Colchester Borough Council election, 2006

Map of the results of the 2006 Colchester council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow, Labour in red and independents in light grey. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2006.

The 2006 Colchester Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Colchester Borough Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 30
• Liberal Democrats 21
• Labour 7
• Independent 2^[2]

Background

Before the election the Conservatives had run the council since the 2004 election and had 28 of the 60 seats on the council.^[3] The Liberal Democrats had 22 seats, Labour had 7 seats and there were 3 independents.^[3]

20 seats were contested at the election, with the councillors who were defending seats including the Conservative leader of the council, John Jowers, the mayor Terry Sutton and the Liberal Democrat group leader, Colin Sykes.^[3] However the Conservatives did not have a candidate in New Town ward due to an error on their candidate's nomination papers.^[4] As well as the parties who were defending seats on the council, the Green Party contested every seat for the first time and particularly targeted Castle ward.^[3] Independents who stood included Gerard Oxford in Highwoods ward, who was defending a seat he had won as a Liberal Democrat before leaving the party.^[3]

Issues

A major issue at the election was the relocation of the bus station to a temporary site, while a new bus station was being built at a new shopping centre.^[3] Meanwhile a Visual Arts Facility (VAF) was being built on the old bus station site.^[3] 6 independents stood at the election as part of a Save Our Bus Station Campaign opposing the move, with the Labour party also opposing the building of the VAF on the old bus station site.^[3] However the Conservatives said the temporary bus station site would be better than the old site.^[3]

Both the Liberal Democrats and Greens called for more recycling, while the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties called for action on street cleaning.^[3] The Conservatives meanwhile defending their record in power, pointing to a number of new projects being started including a planned new community stadium.^[3]

Election result

The Conservatives made a net gain of 2 seats to have half of the seats on the council with 30 councillors, just falling short of winning a majority.^[5] Conservative gains included defeating the Liberal Democrat group leader Colin Sykes, with the Liberal Democrats falling to 21 seats.^[5] Labour remained on 7 seats after holding the only seat they had been defending, but polled less than the Greens in a number of wards.^[5] Overall turnout at the election was 36.4%.^[6]

Ward results

References

Council elections in Essex Essex County Council 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 Basildon Borough Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Braintree District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Brentwood Borough Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Castle Point Borough Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Chelmsford City Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Colchester Borough Council 1973 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 Epping Forest District Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Harlow District Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Maldon District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Rochford District Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Tendring District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Thurrock Council 1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Uttlesford District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 See also: Wards Boundary changes

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