2011 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2011 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

The council leader Mike Bird was one of the Conservatives who were defending seats at the election, along with a member of his cabinet Barbara McCracken.^[3]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives lose their majority on the council after Labour gained 8 seats, including 5 from the Conservatives.^[4] This meant the Conservatives had 28 councillors compared to 26 for Labour, leaving the Liberal Democrats, down one on five seats, holding the balance.^[4]

Following the election the Conservatives continued to run the council as a minority administration.^[5]

Walsall Local Election Result 2011^[1]^[6]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Labour	12	8	0	+8	57.1	40.6	31,104	+9.3%
Conservative	8	0	5	-5	38.1	40.0	30,592	+0.5%
Liberal Democrats	1	0	1	-1	4.8	7.1	5,430	-9.0%
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	5.8	4,467	+0.3%
Independent	0	0	1	-1	0	3.1	2,372	-0.3%
Democratic Labour	0	0	1	-1	0	2.3	1,785	+0.9%
BNP	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	307	-0.7%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	255	-1.1%
English Democrat	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	210	+0.3%

Ward results

Aldridge Central and South (2)^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Rochelle	2,719
	Conservative	John Murray	2,553
	Labour	Angus McGhee	976
	Labour	Michael Johnson	967
	Liberal Democrats	Roy Sheward	632
	UKIP	Bruce Bennett	552
	UKIP	Malcolm Ford	378
Turnout			8,777	44.0	−24.5
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Aldridge North and Walsall Wood^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Flower	2,167	56.5	+2.8
	Labour	Bob Grainger	1,094	28.5	+6.5
	BNP	Terence Majorwicz	307	8.0	+8.0
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Greveson	267	7.0	−13.4
Majority			1,073	28.0	−3.7
Turnout			3,835	38.3	−26.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bentley and Darlaston North^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Chambers	1,922	65.0	+22.2
	Conservative	Jeet Sohal	572	19.4	−10.6
	UKIP	Annette Ford	418	14.1	+2.2
	Democratic Labour	Alan Paddock	43	1.5	+0.6
Majority			1,350	45.7	+32.9
Turnout			2,955	32.1	−23.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Birchills-Leamore^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Oliver	1,574	55.0	+17.9
	Conservative	Kamran Aftab	961	33.6	+0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Roy Robinson	167	5.8	−6.9
	Democratic Labour	Alan Davies	158	5.5	+2.7
Majority			613	21.4	+17.8
Turnout			2,860	30.3	−20.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Blakenall^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ann Young	1,256	46.0	+5.1
	Democratic Labour	Peter Smith	928	34.0	+14.4
	Conservative	Muhammed Afzal	453	16.6	−10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Pearce	95	3.5	−9.3
Majority			328	12.0	−2.2
Turnout			2,732	32.4	−13.9
	Labour gain from Democratic Labour		Swing

Bloxwich East^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shaun Fitzpatrick	1,205	42.8	+1.6
	Conservative	Les Beeley	1,191	42.3	+6.5
	UKIP	Alan Sheath	229	8.1	−2.1
	Democratic Labour	Stephen Baggott	107	3.8	+0.0
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Cockayne	81	2.9	−6.2
Majority			14	0.5	−4.9
Turnout			2,813	33.0	−21.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Bloxwich West^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sue Fletcher-Hall	1,438	45.2	+10.1
	Conservative	Des Pitt	1,360	42.8	+2.1
	Democratic Labour	Michael Ross	234	7.4	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Jeanette Pearce	146	4.6	−5.2
Majority			78	2.4
Turnout			3,178	33.3	−26.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Brownhills^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barbara Cassidy	1,758	52.8	+16.1
	Conservative	Vivienne Aston	1,279	38.4	−2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Ryan	219	6.6	−10.5
	Democratic Labour	Andrew Bradburn	72	2.2	+0.3
Majority			479	14.4
Turnout			3,328	34.0	−24.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Darlaston South^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas James	1,205	41.5	+7.1
	Independent	Chris Bott	1,112	38.3	+2.3
	Conservative	Michelle Martin	334	11.5	−8.3
	Independent	Ashley Lovell	138	4.8	+4.8
	Green	Tim Martin	114	3.9	+3.9
Majority			93	3.2
Turnout			2,903	31.2	−22.3
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Paddock^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barbara McCracken	2,124	41.8	−1.1
	Labour	Nasar Ali	1,795	35.3	+7.5
	Independent	Barry Sanders	570	11.2	+2.0
	UKIP	Derek Bennett	471	9.3	−0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Abdul Malik	119	2.3	−8.4
Majority			329	6.5	−8.5
Turnout			5,079	52.8	−18.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Palfrey^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Allah Ditta	3,008	60.2	+10.0
	Conservative	Mohammad Yasin	1,755	35.1	+4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Sadat Hussain	235	4.7	−14.2
Majority			1,253	25.1	+5.8
Turnout			4,998	48.4	−15.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Pelsall^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Marco Longhi	2,085	57.3	+11.4
	Labour	Stephen Wade	979	26.9	+8.4
	UKIP	Dorothy Sheath	315	8.7	+2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Shirley Balgobin	185	5.1	+5.1
	Democratic Labour	Derek Roddy	77	2.1	+0.9
Majority			1,106	30.4	+4.1
Turnout			3,641	41.0	−25.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Pheasey Park Farm^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Bird	1,782	48.3	−1.8
	Labour	Jack Kelly	1,161	31.5	+6.2
	UKIP	Steven Grey	429	11.6	−1.6
	English Democrat	Christopher Newey	210	5.7	+5.7
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Willoughby	104	2.8	−8.6
Majority			621	16.8	−7.9
Turnout			3,686	42.4	−26.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Pleck^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Khazar Hussain	2,449	58.5	+17.2
	Conservative	Mushtaq Ahmed	767	18.3	−13.3
	Independent	Mark Dabbs	475	11.3	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Mohammed Yaqub	331	7.9	−6.4
	Democratic Labour	Brian Powell	166	4.0	+4.0
Majority			1,682	40.2	+30.5
Turnout			4,188	43.8	−16.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Rushall-Shelfield^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lorna Rattigan	1,337	42.2	−1.6
	Labour	Richard Worrall	1,309	41.3	+14.3
	UKIP	Timothy Melville	273	8.6	+0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Roy Smitb	159	5.0	−12.8
	Green	Mike Walters	92	2.9	−0.3
Majority			28	0.9	−15.9
Turnout			3,170	35.5	−24.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Short Heath^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Barker	924	31.3	−6.9
	Labour	Doug Cleaver	813	27.5	+5.2
	Conservative	Theresa Smith	805	27.2	−1.5
	UKIP	Darren Hazell	287	9.7	−1.0
	Independent	Malcolm Moore	77	2.6	+2.6
	Green	Leandra Gebrakedan	49	1.7	+1.7
Majority			111	3.8	−5.7
Turnout			2,955	32.9	−26.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St. Matthews^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eileen Russell	1,984	47.2	+11.4
	Conservative	Gerry McCracken	1,650	39.2	−2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Khosru Miah	287	6.8	−7.4
	UKIP	Rita Oakley	284	6.8	+6.8
Majority			334	8.0
Turnout			4,205	42.7	−20.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Streetly^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Clarke	2,897	60.6	+0.4
	Labour	Steven King	1,200	25.1	+7.3
	UKIP	Paul Valdmanis	391	8.2	+1.3
	Liberal Democrats	John Garfitt	294	6.1	−7.7
Majority			1,697	35.5	−6.9
Turnout			4,782	44.3	−26.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Willenhall North^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gareth Illmann-Walker	1,012	30.9	+8.9
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Hughes	943	28.8	−4.1
	Conservative	Abi Pitt	875	26.8	−2.0
	UKIP	Liz Hazell	440	13.5	+7.1
Majority			69	2.1
Turnout			3,270	34.6	−27.1
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Willenhall South^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carl Creaney	1,999	63.1	+18.0
	Conservative	Clive Rudd	926	29.2	−0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Uppal Singh	242	7.6	−15.3
Majority			1,073	33.9	+18.1
Turnout			3,167	29.7	−24.6
	Labour hold		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b "England council elections". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ "Election results 2011: English council summary results". guardian.co.uk. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ Henwood, Chris (6 April 2011). "Walsall and Dudley leaders up for re-election as Black Country councils go to the polls". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Labour gains seats on Birmingham City Council". BBC News Online. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ "Walsall Council opts for minority administration". BBC News Online. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u "Election results 2011 - Local election Live". Walsall Council. Archived from the original on 16 November 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t "Walsall Council local elections: Ward by ward results". Birmingham Mail. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[gain-1] "England council elections". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[summary-2] "Election results 2011: English council summary results". guardian.co.uk. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[dudley-3] Henwood, Chris (6 April 2011). "Walsall and Dudley leaders up for re-election as Black Country councils go to the polls". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[birmingham-4] "Labour gains seats on Birmingham City Council". BBC News Online. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[minority-5] "Walsall Council opts for minority administration". BBC News Online. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[results-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u "Election results 2011 - Local election Live". Walsall Council. Archived from the original on 16 November 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[ward-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t "Walsall Council local elections: Ward by ward results". Birmingham Mail. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

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