2002 Hertsmere Borough Council election

The 2002 Hertsmere Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Hertsmere Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

Before the election the Conservatives controlled the council with 22 seats, compared to 10 for Labour, 5 Liberal Democrats and 2 independents.^[2] Since the 2000 election 2 Labour councillors, husband and wife Martin and Jean Heywood, had left the party and became independents.^[3]

13 of the 15 wards had seats contested in 2002, with only Aldenham East and Aldenham West having no election.^[4] The Conservative and Labour parties both had 5 seats up for election, while the Liberal Democrats defended 4 and the independents had 1 seat being contested.^[4]

Election result

The Conservatives increased their majority after gaining 2 seats from Labour to have 24 councillors, compared to 9 for Labour, 5 Liberal Democrats and 1 independent.^[2] The Conservatives gained Borehamwood Hillside by 74 votes, with the winning candidate, Sandra Parnell, becoming the first Conservative councillor for Borehamwood since 1976.^[2] The other Conservative gain came in Shenley, where Rosemary Gilligan took the seat by 154 votes, after the Conservatives had gained the other seat in the ward at the last election in 2000.^[2]

Despite losing 2 seats Labour did gain a seat in Borehamwood Cowley Hill by 193 votes defeating independent Jean Heywood.^[2] Heywood had left Labour to sit as an independent in 2001 and both she and the Labour candidate Joe Goldberg accused the other of dirty tricks during the campaign.^[2] Overall turnout at the election was 32.6%, an increase from 30.6% in 2000.^[5]

Following the election the remaining independent councillor, Martin Heywood, joined the Conservatives, taking the Conservatives to a then record 25 seats on the council.^[3]

Hertsmere Local Election Result 2002^[6]^[7]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes
Conservative	7	2	0	+2	46.7	44.8	10,145
Labour	4	1	2	-1	26.7	28.4	6,425
Liberal Democrats	4	0	0	0	26.7	22.0	4,988
Independent	0	0	1	-1	0	3.9	888
Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	108
Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	95

Ward results

Borehamwood Brookmeadow^[6]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Len Silverstone	736	60.2
	Conservative	Simon Rubner	487	39.8
Majority			249	20.4
Turnout			1,223	24.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Borehamwood Cowley Hill^[5]^[6]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Goldberg	886	52.9
	Independent	Jean Heywood	693	41.4
	Socialist Labour	James Dry	95	5.7
Majority			193	11.5
Turnout			1,674	29.8	+10.4
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Borehamwood Hillside^[6]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Sandra Parnell	1,054	51.8
	Labour	Anthony Scott-Norman	980	48.2
Majority			74	3.6
Turnout			2,034	35.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Borehamwood Kenilworth (2)^[6]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Ernest Butler	463
	Labour	Francis Ward	457
	Conservative	David Wernick	231
	Conservative	Lucy Wernick	208
	Independent	Peter Hedges	195
Turnout			1,554	22.4
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Bushey Heath^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Ron Gealy	1,110	67.5
	Liberal Democrats	Patrick Forsyth	361	22.0
	Labour	Dinah Hoeksma	173	10.5
Majority			749	45.6
Turnout			1,644
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bushey North (2)^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Democrats	Marilyn Colne	1,083
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Gamble	895
	Conservative	Trevor Jones	356
	Conservative	John Slade	318
	Labour	Sandra Mercado	172
	Green	Vega Alvarado	108
Turnout			2,932
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bushey Park^[6]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Lynn Hodgson	651	46.9
	Conservative	Anne Swerling	628	45.2
	Labour	James Sowerbutts	110	7.9
Majority			23	1.7
Turnout			1,389	40.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bushey St James^[6]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Zita Hobbs	1,311	59.1
	Conservative	David Bertin	748	33.7
	Labour	Christine Sowerbutts	158	7.1
Majority			563	25.4
Turnout			2,217	40.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Elstree^[6]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Derrick Gunasekera	768	68.6
	Labour	Oliver De Peyer	223	19.9
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Kutchinsky	128	11.4
Majority			545	48.7
Turnout			1,119	30.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Furzefield^[6]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Christine Calcutt	859	54.8
	Labour	James Fisher	415	26.5
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Dean	293	18.7
Majority			444	28.3
Turnout			1,567	32
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Oakmere^[6]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Shirley Legate	1,125	62.1
	Labour	Ann Harrison	686	37.9
Majority			439	24.2
Turnout			1.811	32.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Parkfield^[6]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Edwin Roach	1,516	70.0
	Labour	Liz Savage	383	17.7
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Bonner	266	12.3
Majority			1,133	52.3
Turnout			2,165	37
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shenley^[6]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Rosemary Gilligan	737	55.8
	Labour	William Hogan	583	44.2
Majority			154	11.7
Turnout			1,320	34.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b "Hertsmere". BBC News Online. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Hertsmere elections 2002: Tories win Borehamwood seat after 26 years". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 8 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Mayor turns blue". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 15 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Hertsmere borough council elections 2002". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 24 April 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Election turn-out". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "Election Results". Hertsmere Borough Council. Archived from the original on 8 June 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ "Local Elections in England: 2 May 2002" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Tories steal Borehamwood seat". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Hertsmere turns out to vote". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Potters Bar remains in Conservative hands". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

External links

[hold-1] "Hertsmere". BBC News Online. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[borehamwood-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Hertsmere elections 2002: Tories win Borehamwood seat after 26 years". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 8 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[blue-3] "Mayor turns blue". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 15 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[borough-4] "Hertsmere borough council elections 2002". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 24 April 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[turnout-5] "Election turn-out". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[results-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "Election Results". Hertsmere Borough Council. Archived from the original on 8 June 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[england-7] "Local Elections in England: 2 May 2002" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[steal-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Tories steal Borehamwood seat". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[out-9] "Hertsmere turns out to vote". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

[potters-10] "Potters Bar remains in Conservative hands". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

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