Christchurch Town (ward)

Christchurch Town is a ward in Christchurch, Dorset. Since 2019, the ward has elected 2 councillors to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. Before then the Town Centre ward elected two councillors to Christchurch Borough Council.

Christchurch Town
ward Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.
Boundary of Christchurch Town in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
Major settlements	Christchurch
Current ward
Created	2019 (2019)
Councillor	Mike Cox (Liberal Democrats)
Councillor	Michael Tarling (Liberal Democrats)
Created from	Town Centre Portfield Purewell and Stanpit (Part)
UK Parliament constituency	Christchurch

History

The Town Centre ward elected Conservative Councillors at the 2015 Christchurch Borough Council election.

In the first election to 2019 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council in 2019, Christchurch Town was the only ward in Christchurch to elect a Liberal Democrat councillor.

Geography

The ward is based around Christchurch Town Centre as well as Purewell and parts of Portfield. It consists mainly of the former Christchurch Borough ward of Town Centre, as well as parts of the former wards of Portfield (the remainder now part Commons) and Purewell and Stanpit (now part of Mudeford, Stanpit and West Highcliffe).

Councillors

The ward is represented by two councillors:

Election	Councillors
2003	Town Centre - Christchurch Borough
		Chris Legg (Liberal Democrats)		Peter Hall (Liberal Democrats)
2007		Brett Bader (Liberal Democrats)
2011		Gillian Geary (Conservative)
2015		Wendy Grace (Conservative)		Peter Hall (Conservative)
2019	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
		Mike Cox (Liberal Democrats)		Peter Hall (Conservative)
2023		Mike Cox (Liberal Democrats)		Michael Tarling (Liberal Democrats)

Election results

2023

Christchurch Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Cox‡	1,619	53.8	+24.2
	Liberal Democrats	Michael John Tarling	1,456	48.4	+20.2
	CI	Avril Elizabeth Coulton	778	25.8	+3.6
	CI	Viv Charrett	695	23.1	+2.4
	Conservative	John Trickett	372	12.4	−15.8
	Conservative	Luc Wesley Swarbrick	362	12.0	−11.8
	Labour	Julian Spurr	208	6.9	−4.6
	Green	Sam Cato	183	6.1	−6.7
	Green	Steven Miles Thomas	117	3.9	N/A
Majority
Turnout			3,010	37.24
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

2019

Christchurch Town (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Cox	891	29.6
	Conservative	Peter Hall	851	28.2
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Tarling	850	28.2
	Conservative	Peter Watson-Lee	716	23.8
	Independent	Fred Neale	668	22.2
	Independent	Lindy Stuart-Clark	625	20.7
	Green	Steve Docherty	386	12.8
	Labour	Robert Hope	348	11.5
	Labour	David Munnik	279	9.3
Majority
Turnout			3,014	38.20%
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

2015

Town Centre (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hall	1,045
	Conservative	Wendy Grace	993
	UKIP	Liz Faherty	585
	UKIP	Olga Turner	476
	Labour	George Gregory	365
	Green	Joanne Dyton	349
	Green	Steven Thomas	289
Turnout			4,102	70.2	+21.0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing