2024 Havant Borough Council election

The 2024 Havant Borough Council election took place on Thursday 2 May 2024, alongside the other local elections in the United Kingdom being held on the same day. All 36 members of Havant Borough Council in Hampshire were elected following boundary changes.

2024 Havant Borough Council election

← 2023 2 May 2024 (2024-05-02) 2026 →

All 36 seats to Havant Borough Council
19 seats needed for a majority
Turnout29.79%
  First party Second party Third party
  Blank Blank Blank
Leader Alex Rennie Philip Munday Philippa Gray
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Last election 30 seats, 39.4% 4 seats, 24.5% 2 seats, 20.6%
Seats before 28 4 2
Seats won 13 10 7
Seat change Decrease 15 Increase 6 Increase 5
Popular vote 26,370[1] 12,923 14,455
Percentage 37.8% 18.51% 20.7%

  Fourth party Fifth party
  Blank Blank
Party Green Reform UK
Last election 1 seat, 14.3% No seats, <0.01%
Seats before 1 0
Seats won 4 2
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 2
Popular vote 13,646 1,978
Percentage 19.6% 2.8%

Winner of each seat at the 2024 Havant Borough Council election

Council control before election

Alex Rennie
Conservative

Council control after election

Philip Munday
Labour
No overall control

Prior to the election the Conservatives held a majority of the seats on the council. Following the election the council was left under no overall control, and the Conservative leader of the council, Alex Rennie, lost his seat.[2] The Conservatives remained the largest party, but a coalition of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Green Party formed to run the council, led by Labour councillor Philip Munday. He was appointed as leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 15 May 2024.[3]

Background

edit

Since its creation in 1974, Havant has been a consistently strong council for the Conservatives. They have held majorities on the council since 1980, aside from periods of no overall control between 1990 and 2002, where the Liberal Democrats became the largest group on the council for 4 years.[4]

In the previous election in 2023, the Conservatives lost 5 seats with 39.4% of the vote, Labour gained 1 with 24.5%, the Liberal Democrats gained 2 with 20.6%, and the Green Party won their first seat with 14.3%.

Boundary changes

edit

Havant usually elects its councillors in thirds, on a 4-year cycle. However, following boundary changes, all councillors were elected to the new wards.[5] The change fixes the number of councillors for every ward at 3, which reduces the total number of councillors by 2. Each voter could cast up to three votes. The councillors elected to each ward will serve two, three or four year terms, based on their relative vote share, with the longest term being served by the councillor with the largest number of votes.[5]

Old wards[6] No. of seats New wards No. of seats
Barncroft 2 Bedhampton 3
Battins 2 Cowplain 3
Bedhampton 3 Emsworth 3
Bondfields 2 Hart Plain 3
Cowplain 3 Havant St Faith's 3
Emsworth 3 Hayling East 3
Hart Plain 3 Hayling West 3
Hayling East 3 Leigh Park Central and West Leigh 3
Hayling West 3 Leigh Park Hermitage 3
Purbrook 3 Purbrook 3
St Faith's 3 Stakes 3
Stakes 3 Waterloo 3
Warren Park 2
Waterloo 3

Summary

edit

Council composition

edit
After 2023 election Before 2024 election[7] After 2024 election
Party Seats Party Seats Party Seats
Conservative 30 Conservative 28 Conservative 13
Labour 4 Labour 4 Labour 10
Liberal Democrats 2 Liberal Democrats 2 Liberal Democrats 7
Green 1 Green 1 Green 4
Independent 1 Independent 0 Independent 0
Vacant 0 Vacant 3 Reform UK 2

Changes:

  • January 2024: Carly Scannell (Conservative) resigns; seat left vacant until 2024 election[8]
  • February 2024: Tom Moutray (independent) resigns; seat left vacant until 2024 election[9]
  • March 2024: David Guest (Conservative) resigns; seat left vacant until 2024 election[10]

Election result

edit
 
Havant Borough Council's composition following the 2024 elections.
2024 Havant Borough Council election
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 36 13 0 10   17 36.1 37.8 26,370 −1.6
  Labour 15 10 2 0   6 27.8 18.5 12,923 +3.3
  Liberal Democrats 19 7 5 0   5 19.4 20.7 14,455 +0.1
  Green 19 4 3 0   3 11.1 19.6 13,646 +5.3
  Reform UK 6 2 0 0   2 5.6 2.8 1,978 N/A
  Independent 2 0 0 0   1 0 0.6 441 −2.0

Results

edit

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Havant Borough Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2024.[11]

Bedhampton

edit
Bedhampton (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Philippa Gray* 1,159 47.4
Liberal Democrats Michael Lind 887 36.3
Conservative Liz Fairhurst* 767 31.4
Liberal Democrats Annie Martin 739 30.2
Conservative Mark Inkster 650 26.6
Conservative Trevor Hughes 576 23.6
Reform UK Mark Collins 493 20.2
Labour Philip Pearson 450 18.4
Green Jim Graham 348 14.2
Green Richard Lanchester 288 11.8
Turnout 2,448 28.02
Liberal Democrats hold
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative
Conservative hold

Cowplain

edit
Cowplain (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Keast* 1,021 49.0
Conservative Neil Bowdell* 870 41.8
Conservative Andrew Briggs* 852 40.9
Labour Will McGannan 696 33.4
Green Bruce Holman 650 31.2
Liberal Democrats Christian Notley 609 29.3
Turnout 2,106 27.45
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Emsworth

edit
Emsworth (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Green Grainne Rason* 2,457 64.7
Green Reuben Mychaleckyj 1,976 52.1
Green Charles Robert 1,660 43.7
Conservative Richard Kennett* 1,364 35.9
Conservative Carole Bowerman* 1,177 31.0
Conservative Lucy Lawrence 954 25.1
Liberal Democrats Michael Bolt 477 12.6
Reform UK John Davis 287 7.6
Liberal Democrats Adam Bowman 285 7.5
Turnout 3,808 45.18
Green hold
Green gain from Conservative
Green gain from Conservative

Hart Plain

edit
Hart Plain (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ann Briggs 777 40.3
Conservative Elaine Shimbart* 768 39.8
Conservative James Blades* 654 33.9
Liberal Democrats Jules Ashley 570 29.5
Labour John Colman 563 29.2
Green Peter May 432 22.4
Reform UK Jonathan Harvey 365 18.9
Turnout 1,942 24.92
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Havant St. Faith's

edit
Havant St. Faith's (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Phil Munday* 1,845 57.7
Labour Gillian Harris* 1,728 54.1
Labour Daniel Berwick 1,568 49.1
Conservative John Dyer 846 26.5
Conservative Nigel Chilcott 785 24.6
Conservative Maurice Knowles 630 19.7
Green Nick Saunders 582 18.2
Reform UK Dave Etherington 515 16.1
Independent Giles Harris 231 7.2
Turnout 3,212 36.48
Labour win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)

Hayling East

edit
Hayling East (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mark Coates* 1,459 54.6
Green Netty Shepherd 992 37.1
Labour Peter Oliver 839 31.4
Conservative Geoffrey Hartridge 806 30.2
Green Natasha Parker 751 28.1
Conservative Eric Cundliffe 732 27.4
Conservative Shola Attryde 610 22.8
Green Judy Valentine 570 21.3
Turnout 2,710 37.17
Labour hold
Green gain from Conservative
Labour gain from Conservative

Hayling West

edit
Hayling West (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Paul Gray* 1,818 63.9
Liberal Democrats Wilf Forrow 1,678 59.0
Liberal Democrats Jonathan Hulls 1,586 55.8
Conservative Julie Richardson* 784 27.6
Conservative Brenda Linger* 765 26.9
Conservative Edward Rees 584 20.5
Green Aaron Bradbury 367 12.9
Green Rob Soar 275 9.7
Turnout 2,867 41.80
Liberal Democrats hold
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative

Leigh Park Central & West Leigh

edit
Leigh Park Central & West Leigh (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jason Horton 655 40.8
Labour Munazza Faiz 521 32.5
Reform UK Sharon Collings 430 26.8
Conservative Alex Rennie 420 26.2
Conservative Richard Stone 415 25.9
Green Cayleigh Arnold 363 22.6
Conservative Kris Tindall 338 21.1
Liberal Democrats Jo Lowe 279 17.4
Liberal Democrats Glenda Dunford 238 14.8
Independent Malc Carpenter 210 13.1
Turnout 1,610 18.73
Labour win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)
Reform UK win (new seat)

Leigh Park Hermitage

edit
Leigh Park Hermitage (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Richard Brown 499 37.9
Labour Amy Redsull-Aveline* 472 35.9
Reform UK Vicky Rhodes 381 29.0
Conservative Jackie Branson 358 27.2
Conservative Pam Crellin 346 26.3
Conservative Yvonne Weeks 337 25.6
Green Rayner Piper 252 19.2
Liberal Democrats Maria Mleczko-Miller 227 17.3
Turnout 1,319 15.17
Labour win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)
Reform UK win (new seat)

Purbrook

edit
Purbrook (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Antonia Harrison 979 48.2
Liberal Democrats Paul Tansom 933 45.9
Conservative Caren Diamond* 802 39.5
Conservative Terry Norton 725 35.7
Conservative Husky Patel* 705 34.7
Liberal Democrats George Kneller 649 32.0
Green Susan James 444 21.9
Turnout 2,058 27.91
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative
Conservative hold

Stakes

edit
Stakes (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Elizabeth Lloyd* 741 45.7
Conservative Sarah Milne* 682 42.1
Labour Simon Hagan 624 38.5
Conservative Diana Patrick* 599 37.0
Labour David Hill 501 30.9
Green Paul Briley 420 25.9
Liberal Democrats Crispin Ward 396 24.4
Turnout 1,633 21.57
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
Labour gain from Conservative

Waterloo

edit
Waterloo (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ryan Brent 1,023 48.8
Conservative Peter Wade* 977 46.6
Conservative Gwen Robinson* 930 44.4
Liberal Democrats Jane Briggs 529 25.3
Labour Darren Corps 503 24.0
Green Owen Plumkett 484 23.1
Liberal Democrats John Pratley 417 19.9
Green Neil Attewell 335 16.0
Turnout 2,122 28.30
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

References

edit
  1. ^ Each elector received up to 3 votes, so the number of votes cast does not correspond with the number of electors.
  2. ^ Forero, Natalia (3 May 2024). "Local elections 2024: Huge shock as Conservatives lose Havant Borough Council - full list of results". The News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ^ Needs, Noni (15 May 2024). "Havant Borough Council run by a new coalition following shock local election results". The News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Havant Borough Council Election Results 1973-2012" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b "The Havant (Electoral Changes) Order 2023", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2023/200, retrieved 1 March 2024
  6. ^ "The Borough of Havant (Electoral Changes) Order 2001", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2001/1025, retrieved 1 March 2024
  7. ^ "Your Councillors by Party". Havant Borough Council. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  8. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Heard About Green Night in Wirral?". Local Councils. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  9. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Aldermen Back". Local Councils. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  10. ^ Boothroyd, David. "In Like Flintshire". Local Councils. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Current & Future Elections". Havant Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2024.