2015 Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2015 Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council election was held on 7 May 2015 to elect members of Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council in Greater Manchester, England.^[1] This took place on the same day as other local elections

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton shown within England.

22 seats were contested, including 2 seats in the Heaton and Lostock ward following the retirement of Conservative Councillor Alan Rushton, and 2 seats in Westhoughton North following the resignation of Labour Councillor Sean Harkin. The Labour Party won 14 seats, the Conservatives won 6 seats, UKIP won 1 seat and the Liberal Democrats won 1 seat.

After the election, the total composition of the council was as follows:

Election result

Bolton Local Election Result 2015
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Labour	14	1	2	-1	63.7	38.9	53,604	-1.4
Conservative	6	1	1	0	27.3	29.9	41,227	+7.3
UKIP	1	1	0	+1	4.5	18.5	25,505	-6.8
Liberal Democrats	1	0	0	0	4.5	7.3	10,127	+0.2
Green	0	0	0	0	0	3.9	5,336	+0.4
Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.5	2,021	+0.5

Council Composition

Prior to the election the composition of the council was:

↓
40	15	3	2
Labour	Conservative	LD	U

After the election the composition of the council was:

↓
39	15	3	3
Labour	Conservative	LD	U

LD - Liberal Democrats
U - UKIP

Ward results

Astley Bridge ward

Astley Bridge ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Wild	2,963	41.4	+5.1
	Labour	Debbie Newall	2129	29.7	−1.7
	UKIP	Harry Lamb	1500	21.0	−4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Clive Atty	302	4.2	+2.1
	Green	Ben Deed	261	3.6	−0.9
Majority			834	11.6	+6.6
Turnout			7,155	68.1	+27.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 4.8

Bradshaw ward

Bradshaw ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stuart Haslam	3,245	50.7	+7.0
	Labour	Tony Shepherd	1519	23.7	+2.0
	UKIP	Helen Turner	1065	16.6	−9.1
	Green	Joshua Handley	212	3.3	+2.5
	Liberal Democrats	Gaby McDowall	199	3.1	−1.6
	Independent	Eric Hyland	159	2.5	+2.5
Majority			1,726	27.0	+9.0
Turnout			6,399	71.3	+30.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 8.0

Breightmet ward

Breightmet ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Byrne	2,323	40.9	−2.1
	UKIP	Steven Flatman	1557	27.4	−7.7
	Conservative	Ryan Haslam	1402	24.7	+8.0
	Green	Laura Diggle	244	4.3	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Howarth	153	2.7	+1.2
Majority			766	13.5	+5.6
Turnout			5,679	59.3	+22.3
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 7.8

Bromley Cross ward

Bromley Cross ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman Critchley	4,340	56.0	+2.4
	Labour Co-op	Neil Garrity	1589	20.4	−1.8
	UKIP	Brett Varnam	1057	13.6	−6.7
	Green	Liz Spencer	424	5.4	+5.4
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Atty	368	4.7	+0.6
Majority			2,751	35.4	+4.0
Turnout			7,778	73.3	+32.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 4.5

Crompton ward

Crompton ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Guy Harkin	3,895	63.0	+3.0
	Conservative	Nadim Muslim	1343	21.7	+10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Warren	641	10.4	+6.6
	Green	Farhan Patel	306	4.9	+4.9
Majority			2,552	41.3	+2.0
Turnout			6,185	60.3	+21.0
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 15.5

Farnworth ward

Farnworth ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Gillies	2,703	50.3	+1.4
	UKIP	Jeff Armstrong	1626	30.2	−7.1
	Conservative	Aidan Meagan	723	13.4	+6.3
	Green	Trevor Bonfield	178	3.3	−0.6
	Liberal Democrats	David Connor	144	2.7	+0.2
Majority			1,077	20.0	+8.3
Turnout			5,374	49.5	+21.4
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 6.7

Great Lever ward

Great Lever ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Madeline Murray	3,542	66.9	−1.7
	UKIP	Paul Eccles	779	14.7	+0.4
	Conservative	Mohammed Waqas	658	12.4	+2.8
	Green	Helen Dickson	189	3.6	+0.0
	Liberal Democrats	Duncan Macpherson	126	2.4	+0.6
Majority			2,763	52.2	−2.4
Turnout			5,294	55.5	+18.9
	Labour hold		Swing	Labour to Conservative 2.2

Halliwell ward

Halliwell ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Linda Thomas	3,121	63.1	−3.0
	UKIP	Sandra Harvey	886	17.9	+0.1
	Conservative	Iqraa Shahid	489	9.9	+3.4
	Green	Ian McHugh	207	4.2	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Macpherson	123	2.5	−0.3
	Independent	Roheel Iqbal	117	117	+1.2
Majority			2,235	45.2	−3.4
Turnout			4,943	55.1	+16.8
	Labour hold		Swing	Labour to Conservative 3.2

Harper Green ward

Harper Green ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Haworth	2,875	51.5	−5.1
	UKIP	Dave Harvey	1549	27.7	+3.7
	Conservative	Robert Tyler	845	15.1	+3.0
	Green	Elizabeth McManus	165	2.9	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Wendy Connor	152	2.7	−0.1
Majority			1,330	23.8	−9.0
Turnout			5,590	56.3	+24.9
	Labour hold		Swing	Labour to UKIP 4.4

Heaton and Lostock ward

Two seats were up for election in this ward.

Heaton and Lostock ward
	Candidate	Votes	%
Conservative	Bob Allen	4,299	30.5
Conservative	Andy Morgan	3,352	23.7
Labour	Julia Silvester	1649	11.7
Labour	Ibrahim Ismail	1629	11.5
UKIP	David Butler	1088	7.7
UKIP	Paula Hendrie	748	5.3
Liberal Democrats	Rebekah Fairhurst	485	3.4
Green	Hannah Middleshaw	468	3.3
Liberal Democrats	Francine Godfrey	394	2.8
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Horwich and Blackrod ward

Horwich and Blackrod ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Stephen Pickup	2,559	37.5
	Conservative	Carol Forshaw	2125	31.1
	UKIP	Derek Snowden	1476	21.6
	Liberal Democrats	Doug Bagnall	339	5.0
	Green	Keith Cocker	331	4.8
Majority			434	6.3
Turnout			6,830	66.3
	Labour hold

Horwich North East ward

Horwich North East ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joyce Kellett	2,040	29.6	−5.8
	Conservative	Anne Galloway	1696	24.6	+4.8
	UKIP	Bob Horsfield	1033	15.0	−8.7
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Rock	936	13.3	−1.9
	Independent	Marie Brady	922	13.4	+13.4
	Green	Roderick Riesco	260	3.8	−1.6
Majority			344	5.2	−6.5
Turnout			6,887	67.8	+29.9
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 7.0

Hulton ward

Hulton ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shafaqat Shaikh	2,126	33.7	+3.9
	Conservative	Phil Ashcroft	1961	31.1	+1.1
	UKIP	Joan Johnson	1818	28.8	−4.9
	Liberal Democrats	David Cooper	202	3.2	+1.4
	Green	James Tomkinson	201	3.2	−1.0
Majority			165	2.6
Turnout			6,308	63.5	+24.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	UKIP to Labour 4.4

Kearsley ward

Kearsley ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Liam Irving	2,331	37.6	+1.9
	UKIP	Mark Cunningham	1953	31.5	−2.9
	Conservative	Sandra Macneill	1053	17.0	+8.3
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Rothwell	590	9.5	−1.4
	Green	Graham Robert Marsden	271	4.4	+4.4
Majority			378	6.1	+4.8
Turnout			6,198	58.9	+28.2
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 5.5

Little Lever and Darcy Lever ward

Little Lever and Darcy Lever ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Sean Hornby	2,050	31.7	−1.5
	Labour	Anthony Connell	2011	31.1	+3.3
	Conservative	Rees Gibbon	1414	21.9	+4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Eric Hyde	782	12.1	−5.4
	Green	Ed Dunsdon	198	3.1	−0.8
Majority			39	0.6	−4.8
Turnout			6,455	65.9	+26.4
	UKIP gain from Labour		Swing	Lib Dem to Conservative 4.9

Rumworth ward

Rumworth ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ebrahim Adia	4,555	77.3	+4.8
	Conservative	Jack Heyes	747	12.7	+4.7
	Green	Alan Johnson	457	7.7	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jaleh Hayes	136	2.3	+0.6
Majority			3,808	64.6	+4.3
Turnout			5,895	59.0	+19.2
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Labour 8.6

Smithills ward

Smithills ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Carole Swarbrick	2,563	36.8	−0.7
	Labour Co-op	John Gillatt	1915	27.5	−2.3
	Conservative	Danny Haslam	1161	16.7	+7.1
	UKIP	Dot Sexton	1094	15.7	−3.9
	Green	Richard Middleshaw	233	3.3	+0.2
Majority			648	9.3	+1.6
Turnout			6,964	68.1	+22.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 5.5

Tonge with the Haulgh ward

Tonge with the Haulgh ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Elaine Sherrington	2,263	42.8	−0.5
	UKIP	Derek Fisher	1675	31.7	−0.9
	Conservative	Naima Dean	968	18.3	+3.2
	Green	Imran Atcha	199	3.8	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Harasiwka	176	3.3	+1.3
Majority			588	11.1	+0.4
Turnout			5,281	56.9	+20.6
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 2.0

Westhoughton North and Chew Moor ward

Two seats were up for election in this ward.

Westhoughton North and Chew Moor ward
	Candidate	Votes	%
Conservative	Zoe Kirk-Robinson	2,517	20.6
Labour	Anne Graham	2,352	19.3
Conservative	Christine Wild	2131	17.5
Labour	Chris Peacock	1977	16.2
UKIP	George Bown	948	7.8
Independent	Jack Speight	823	6.7
Liberal Democrats	Derek Gradwell	433	3.5
Liberal Democrats	John Ainscough	402	3.3
Green	Heather Rylance	308	2.5
UKIP	Stephen Thomas	306	2.5
Conservative gain from Labour
Labour hold

Westhoughton South ward

Westhoughton South ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Chadwick	2,501	39.7	+0.4
	Conservative	Stephen Wallen	1795	28.5	+11.1
	UKIP	Michael Harvey	1297	20.6	−7.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Wilkinson	481	7.6	−3.6
	Green	Alex Conn	224	3.5	+3.5
Majority			706	11.2	+0.3
Turnout			6,298	64.4	+30.8
	Labour hold		Swing	UKIP to Conservative 9.4

Notes

^ "Upcoming elections & referendums". The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.

References

"Full list of council hopefuls revealed". The Bolton News. 13 April 2015. p. 4.
"Bolton Council Election Results". The Bolton News. 9 May 2015. p. 3.
Thorp, Liam (10 May 2015). "Plenty of shocks in Bolton Council elections - but not a lot of change". The Bolton News.

[TEC-1] "Upcoming elections & referendums". The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.

[1]