Fareham Council election, 2008

The 2008 Fareham Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Fareham Borough Council in Hampshire, England. Half 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

Contents

Campaign

Before the election the Conservatives held 22 seats compared to 9 for the Liberal Democrats, with the Conservatives having run the council for the previous 9 years.[3] Other candidates stood from the Labour party, Green party, United Kingdom Independence Party, British National Party and the English Democrats Party, but the election was seen as being mainly between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.[3]

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledged to improve parking in Fareham, oppose a proposed gravel extraction site and build less new houses.[3] The Conservatives defended their record in control of the council pointing to low council tax rates, extra hours of free bus travel for pensioners and recycling at 46% of waste.[3] However the Liberal Democrats promised to revert to weekly rubbish collection instead of the fortnightly service that was introduced in 2005, improve street cleaning and scrap a fee for calling out pest controllers.[3]

Election result

The results saw no seats change hands with the Conservatives keeping control with a majority of 13.[4] The Conservatives held 12 seats, many with increased majorities, the Liberal Democrats held 3, while Labour failed to win any seats and came last in many wards.[5] The largest majority was in Sarisbury where the Conservatives won over 82% of the vote, while the closest results came in Stubbington and Fareham East, with the Liberal Democrats holding Fareham East by 80 votes after a recount.[4] The only ward to see a new councillor was Titchfield where Conservative Tiffany Harper replaced Francis Devonshire, who stepped down at the election.[5] Overall turnout in the election was 40.25%.[6]

Fareham Local Election Result 2008[6][7]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/-
  Conservative 12 0 0 0 80.0 60.8 21,206 +9.0%
  Liberal Democrat 3 0 0 0 20.0 27.2 9,481 -9.8%
  Labour 0 0 0 0 0 6.8 2,355 -1.3%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 1.3 470 +1.3%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0 1.3 436 -0.4%
  UKIP 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 422 +0.8%
  BNP 0 0 0 0 0 0.9 323 -0.1%
  English Democrats 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 167 +0.5%

Ward results

Fareham East[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrat Katrina Trott 1,143 48.7 -1.7
Conservative Keith Barton 1,063 45.3 +2.4
Labour Stuart Rose 140 6.0 -0.8
Majority 80 3.4 -4.1
Turnout 2,346 41.2 -0.9
Liberal Democrat hold Swing
Fareham North[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Bryant 1,714 72.3 +5.7
Liberal Democrat Doreen Baker 304 12.8 -3.2
Labour Alan Mayes 178 7.5 -0.1
Green David Harrison 175 7.4 -2.4
Majority 1,410 59.5 +8.9
Turnout 2,371 41.9 -0.1
Conservative hold Swing
Fareham North West[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrat Eric Dunn 1,020 52.9 -11.1
Conservative Sheila Tavendale 778 40.3 +12.0
Labour Angela Carr 131 6.8 -0.9
Majority 242 12.5 -23.2
Turnout 1,929 35.4 -0.6
Liberal Democrat hold Swing
Fareham South[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Trevor Howard 1,015 59.2 +8.2
Labour James Carr 291 17.0 -2.5
Liberal Democrat Rowena Leonard 270 15.8 -13.7
Green John Vivian 138 8.1 +8.1
Majority 724 42.2 +20.7
Turnout 1,714 33.0 -0.8
Conservative hold Swing
Fareham West[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Diana Harrison 1,715 68.4 -2.9
Liberal Democrat John Tims 331 13.2 -6.8
UKIP Steve Richards 318 12.7 +12.7
Labour Cameron Crouchman 144 5.7 -3.0
Majority 1,384 55.2 +3.9
Turnout 2,508 46.0 +0.1
Conservative hold Swing
Hill Head[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Knight 2,133 74.1 +11.2
Liberal Democrat Sandra Abrams 599 20.8 -4.0
Labour Wendy Ledger 145 5.0 -0.7
Majority 1,534 53.3 +15.2
Turnout 2,877 48.5 +2.6
Conservative hold Swing
Locks Heath[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ruth Godrich 1,344 60.4 -4.9
Independent Ed Lait 470 21.1 +21.1
Liberal Democrat David Savage 278 12.5 -13.4
Labour Nicholas Knight 134 6.0 -2.8
Majority 874 39.3 +0.0
Turnout 2,226 39.7 +1.4
Conservative hold Swing
Park Gate[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Marian Ellerton 1,447 76.0 +4.4
Liberal Democrat Martin Haysom 299 15.7 -2.6
Labour Joanne Carr 157 8.3 -1.8
Majority 1,148 60.3 +7.0
Turnout 1,903 32.9 -1.5
Conservative hold Swing
Portchester East[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrat David Norris 1,802 51.4
Conservative Charles Livingstone 1,055 30.1
Labour Richard Ryan 326 9.3
BNP Roger Knight 323 9.2
Majority 747 21.3
Turnout 3,506 40.0 -4.0
Liberal Democrat hold Swing
Portchester West[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nick Walker 1,410 60.2 +13.1
Liberal Democrat Carol Bender 609 26.0 -13.8
English Democrats Alan Chapman 167 7.1 +7.1
Labour Leslie Ricketts 156 6.7 -0.6
Majority 801 34.2 +26.9
Turnout 2,342 40.8 -3.8
Conservative hold Swing
Sarisbury[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Swanbrow 1,657 81.6 +1.3
Liberal Democrat Christine Savage 262 12.9 +2.3
Labour Brenda Caines 112 5.5 +1.4
Majority 1,395 68.7 -1.0
Turnout 2,031 39.2 +0.9
Conservative hold Swing
Stubbington[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kay Mandry 1,485 55.3 +9.2
Liberal Democrat Craig Lewis 1,111 41.3 -7.4
Labour Simon Brown 91 3.4 -1.7
Majority 374 13.9
Turnout 2,687 47.1 +1.6
Conservative hold Swing
Titchfield[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tiffany Harper 1,599 72.1 +2.0
Liberal Democrat Jennifer Chaloner 318 14.3 -4.0
Labour Michael Prior 177 8.0 -3.6
Green Peter Doggett 123 5.5 +5.5
Majority 1,281 57.8 +5.9
Turnout 2,217 39.1 +0.2
Conservative hold Swing
Titchfield Common[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Keith Evans 1,022 50.5 +9.7
Liberal Democrat Sharon Englefield 944 46.6 -7.4
Labour Andrew Mooney 59 2.9 -2.3
Majority 78 3.9
Turnout 2,025 38.5 -1.5
Conservative hold Swing
Warsash[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mary Nadolski 1,769 81.2 +5.2
Liberal Democrat Alice Herron 191 8.8 -3.3
Labour Nicola Moore 114 5.2 -0.4
UKIP John Clayden 104 4.8 +4.8
Majority 1,578 72.5 +8.7
Turnout 2,178 40.1 -0.1
Conservative hold Swing

References

Preceded by
Fareham Council election, 2006
Fareham local elections Succeeded by
Fareham Council election, 2010