Harlow District Council election, 2015

Harlow District occupies a fairly small, elevated proportion of the west of Essex, bordering the large north-eastern projection of Hertfordshire to the north.  From top left, clockwise the similarly shaped approximately rectangular wards are: Little Parndon & Hare Street, Netteswell, Mark Hall, (all electing Labour members this time) Old Harlow, Church Langley, (both electing Conservatives) Harlow Common, Staple Tye, (electing Labour), Sumners & Kingsmoor, Great Parndon, (electing Conservative this time) Toddbrook and finally Bushfair (electing Labour).  The map shows these 11 wards, the last two of which are landlocked forming part of the centre of the mixed urban and suburban town forming the district characterized by long, linear green spaces, sloped fields in Old Harlow ward and a southern wood known as Parndon Wood in Sumners & Kingsmoor ward.
Map of the results of the 2015 Harlow District Council election. Labour in red and Conservatives in blue.

The 2015 Harlow District Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of Harlow District Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and Labour party councillors increased their control of the council as the governing group, gaining one councillor and suffering no losses.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

Background

After the last election in 2014 Labour remained in control of the council with 17 councillors, while the Conservatives had 11 seats and the UK Independence Party had 5 seats.[3] However Labour gained a seat from the UK Independence Party at a by-election for Mark Hall ward in February 2015.[4]

A UKIP councillor for Great Parndon ward, Terry Spooner, resigned in March to retire to Dorset so two of its three seats were contested at the 2015 election,[5] leading to 12 seats up for election, which were contested by 43 candidates: 12 each affiliated to Labour, the Conservatives and UKIP and seven Liberal Democrats.[6]

Election result

Labour remained in control of the council with 19 councillors after winning 7 of the 12 seats contested.[1] Both they and the Conservatives gained a seat at the expense of the UK Independence Party,[2] taking the Conservatives to 12 seats on the council, while the UK Independence Party was left with two councillors.[1] Overall turnout at the election was 62.68%.[7]

Harlow local election result 2015[7][8]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 7 1 0 +1 58.3 35.3 14,777 +1.9%
  Conservative 5 1 0 +1 41.7 41.4 17,313 +13.9%
  UKIP 0 0 2 -2 0 20.7 8,644 -13.6%
  Liberal Democrat 0 0 0 0 0 2.6 1,098 -0.4%

Ward results

Bush Fair[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ian Beckett 1,380 39.4 +3.7
Conservative Malik Ash 1,124 32.1 +15.3
UKIP Patsy Long 838 23.9 -14.3
Liberal Democrat Christopher Robins 164 4.7 -0.5
Majority 256 7.3
Turnout 3,506
Labour hold Swing
Church Langley[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Andrew Johnson 2,572 59.3 +13.8
Labour Ken Lawrie 857 19.8 +0.1
UKIP Robert Patterson 797 18.4 -16.5
Liberal Democrat Kuzna Jackson 112 2.6 +2.6
Majority 1,715 39.5 +28.9
Turnout 4,338
Conservative hold Swing
Great Parndon (2 seats)[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative David Carter 1,696
Conservative Shona Johnson 1,432
Labour Stefan Mullard 1,018
Labour Daniella Pritchard 973
UKIP Chris Staunton 652
UKIP Sam Stopplecamp 604
Turnout 6,375
Conservative hold Swing
Conservative gain from UKIP Swing
Harlow Common[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Mark Wilkinson 1,332 37.0 +0.4
Conservative Emily Cross 1,316 36.5 +14.7
UKIP Mike Carr 841 23.3 -12.0
Liberal Democrat Ian Jackson 115 3.2 +0.5
Majority 16 0.4 -1.0
Turnout 3,604
Labour hold Swing
Little Parndon and Hare Street[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Jean Clark 1,800 48.1 +4.2
Conservative Peter Lamb 1,232 32.9 +10.8
UKIP Richie Richardson 711 19.0 -15.0
Majority 568 15.2 +5.3
Turnout 3,743
Labour hold Swing
Mark Hall[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Bob Davis 1,296 39.7
Conservative Jane Steer 1,060 32.5
UKIP Janet Doyle 731 22.4
Liberal Democrat Lesley Rideout 175 5.4
Majority 236 7.2
Turnout 3,262
Labour gain from UKIP Swing
Netteswell[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Edna Stevens 1,455 43.7 +2.1
Conservative John Steer 1,104 33.1 +10.5
UKIP Christopher Ward 612 18.4 -12.5
Liberal Democrat Robert Thurston 162 4.9 +0.0
Majority 351 10.5 -0.3
Turnout 3,333
Labour hold Swing
Old Harlow[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Sue Livings 2,177 53.8 +11.7
Labour Efua Koi-Larbi 902 22.3 -5.3
UKIP Alan Leverett 739 18.3 -7.3
Liberal Democrat Mary Wiltshire 225 5.6 +0.9
Majority 1,275 31.5 +17.0
Turnout 4,043
Conservative hold Swing
Staple Tye[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Strachan 1,129 38.0 +6.6
Conservative Stevie Souter 1,042 35.1 +12.6
UKIP Pete Buss 655 22.0 -13.5
Liberal Democrat Christopher Millington 145 4.9 -0.6
Majority 87 2.9
Turnout 2,971
Labour hold Swing
Sumners and Kingsmoor[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Clive Souter 1,448 43.5 +6.8
Labour Dennis Palmer 1,115 33.5 +3.9
UKIP Alex Addison 765 23.0 -10.6
Majority 333 10.0 +6.9
Turnout 3,328
Conservative hold Swing
Toddbrook[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Karen Clempner 1,520 45.7 +7.2
Conservative Michael Hardware 1,110 33.3 +8.7
UKIP Pat Long 699 21.0 -15.9
Majority 410 12.3 +10.8
Turnout 3,329
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Local elections: Labour retains control of Harlow Council". Harlow Star. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Essex councils... election results". Essex Chronicle. NewsBank. 13 May 2015. p. 18.
  3. "Harlow". BBC News Online. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  4. "Labour win Mark Hall by election". Harlow Star. 12 February 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  5. "Second Harlow Ukip councillor to resign after less than a year". Harlow Star. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  6. "Candidates for Harlow Council elections announced". Harlow Star. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "District Election results". Harlow Council. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  8. "Local election results 2015 in full". The Guardian. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
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