02	+2.1
	Green	Joy Aldworth	167	6.88	−0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Lloyd	65	2.76	New
Majority			933	38.41	−1.8
Turnout			2,429	26.8	−12.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.9

Chelmsley Wood^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Chris Williams	1,336	62.8	+11.5
	Labour Co-op	Angela Reid	644	30.3	−0.8
	Conservative	Catherine Price	147	6.9	−6.8
Majority			692	32.5	+12.3
Turnout			2,127	23.6	−5.0
	Green gain from Labour		Swing	+6.1

Dorridge & Hockley Heath^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ken Meeson	1,948	70.7	+1.9
	Labour	Hugh Hendry	244	8.9	+1.1
	Green	Sara Irene Stevens	210	7.6	+2.9
	English Democrat	Andrew Martin Taylor	187	6.8	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats	Jan Mason	165	6.0	−6.1
Majority			1,704	61.9	+5.1
Turnout			2,754	32.0	−19.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.4

Elmdon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Glenis Ann Slater	1,321	47.3	+5.9
	Conservative	Paul Thomas	657	23.5	−9.1
	Labour	Andrew James Mullinex	451	16.1	+1.6
	English Democrat	Robert Graham Lassen	239	8.5	+5.6
	Green	Elaine Teresa Williams	127	4.5	+2.6
Majority			664	23.8	+15.0
Turnout			2,795	30.3	−12.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+7.5

Kingshurst & Fordbridge^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Flo Nash	1,111	58.8	+8.0
	Conservative	Debbie Evans	578	30.6	−5.9
	Green	Gary Macnaughton	146	7.7	+2.4
	Liberal Democrats	David Robert Godfrey	53	2.8	−0.5
Majority			533	28.2	+14.0
Turnout			1,888	21.2	−5.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.0

Knowle^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeff Potts	1,941	66.2	−2.7
	Labour	Simon Martin Johnson	323	11.0	+0.8
	Green	Jane Allison Holt	291	9.9	+2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Lionel Arthur King	220	7.5	0.0
	English Democrat	Frank (Shannon) O'Brien	157	5.3	+0.8
Majority			1,618	55.2	−3.5
Turnout			2,932	35.6	−15.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.7

Lyndon^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Irene Beatrice Chamberlain	1,265	46.9	+6.2
	Labour	Ian Clifford English	583	21.6	+2.3
	Conservative	David Skelding	442	16.4	−10.0
	English Democrat	David Francis Reynolds	268	9.9	+3.4
	Green	Frances Grice	138	5.1	+1.8
Majority			682	25.3	+11.0
Turnout			2,696	27.7	−11.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+1.9

Meriden^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Diciccio	1318	45.7	−19.6
	Independent Ratepayer	Ken Meeson	858	29.8	+23.3
	Labour	Cathy Connan	412	14.3	−1.9
	Green	Roger Philip King	173	6.0	+1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Tony Ludlow	122	4.2	−3.1
Majority			460	16.0	−33.2
Turnout			2,883	30.5	−17.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-21.4

Olton^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Louise O'Kane	1,899	50.5	+6.7
	Conservative	David Price	1,326	35.3	−4.3
	Labour	Alan Edward Jacques	316	8.4	−2.1
	Green	Carol Joy Linfield	216	5.7	+2.2
Majority			573	15.2	+11.0
Turnout			3,757	38.8	−7.2
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+5.5

Shirley East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Karen Grinsell	1,045	37.3	−6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Sue Rose	850	30.3	+2.5
	Labour	Kevin Peter Raven	390	13.9	+1.6
	English Democrat	Lisa Jane White	264	9.4	+9.4
	Independent Ratepayer	Neil Watts	252	9.0	−3.3
Majority			195	7.0	−9.4
Turnout			2,801	32.6	−13.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	-4.7

Shirley South^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Allport	1,379	38.5	−0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Hodgson	1,343	37.5	+3.1
	Independent Ratepayer	Trevor Eames	463	12.9	+1.6
	Labour	Shirley Rose Young	400	11.2	−0.9
Majority			36	1.0	−3.4
Turnout			3,585	36.5	−7.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.7

Shirley West^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Howard John Allen	1,001	39.1	+34.3
	Conservative	Richard Holt	729	28.4	−6.6
	Labour	Ray Brookes	426	16.6	−2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Eimear Fossey	406	15.8	−15.2
Majority			272	10.6	+6.6
Turnout			2,562	28.4	−12.3
	Green hold		Swing	+20.4

Silhill^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hogarth	1,811	59.4	+6.4
	Liberal Democrats	Bruce Keith Stone	579	19.0	−7.5
	Labour	Janet Mary Marsh	445	14.6	+2.9
	Green	Trevor John Barker	212	7.0	+4.5
Majority			1,232	40.4	+13.9
Turnout			3,047	33.3	−14.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.9

Smith's Wood^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Mike Sheridan	1,030	57.7	+11.8
	Labour	Mohammed Rashid	473	26.5	−6.7
	BNP	Simone Neale	150	8.4	+8.4
	Conservative	Sarah Evans	132	7.4	−5.2
Majority			557	31.2	+18.4
Turnout			1,785	20.1	−6.0
	Green hold		Swing	+9.2

St. Alphege^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kate Wild	2,175	63.8	−2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Smith	415	12.2	−3.9
	Labour	Paul Cook Tuxworth	386	11.3	+1.1
	Independent Ratepayer & Residents	John Rogers	243	7.1	+4.2
	Green	Stephen Robert Holt	188	5.5	+1.5
Majority			1,760	51.7	+1.0
Turnout			3,407	33.0	−17.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "Elections results". Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Vote 2012: Solihull". BBC News Online. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
^ Hulse, Cathrina (16 May 2011). "Solihull Lib Dems hit by new crisis as councillor defects to Greens". Solihull News. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
^ "Solihull councillor defects from Lib Dems to Greens". BBC. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.

[results-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "Elections results". Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.

[BBC-2] "Vote 2012: Solihull". BBC News Online. Retrieved 11 February 2013.

[crisis-3] Hulse, Cathrina (16 May 2011). "Solihull Lib Dems hit by new crisis as councillor defects to Greens". Solihull News. Retrieved 9 July 2011.

[defection-4] "Solihull councillor defects from Lib Dems to Greens". BBC. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.

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