2000 Torbay Council election

The 2000 Torbay Council election took place on 4 May 2000 to elect members of Torbay unitary authority in England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.^[1]

Campaign

The election was seen as being a straight fight between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.^[2] Before the election the Conservatives were optimistic that Torbay would be one of the councils that they would gain in the 2000 local elections^[3] and they targeted it as a council that they had to win.^[4] This emphasis on the council included two visits by William Hague the Conservative party leader.^[5] Pre-election the Liberal Democrats only had control of the council based on the casting vote of the mayor, while the Conservatives needed 5 gains to take control.^[5]

Conservative leaflets led with the theme of "Keep the Pound" but locally they accused the Liberal Democrat administration of incompetence and attacked the 22% Council Tax rise over the previous two years.^[4] The Liberal Democrats were also attacked over the council's decision to not put on any floral displays in 1999 to save money, which was seen as being an error for an area dependent on tourism.^[6] However the Liberal Democrats accused the Conservatives of playing on voters fears about asylum seekers being housed in the area.^[4]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives win 32 of the 36 seats on the council, with the Liberal Democrats reduced to just 4 seats after having run the council since 1991.^[4] Liberal Democrat losses included the leader of the council, Anne Williams, and the mayor, John Turner.^[4] The Labour party lost both their seats on the council blaming a poor turnout at 33% and the recent rise of only 75 pence in the state pension for their defeat.^[4]

The result was seen as being an omen for the next general election, where the sitting Liberal Democrat member of parliament Adrian Sanders only had a majority of 12 over the Conservatives.^[4] However the 2001 general election would see the Liberal Democrats hold the parliamentary constituency with an increased majority.^[7]

Torbay Local Election Result 2000^[8]
	Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes
Conservative	32	+19	88.9	58.9	51,091
Liberal Democrats	4	-14	11.1	31.9	27,672
Labour	0	-2	0	8.1	7,000
Independent Ratepayers	0	0	0	0.6	508
Best Value for Torbay	0	0	0	0.3	251
Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0.2	177
Independent	0	-3	0	0	0

Ward results

Blatchcombe (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Eric Abercrombie	866
	Conservative	Beverley Brennan	828
	Conservative	Olive Jarmain	827
	Liberal Democrats	Douglas Lentell	766
	Liberal Democrats	John Nicholls	757
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Whitehead	714
	Labour	Roger Ballinger	369
	Labour	Wayne Doidge	347
	Labour	Eric McCaig	328
Turnout			5,802	24.9

Cockington with Chelston (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Michael Hytche	1,688
	Conservative	Beryl McPhail	1,685
	Conservative	Christine Weston	1,628
	Liberal Democrats	Stewart Foulds	720
	Liberal Democrats	Jerome Betts	686
	Liberal Democrats	Neil King	647
	Labour	Rosalind Royle	376
Turnout			7,430	35.8

Coverdale (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	John Goulden	1,232
	Conservative	Alan Hoyle	1,197
	Conservative	James O'Dwyer	1,187
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Williams	1,023
	Liberal Democrats	Richard James	917
	Liberal Democrats	Vincent McCann	911
	Labour	Brenda Hill	316
Turnout			6,783

Ellacombe (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Bruce Cowling	970
	Conservative	Peter Long	908
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Midgley	787
	Liberal Democrats	John Davis	786
	Conservative	Alan Shepheard	768
	Liberal Democrats	John Dunn	750
	Independent Ratepayers	Lionel Digby	508
	Labour	Jonathan Haines	358
Turnout			5,835

Furzeham with Churston(3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Robert Pudner	1,846
	Conservative	Nicholas Bye	1,831
	Conservative	Moira Tapperell	1,781
	Liberal Democrats	Andrea Colborne	486
	Labour	John Robinson	403
	Labour	Christopher Day	393
	Liberal Democrats	Marlene Brown	385
	Labour	William Loader	379
Turnout			7,504

Preston (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Jean Turnbull	1,999
	Conservative	Beverley Oxley	1,995
	Conservative	Ronald Morris	1,949
	Liberal Democrats	Timothy Nicholls	897
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Turner	871
	Liberal Democrats	John Pentney	729
	Labour	James Towell	335
Turnout			8,775

St Marychurch (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Heather Buckpitt	1,531
	Conservative	Paul Price	1,517
	Conservative	Donald Brook	1,490
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Blake	1,272
	Liberal Democrats	Hilary Chambers	1,212
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Stringer	1,169
Turnout			8,191

St Michaels with Goodrington (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Penelope Barnby	1,991
	Conservative	Maureen	1,990
	Conservative	Keith Bryant	1,962
	Liberal Democrats	John Turner	1,133
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Douglas-Dunbar	989
	Liberal Democrats	Doreen Urquart	935
	Labour	Edward Harris	394
Turnout			9,394

St Peters with St Marys (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Sally Jowett	1,339
	Conservative	Eileen Salloway	1,332
	Conservative	Alan Craig	1,285
	Labour	Michael Morey	931
	Labour	Irene Reade	624
	Labour	Peter Pimie	614
	Liberal Democrats	Frank Lomas	404
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart John	403
	Liberal Democrats	David Morris	387
Turnout			7,319

Shiphay (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal Democrats	Steve Darling	1,157
	Conservative	Mark Kingscote	1,120
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Charlwood	1,102
	Conservative	John Palmer	1,084
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Faulkner	1,082
	Conservative	Gert Eisner	1,057
	Labour	Stephen Turner	293
Turnout			6,895

Tormohun (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Damian Barton	994
	Liberal Democrats	Jennider Faulkner	924
	Conservative	Frances Harrison	917
	Conservative	Margaret Stafford	891
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Collins	787
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Wege	710
	Labour	Pauline Cartlidge	287
	Best Value for Torbay	Stanley Lewis	251
Turnout			5,761

Torwood (3)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Richard Cuming	1,838
	Conservative	Julian Chandler	1,805
	Conservative	Matthew Phillips	1,763
	Liberal Democrats	Kathleen Hawkins	441
	Liberal Democrats	Eric Blatchford	427
	Liberal Democrats	Adrian Treneary	306
	Labour	Edward Corrigam	253
	Monster Raving Loony	John Rowe	177
Turnout			7,010

References

^ "Torbay". BBC News Online. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
^ "Reporting from Torbay". BBC News Online. 4 May 2000. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ Hetherington, Peter (25 April 2000). "Armchair rebels threaten Labour hopes: Local elections: Party workers fear disillusionment and apathy as expected low turnouts prompt experiments to woo the voters". The Guardian. p. 8.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g de Bruxelles, Simon (5 May 2000). "Torbay becomes Tory-bay once again". The Times. p. 4.
^ ^a ^b "Battleground Torbay: Tide could be on the turn for true blues along the riviera". Financial Times. 5 May 2000. p. 6.
^ Watt, Nicholas (2 May 2000). "Flower power boosts Tories". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ "Big boost for Kennedy". BBC News Online. 8 June 2001. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ "Election results: local councils". The Times. 5 May 2000. p. 4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Torbay Council Elections Thursday 4th May 2000" (PDF). Torbay Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

[gain-1] "Torbay". BBC News Online. Retrieved 18 August 2009.

[reporting-2] "Reporting from Torbay". BBC News Online. 4 May 2000. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

[armchair-3] Hetherington, Peter (25 April 2000). "Armchair rebels threaten Labour hopes: Local elections: Party workers fear disillusionment and apathy as expected low turnouts prompt experiments to woo the voters". The Guardian. p. 8.

[tory-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g de Bruxelles, Simon (5 May 2000). "Torbay becomes Tory-bay once again". The Times. p. 4.

[battleground-5] "Battleground Torbay: Tide could be on the turn for true blues along the riviera". Financial Times. 5 May 2000. p. 6.

[flower-6] Watt, Nicholas (2 May 2000). "Flower power boosts Tories". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

[boost-7] "Big boost for Kennedy". BBC News Online. 8 June 2001. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

[results-8] "Election results: local councils". The Times. 5 May 2000. p. 4.

[thursday-9] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Torbay Council Elections Thursday 4th May 2000" (PDF). Torbay Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

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