2011 West Somerset District Council election

The 2011 West Somerset District Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of West Somerset District Council in Somerset, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2007 reducing the number of seats by 3.^[1] The Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from Independents.^[1]

Background

Before the election Conservative Tim Taylor was the leader of the council in an alliance with Independents.^[2] Since the 2007 election boundary changes reduced the number of seats on the council from 31 to 28.^[3]

A total of 63 candidates stood at the election for the 28 seats on the council.^[4] These included 15 sitting councillors and a record 12 Green Party candidates, a party that had not contested any seats in West Somerset in 2007.^[3]^[5] This was compared to only 4 Labour Party and 2 Liberal Democrat candidates, with the number of Green candidates being put down to the proposal for a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point.^[5] One seat, Greater Exmoor, only had one candidate, Conservative Steven Pugsley, so he was elected without opposition.^[4]

Election result

The Conservatives took control of the council with 19 councillors after gaining 6 seats.^[6] This was mainly at the expense of Independents who dropped 9 seats, with only 7 independents being elected.^[6] The independent losses included the defeat of councillors Sandra Slade and Paul Tipney in Minehead South and Quantock Vale respectively.^[3]

The Labour Party gained a seat to move to 2 councillors, while the Liberal Democrats lost their only seat on the council^[6] and the Greens failed to win any seats.^[3]

West Somerset local election result 2011^[7]^[1]
	Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	19	+6	67.9	47.4	10,486	+4.4%
Independent	7	-9	25.0	32.4	7,169	-15.6%
Labour	2	+1	7.1	7.0	1,548	+1.6%
Green	0	0	0	11.1	2,449	+11.1%
Liberal Democrats	0	-1	0	2.2	479	-1.4%

Ward results

Alcombe (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Ian Melhuish	409
	Conservative	Paul Grierson	357
	Labour	Andy Lewis	280
	Green	Venetia Moore	200
Turnout			1,246	33.6

Brendon Hills^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Keith Turner	456	74.3
	Independent	Nick Moore	158	25.7
Majority			298	48.6
Turnout			614	51.6

Carhampton & Withycombe^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Timothy Taylor	382	66.3
	Independent	William Butcher	194	33.7
Majority			188	32.6
Turnout			576	51.0

Crowcombe & Stogumber^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Anthony Trollope-Bellew	373	54.8
	Independent	Roy Harbour	178	26.1
	Green	Jamie Robertson	130	19.1
Majority			195	28.7
Turnout			681	53.4

Dulverton & District (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Keith Ross	736
	Conservative	Bruce Heywood	543
	Independent	David Lungley	450
	Conservative	Kathy Smith	434
Turnout			2,163	51.3

Dunster & Timberscombe^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Alec Chick	336	57.9
	Green	Nicky Gibbard	166	28.6
	Independent	Gary Miele	78	13.4
Majority			170	29.3
Turnout			580	47.5

Greater Exmoor^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steven Pugsley	unopposed

Minehead Central (3)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Andrew Hadley	588
	Conservative	Mandy Chilcott	543
	Conservative	Richard Lillis	349
	Independent	Stephen Grice	302
	Labour	Lesley Culverhouse	298
	Independent	Ernest Taylor	247
	Independent	John Clyde-Smith	146
	Green	Cait Collins	137
	Green	Simon Gibbard	127
Turnout			2,737	32.4

Minehead North (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	David Ross	471
	Conservative	David Sanders	448
	Independent	Steve Pickard	220
	Green	Katy Attwater	218
Turnout			1,357	29.4

Minehead South (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Les Smith	520
	Labour	Maureen Smith	520
	Conservative	Tristan Tonks	365
	Independent	Sandra Slade	335
	Green	David Taylor	259
Turnout			1,999	41.3

Old Cleeve (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Kate Kravis	523
	Conservative	Martin Dewdney	423
	Green	Jude Johnson-Smith	304
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Galloway	219
	Green	David Latimer	178
Turnout			1,647	46.0

Porlock & District (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Karen Mills	683
	Independent	Jon Freeman	591
	Conservative	Nick Messarra	414
Turnout			1,688	47.7

Quantock Vale (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Chris Morgan	521
	Conservative	Sue Goss	442
	Independent	Paul Tipney	434
Turnout			1,397	45.1

Watchet (3)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	David Westcott	669
	Conservative	Anthony Knight	637
	Labour	Peter Murphy	450
	Conservative	Ann Snelling	327
	Green	Izzy Silvester	297
	Independent	Loretta Whetlor	269
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Bowden	260
	Green	Bruce Scott	259
	Independent	John Richards	238
Turnout			3,406	38.5

West Quantock^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Dowding	417	70.6
	Green	Miriam Robertson	174	29.4
Majority			243	41.2
Turnout			591	53.8

Williton (2)^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Hugh Davies	700
	Independent	Edwin May	425
	Conservative	Rosemary Woods	324
Turnout			1,449	39.5

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "England council elections". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ "Somerset Conservatives celebrate election results". BBC News Online. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "West Somerset Council election results". West Somerset Free Press. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Full list of West Somerset election candidates". Somerset County Gazette. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b Blair, David (26 April 2011). "Somerset Greens energised by fallout from Japan". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Tories take control of three West councils as voters reject AV system in referendum". this is Cornwall. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "District Election Results 2011". West Somerset Council. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[gain-1] "England council elections". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[celebrate-2] "Somerset Conservatives celebrate election results". BBC News Online. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[council-3] "West Somerset Council election results". West Somerset Free Press. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[full-4] "Full list of West Somerset election candidates". Somerset County Gazette. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[fallout-5] Blair, David (26 April 2011). "Somerset Greens energised by fallout from Japan". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[reject-6] "Tories take control of three West councils as voters reject AV system in referendum". this is Cornwall. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[results-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "District Election Results 2011". West Somerset Council. Retrieved 27 November 2011.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]