Redditch Borough Council election, 2002

The 2002 Redditch Borough Council election of 2 May 2002 elected members of Redditch Borough Council in the West Midlands region, England. One third of the council stood for re-election and the Labour party lost overall control of the council to no overall control for the first time in many years.^[1]

After the election, the council comprised

Campaign

Before the election only a small swing would have seen the Labour party lose its majority on Redditch council,^[3] with the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats only needing to pick up three seats between them for this to happen.^[4] The Labour party was defending seven of the eleven seats to be decided and campaigned on its success over the previous years in eliminating all council debt.^[4] There was an extra seat in West ward where the Conservative leader on the council, Carol Grandy, stood down.^[4]

Election results

Labour lost its majority but remained the largest party.^[5] Labour had held control of the council for the previous 20 years but lost this after the other parties gained three seats in the election.^[6] Among Labour losses was its leader on the council, Albert Wharrad, who lost in Winyates ward to the Liberal Democrats.^[6] One of the closest results was in Lodge Park ward where Labour held on by 22 votes and Mohammed Nasir became the first Asian councillor on Redditch council.^[7] The results meant no party had a majority on the council for the first time in over 50 years,^[6] and the Conservative party claimed that the results would have been sufficient for them to have gained Redditch constituency in a general election.^[8] Turnout in the election was higher than in the last few years at 29.8%.^[9]

Following the election the Labour and Conservative parties on the council elected new leaders and attempted to gain Liberal Democrat support to control the council.^[7] However the Liberal Democrats said that they would not form an agreement with either Labour or the Conservatives on their own.^[10] In the end at the council's annual general meeting on 15 May all parties joined the executive of the council, which was formed with four Labour, three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat members.^[11] The Conservatives had wanted an executive in which both they and Labour had the same number of seats and accused the Liberal Democrats of backing Labour to prevent this.^[12] The new Labour leader, David Cartwright, was elected leader of the council and retained the chairman's casting vote.^[11]^[13]

Redditch Local Election Result 2002
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	5	2	0	+2	45.5	42.6	7,645
	Labour	4	0	3	-3	36.4	33.0	5,925
	Liberal Democrat	2	1	0	+1	18.2	23.2	4,172
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	1.2	207

Ward results

Abbey^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Diane Thomas	986	63.7
	Labour	Robin King	345	22.3
	Conservative	Gordon Hazelton	216	14.0
Majority			641	41.4
Turnout			1,547
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Batchley^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Jack Cookson	793	52.0
	Conservative	Peter Anderson	523	34.3
	Liberal Democrat	Kathleen Cummings	208	13.6
Majority			270	17.7
Turnout			1,524
	Labour hold		Swing

Central^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Stephen Wheeler	806	47.1
	Conservative	Michael Braley	684	40.0
	Liberal Democrat	Adam Isherwood	222	13.0
Majority			122	7.1
Turnout			1,712
	Labour hold		Swing

Crabbs Cross^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Sarah Sulley	791	50.5
	Labour	Les Smith	584	37.3
	Liberal Democrat	David Gee	192	12.3
Majority			207	13.2
Turnout			1,567
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Feckenham^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Michael Chalk	967	57.3
	Labour	Patricia Hill	449	26.6
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Pollard	273	16.2
Majority			518	30.7
Turnout			1,689
	Conservative hold		Swing

Greenlands^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Philip Mould	790	43.8
	Conservative	Tracey Smithers	767	42.6
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Pitt	245	13.6
Majority			23	1.2
Turnout			1,802
	Labour hold		Swing

Lodge Park^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Mohammad Nasir	474	35.6
	Conservative	Janet Clark	452	33.9
	Independent	Simon Preston	207	15.5
	Liberal Democrat	Ian Webster	200	15.0
Majority			22	1.7
Turnout			1,333
	Labour hold		Swing

Matchborough^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Anita Clayton	867	50.8
	Labour	Iris Beech	570	33.4
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Hennessey	270	15.8
Majority			297	17.4
Turnout			1,707
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

West (2)^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Karen Lumley	1,182
	Conservative	Gavin Smithers	1,047
	Labour	John Witherspoon	536
	Liberal Democrat	Caroline Ashall	415
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Ashall	383
Turnout			3,563
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Winyates^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Cyril Springall	778	51.7
	Labour	Albert Wharrad	578	38.4
	Conservative	Gordon Craig	149	9.9
Majority			200	13.3
Turnout			1,505
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing

References

↑ "Redditch". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
↑ "Local Elections: Results : Redditch". The Guardian. 2002-05-03. p. 9. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ Ward, Lucy; Maguire, Kevin (2002-04-11). "Policy and politics: Blunkett declares war on 'vile racism' of BNP: Home secretary wants head-on challenge in local elections". The Guardian. p. 10. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
1 2 3 "Labour control on a knife-edge ; Mail focus on the May 2 local council elections". Birmingham Mail. 2002-04-12. p. 8. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ Walker, David (2002-05-03). "Local Elections: Postal voting increases turnout by 28%: Ballots: Participation higher in BNP areas candidates". The Guardian. p. 9. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
1 2 3 Smith, Sue (2002-05-03). "Local Election Results 2002: protest's healthy majority". Birmingham Mail. p. 17. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
1 2 Probert, Andy (2002-05-07). "Redditch on a knife-edge ; Power talks begin". Birmingham Mail. p. 11. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ Brogan, Benedict (2002-05-04). "Late wins in London lift the Tories". The Daily Telegraph. p. 6. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Labour ousted". Worcester News. 2002-05-03. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
↑ "Parties struggle for sway". Worcester News. 2002-05-15. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
1 2 "Labour bid to retain power". Birmingham Mail. 2002-05-15. p. 5. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ "Labour keep hold". Worcester News. 2002-05-16. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
↑ Probert, Andy (2002-06-27). "Council in cash crisis". Birmingham Mail. p. 38. |access-date= requires |url= (help)

Council elections in Worcestershire

Worcestershire County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 Abolished (1974) Restored (1997) 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017

Bromsgrove District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015

Malvern Hills District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015

Redditch Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 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

Worcester City Council	1973 1975 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

Wychavon District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015

Wyre Forest District Council	1973 1975 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

Hereford and Worcester County Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 Abolished

See also: Wards Boundary changes

(2001 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 2002 (→ 2003)

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