2024 Runnymede Borough Council election

The 2024 Runnymede Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2024 to elect one-third of members of the Runnymede Borough Council in Surrey, England. This was on the same day as other local elections in England and police and crime commissioner elections.

2024 Runnymede Borough Council election

2 May 2024 (2024-05-02)
14 out of 41 seats to Runnymede Borough Council 21 seats needed for a majority
Registered	57,518
Turnout	18,320 (31.9%, 0.8 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Robert King Tom Gracey Don Whyte Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 2021 2022 2019 Leader's seat Egham Hythe Egham Hythe Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South Last election 2 seats, 21.7% 5 seats, 36.9% 2 seats, 19.2% Seats before 4 19 4 Seats won 4 3 3 Seats after 8 13 6 Seat change 4 7 2 Popular vote 4,298 7,173 3,962 Percentage 21.7% 36.3% 20.0% Swing 0.0 pp 0.6 pp 0.8 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Linda Gillham Steve Ringham Bob Bromley Party RIRG Green Reform UK Leader since 2023 2022 2024 Leader's seat Thorpe Addlestone North Addlestone North (Defeated standing in Englefield Green West) Last election 2 seats, 8.5% 1 seat, 6.5% 0 seats, 0.4% Seats before 6 2 1 Seats won 2 1 0 Seats after 6 3 0 Seat change 0 1 0 Popular vote 1,400 1,438 252 Percentage 7.1% 7.3% 1.3 Swing 1.4 pp 0.8 pp 0.9 pp
A map presenting the results of the election, by party of the councillor elected from each ward.
Leader before election Tom Gracey Conservative No overall control Co-leaders after election Robert King (Lab Co-op) Don Whyte (Lib Dem) Linda Gillham (RIRG) Steve Ringham (Green) No overall control

The election saw the Conservatives lose all but three of the ten seats they were defending. Notable losses include Chertsey St. Ann's, where the incumbent council deputy leader lost his seat to Labour, and New Haw where the Liberal Democrats saw the largest majority in the borough, gaining from the Conservatives.

Following the resignation of the Conservative Party Councillor Max Darby, who represented the Ward of Woodham and Rowtown, there was a by-election to fill the vacancy held on the same day.

Former Egham Hythe Councillor, Alex Balkan, had to withdraw his nomination at the election for the Conservative Party and was replaced by Tanya Solomon who stood for the Conservative Party unsuccessfully in Englefield Green West Ward in 2022 and 2023.

The council remained under no overall control. Following the election a coalition of Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Runnymede Independent Residents' Group, the Green Party and three of the independent councillors formed to run the council, calling themselves the Runnymede Council Alliance group. At the subsequent annual council meeting on 15 May 2024 the four party leaders within the alliance were jointly appointed as co-leaders of the council.

Results

2024 Runnymede Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour Co-op	4	4	28.6	4	8	19.5	4,298	21.7	+0.0%
	Conservative	3	7	21.4	10	13	31.7	7,173	36.3	−0.6%
	Liberal Democrats	3	2	21.4	3	6	14.6	3,962	20.0	+0.8%
	RIRG	2	0	14.3	4	6	14.6	1,400	7.1	−1.4%
	Green	1	1	7.1	2	3	7.3	1,438	7.3	+0.8%
	Independent	1	0	7.1	4	5	12.2	1,166	5.9	−0.4%
	Reform UK	0	0	0	0	0	0	252	1.3	+0.9%
	Heritage	0	0	0	0	0	0	95	0.5	+0.4%

Ward Candidates

Addlestone North

Addlestone North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Priya Mehta	496	40.0	+0.3
	Conservative	Tommy Traylen	321	25.8	−11.7
	Labour Co-op	June Tilbury	188	15.1	−1.5
	Reform UK	Stewart Mackay	151	12.1	New
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Lawrence	89	7.1	+0.8
Majority			175	14.1
Rejected ballots			7
Turnout			1245	28.2	−3.3
	Green gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.0

Addlestone South

Addlestone South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Furey	605	42.0	+0.3
	Labour Co-op	Elaine Percival	596	41.4	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Theresa Burton	240	16.7	+4.5
Majority			9	0.6
Rejected ballots			27
Turnout			1441	30.0	−0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.4

Chertsey Riverside

Chertsey Riverside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Cai Parry	653	45.9	+7.4
	Conservative	John Osborn	538	37.8	−4.1
	Green	Elaine Brindley	122	8.6	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Liam Elvish	110	7.7	−4.0
Majority			115	8.1
Rejected ballots			12
Turnout			1423	31.2	+1.2
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.8

Chertsey St. Ann's

Chertsey St. Ann's

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Mark Williams	654	47.2	+10.7
	Conservative	Myles Willingale	480	34.7	−10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Annabel Jones	150	10.8	−0.8
	Green	Vicky Flynn	101	7.3	+0.6
Majority			174	12.6
Rejected ballots			19
Turnout			1385	29.5	−0.6
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.6

Egham Hythe

Egham Hythe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Ricky Milstead	758	53.8	+4.0
	Conservative	Tanya Solomon	624	44.3	+2.8
	Independent	Deshveen Mangat	117	8.3	New
Majority			134	9.5
Rejected ballots			11
Turnout			1410	29.0	−1.8
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+0.6

Egham Town

Egham Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	RIRG	Geeta Moudgil	735	50.6	−14.0
	Conservative	Mark Adams	303	20.9	+6.1
	Labour	Jocelyn Boxall	251	17.3	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Heath	112	7.7	+2.0
	Green	Timothy Hayes	52	3.6	New
Majority			432	29.7
Rejected ballots			3
Turnout			1453	31.6	−1.2
	RIRG hold		Swing	−10.1

Englefield Green West

Englefield Green West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Gahir	370	32.9	−21.0
	Conservative	Wendy Locker	332	29.5	−16.6
	Independent	Amanda Willis	322	28.6	New
	Reform UK	Bob Bromley	101	9.0	New
Majority			38	3.4
Rejected ballots			4
Turnout			1125	30.4	+0.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	−2.2

Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South

Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Lee	645	70.0	−3.2
	Conservative	Steve Vise	276	30.0	+3.2
Majority			369	40.0
Rejected ballots			21
Turnout			921	31.6	−2.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−3.2

New Haw

New Haw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Ken Graham	1,223	72.7	+8.0
	Conservative	Howard Freeman	347	20.6	−10.0
	Green	Martin Robson	85	5.1	+1.2
	Heritage	Gian Palermiti	28	1.7	+0.8
Majority			876	52.0
Rejected ballots			16
Turnout			1683	35.6	−1.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.0

Ottershaw

Ottershaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Carl Mann	727	46.1	+0.7
	Conservative	George Callaghan	384	24.4	−1.8
	Labour Co-op	Anne Emerson-Miller	274	17.4	+4.3
	Green	Peter Chiverton	99	6.3	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	David Charlton	92	5.8	−2.3
Majority			343	21.8
Rejected ballots			10
Turnout			1576	32.4	−1.6
	Independent hold		Swing	+1.3

Thorpe

Thorpe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	RIRG	Margaret Harnden	665	47.4	−6.1
	Conservative	Roberto Bueno	491	35.0	+6.4
	Labour Co-op	Benjamin Niblett	189	13.5	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Cheryl Smith-Wright	58	4.1	−1.0
Majority			174	12.4
Rejected ballots			4
Turnout			1403	33.3
	RIRG hold		Swing	−6.3

Virginia Water

Virginia Water

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Karin Rowsell	808	50.8	+11.9
	Conservative	Lewis Virgo	699	43.9	−3.6
	Green	Maciej Pawlik	84	5.3	+2.4
Majority			109	6.7
Rejected ballots			18
Turnout			1591	37.4	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.8

Woodham and Rowtown (2 seats)

Two seats are up for election due to the resignation of Councillor Max Darby, elected in 2022.

Woodham and Rowtown

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Scott Lewis	919	45.1	−10.4
	Conservative	Pippa Tucker-Brown	854
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Coulon	435	21.3	+0.9
	Labour Co-op	Harry Hurst	365	17.9	+3.0
	Green	Deborah Hepburn	253	12.4	+3.2
	Green	Richard Miller	146
	Heritage	Rachel Bear	67	3.3	New
Rejected ballots			5
Turnout			1664	34.3	−0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Committee Chairs Following Election

Party key		Conservative
		Green
		Labour
		Liberal Democrat
		RIRG

Chairs of Committees

Committee	Councillor		Term
The Worshipful Mayor of Runnymede		Cllr Elaine Gill	2024-25
Co-leader of the Council Chair of Corporate Management Committee		Cllr Robert King	2024-
Co-leader of the Council Chair of Environment & Sustainability Committee		Cllr Don Whyte	2024-
Chair of Housing Committee		Cllr Mike Smith	2024-
Chair of Community Services Committee		Cllr Abby King	2024-
Chair of Planning Committee		Cllr Sylvia Whyte	2024-
Chair of Licensing Committee		Cllr Eliza Kettle	2024-
Deputy Mayor Chair of Regulatory Committee		Cllr Margaret Harnden	2024-
Chair of Standards & Audit Committee		Cllr Sam Jenkins	2024-
Chair of Englefield Green Committee		Cllr Paul Gahir	2024-
Chair of Overview & Scrutiny Select Committee Chair of Crime & Disorder Committee		Cllr Shannon Saise-Marshall	2024-
Co-leaders not chairs of committees
Co-leader of the Council Vice-Chair of Corporate Management Committee		Cllr Linda Gillham	2024-
Co-leader of the Council Vice-Chair of Environment & Sustainability Committee		Cllr Steve Ringham	2024-

By-elections

Addlestone South, 10 October 2024

A by-election took place on 10 October 2024 for Addlestone South ward following the death of Councillor Jonathan Wilson.

Stewart Mackay, a Reform UK candidate, announced his intention to stand in the by-election, however, he had failed to submit his nomination papers following allegations of promoting far-right content and transphobic conspiracy theories on X.

Addlestone South by-election, 10 October 2024

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steve Eldridge	520	55.9	+13.9
	Labour Co-op	Elaine Percival	262	28.2	−13.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Coulon	85	9.1	−7.6
	Green	Jess Ward	63	6.8	New
Majority			258	27.7
Rejected ballots			8
Turnout			930	19.0	−11.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+13.6

Ottershaw, 12 December 2024

A by-election will take place in Ottershaw on the 12th of December 2024 following the death of Councillor Malcolm Cressey.

Ottershaw by-election, 12 December 2024

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Peter Chiverton
	Independent	Robert Day
	Labour Co-op	Anne Emerson-Miller
	Conservative	Mike Kusneraitis
	Liberal Democrats	Ronan McCaughey
	Reform UK	Mayuran Senthilnathan
Majority
Rejected ballots
Turnout
			Swing