2015 Breckland District Council election

The 2015 Breckland District Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of Breckland District Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.

2015 Breckland District Council election

7 May 2015
All 49 council seats 26 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative UKIP Labour Last election 47 0 4 Seats won 42 4 2 Seat change 5 4 2   Fourth party   Party Independent Last election 3 Seats won 1 Seat change 2
Map of the 2015 election results. For vote leaders in the split wards, see the full results section.
Party before election Conservative Elected Party Conservative

There had been major boundary changes since the previous district council election in 2011. The changes reduced the number of wards from 32 to 27, and the number of councillors from 54 to 49. The new boundaries did not change the Conservative party's dominance of Breckland's local politics, as they held onto around 85% of the council seats, essentially the same share of the seats as they had held in 2011. This election saw the presence of a formal UKIP group on the district council, as the party elected four councillors to become the largest opposition party.

Results

Breckland Council election result 2015

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	42	1	1	-5	85.7	46.8	25747	-5.6
	UKIP	4	4	0	+4	8.2	21.9	12054	+16.3
	Labour	2	0	2	-2	4.0	18.9	10374	-2.9
	Independent	1	0	2	-2	2.0	5.0	2732	-0.5
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	6.6	3633	-1.2
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	0.9	471	-2.5

Total votes cast: 55011.

Note that the net gains and losses do not add up as the Conservatives lost several additional seats due to boundary changes.

Breckland Politics 2011-2015

After the 2011 election, 47 councillors were Conservatives, 4 were Labour and 3 were independent. This had changed by 2015 in the following ways:

Party		Seats (2011 election)	Seats (April 2015)
	Conservative	47	46
	Labour	4	3
	Independent	3	3
	CPA	-	1
	UKIP	-	1
Total		54

In the run-up to the 2015 election, the parties nominated a variable number of candidates. Only the Conservatives came close to standing a full slate of candidates across the district. Despite the reduced number of candidates needed, most parties fell back in their number of fielded candidates: only UKIP fielded more candidates (18, up from 7) than in 2011. Labour fielded ten fewer, the Greens five, the Liberal Democrats four, and six fewer independents stood in the election.

Conservative Party (48/49)

Labour Party (25/49)

UKIP (18/49)

Green Party (9/49)

Independent (3/49)

Liberal Democrats (2/49)

Full results by ward

Note that the holds and gains mentioned here are strictly nominal and should only be treated as a rough guideline, as the ward map changed significantly between 2011 and 2015.

The seats of Bedingfield, Harling and Heathland, Launditch, and Swaffham were uncontested. All elected a single unopposed Conservative with the exception of Swaffham, which elected three unopposed Conservatives.

All Saints & Wayland (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Philip Cowen	1933	65.7
	Conservative	William Henry Charles Smith	1709
	UKIP	Giselle Nind	1008	34.3
Majority
Turnout			3349	70.00
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ashill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis John Sharpe	755	50.8
	UKIP	Emma Parker	495	33.3
	Green	Anne Patricia Melba Rix	237	15.9
Majority
Turnout				69.33
	Conservative hold		Swing

Attleborough Burgh & Havercroft (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Martin	1422	53.3
	Conservative	Adrian Charles Stasiak	998
	Labour	Timothy Robert Mantripp	628	23.5
	Independent	Taila Joan Taylor	617	23.1
Majority
Turnout				62.29
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Attleborough Queens & Besthorpe (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Karen Stephanie Pettitt	1573	40.3
	Conservative	David RR Oliver	1429
	Conservative	Tristan John Ashby	1408
	UKIP	Anthony Crouch	900	23.1
	Labour	Julian Patrick Crutch	726	18.6
	Independent	Samantha Taylor	702	18.0
Majority
Turnout				62.19
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

The Buckenhams and Banham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Adrian Peter Joel	1272	74.6
	Labour	Victor Peters	432	25.4
Majority
Turnout				69.14
	Conservative hold		Swing

Dereham Neatherd (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Linda Helen Monument	1589	40.8
	Conservative	William Robert James Richmond	1339
	Conservative	Alison Mary Webb	1326
	UKIP	Christopher Harwood	844	21.7
	Labour	Marie Ines Jesus Almeida	755	19.4
	Green	Ann Patricia Robertson Bowyer	708	18.2
	Labour	John Herbert Williams	530
Majority
Turnout				62.59
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Dereham Toftwood (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip James Duigan	1060	36.5
	Conservative	Michael Steven Hirst	1003
	UKIP	Peter Doolan	782	26.9
	Labour	Benedict Baldwin	597	20.5
	Labour	Graham George Hayden	524
	Green	Timothy Edward Birt	465	16.0
	Green	Michael Steven Hirst	209
Majority
Turnout				63.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

Dereham Withburga

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Frederick Crawford Monument	1135	46.1
	Labour	Harry Edward Jonathan Clarke	849	34.5
	Labour	Linda Goreham	805
	Conservative	Jeremy Robert Reynolds	795
	Green	Philip Neil Morton	478	19.4
Majority
Turnout				56.71
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Hayden Chapman-Allen	712	54.6
	Conservative	John William Nunn	708
	Green	Jeffrey Prosser	324	24.8
	Green	Sandra Elizabeth Walmesley	278
	Labour	Dennis Wilbert Robert Sully	268	20.6
	Labour	Yvonne Sully	217
Majority
Turnout				65.24
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Guiltcross

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Marion Penelope Chapman-Allen	1242	70.1
	Labour	James Waters	530	29.9
Majority
Turnout				72.62
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hermitage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Trevor Richard Carter	1016	68.3
	UKIP	John Savory	472	31.7
Majority
Turnout				72.84
	Conservative hold		Swing

Lincoln (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard William Duffield	1743	63.3
	Conservative	Robert Ramsay Richmond	1374
	Green	Alison Jane Keidan-Cooper	1010	36.7
Majority
Turnout				68.82
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Mattishall (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pablo Martin Marino Dimoglou	1552	50.4
	Conservative	Paul Donald Claussen	1518
	Labour	Elizabeth Hunton	848	27.5
	UKIP	Philip Tye	680	22.1
	Labour	Julia Ann Onassis	640
Majority
Turnout				72.03
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Nar Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Samuel Wilkinson	816	60.5
	UKIP	David Rhys Williams	530	39.5
Majority
Turnout				68.15
	Conservative hold		Swing

Necton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nigel Charles Wilkin	882	60.9
	Labour	Joseph Manuel Sisto	567	39.1
Majority
Turnout				70.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

Saham Toney (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Godfrey Carter	1194	50.9
	Conservative	John David Rogers	920
	UKIP	Janet Brown	743	31.6
	UKIP	Daniel Fishlock	535
	Green	Peter Kevin Bate	411	17.5
Majority
Turnout				62.25
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shipdham With Scarning (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Jonathan Hewett	1387	45.7
	Conservative	Lynda Susan Turner	1260
	UKIP	Susan Hebborn	885	29.1
	Labour	Kimberley Louise Wills	766	25.2
Majority
Turnout				63.85
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Thetford Boudica (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Jennifer Hollis	750	34.0
	Conservative	Mark Steven Robinson	738	33.4
	Conservative	Robert George Kybird	717
	Labour	David Hodgkinson	500	22.7
	Labour	Francesca Robinson	412
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Ann Rutter	219	9.9
Majority
Turnout				57.00
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Thetford Burrell (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terry Jermy	905	39.5
	UKIP	Denis Melvin Crawford	828	36.2
	Labour	Sadie Harvey	680
	Conservative	Gloria-Jean Bamber	557	24.3
	Conservative	Louise Sharman	447
Majority
Turnout				49.05
	Labour hold		Swing
	UKIP gain from Labour		Swing

Thetford Castle (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roy Frederick William Brame	949	37.6
	UKIP	John Newton	811	32.1
	Conservative	John Charles Moorman	683
	Labour	Christopher Harvey	512	20.3
	Labour	Jake Shannon	407
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel John Jeffrey	252	10.0
Majority
Turnout				53.08
	Conservative hold		Swing
	UKIP gain from Independent		Swing

Thetford Priory (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Mark Taylor	981	37.1
	Conservative	Elizabeth Jane Bishop	877	33.2
	Labour	Michael Brindle	786	29.7
	Labour	Brenda Canham	671
Majority
Turnout				44.67
	UKIP gain from Independent		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Upper Wensum (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Patrick Borett	1965	62.4
	Conservative	Stanley Gordon Bambridge	1812
	UKIP	Gillian Savory	1185	37.6
Majority
Turnout				70.55
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Watton (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Keith Stephen Gilbert	1413	30.7
	Conservative	Claire Rosemary Bowes	1311	28.5
	Conservative	Michael Arthur Wassell	1235
	UKIP	Jennifer Fishlock	1168	25.4
	UKIP	Keith Hebborn	1049
	Conservative	Kathryn Jane Hughes	981
	Labour	Margaret Evelyn Holmes	705	15.3
Majority
Turnout				59.80
	Independent hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing