2008 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

The 2008 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2007.^[1] The Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.^[2]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives hold on to control of the council with 40 seats, as compared to 5 for Labour and 3 for the Liberal Democrats.^[2] Overall turnout in the election was 36.32%.^[3]

A few days after the election the new Conservative councillor for Hatfield Central, Darren Gilbert, was forced to resign after it was alleged that he had made up a claim that he had had cancer, meaning that a by-election had to be held.^[4]^[5]

Welwyn Hatfield Local Election Result 2008^[3]^[6]
	Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	40	+5	83.3	59.7	42,477	+5.1%
Labour	5	-5	10.4	19.4	13,810	-5.7%
Liberal Democrats	3	0	6.3	18.2	12,930	+1.5%
Green	0	0	0	2.6	1,851	-1.0%
BNP	0	0	0	0.2	131	+0.2%

Ward results

Brookmans Park and Little Heath (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Stephen Boulton	1,708
	Conservative	Irene Dean	1,499
	Conservative	John Dean	1,476
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Blumson	304
	Labour	James Croft	197
Turnout			5,194	45.4

Haldens (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Lauren Brown	836
	Conservative	Howard Hughes	781
	Conservative	Martyn Levitt	778
	Labour	Mike Larkins	600
	Labour	Mark Biddle	582
	Labour	Margaret Hurst	573
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Walkington	220
	Liberal Democrats	Rhoda Brutey	219
Turnout			4,589	34.1

Handside (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Helen Bromley	1,385
	Conservative	Fiona Thomson	1,370
	Liberal Democrats	Tony Skottowe	1,338
	Liberal Democrats	Adam Neal	1,283
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Quinton	1,278
	Conservative	Tony Kingsbury	1,221
	Labour	Peter Heyman	167
	Labour	John Pomroy	159
Turnout			8,201	55.9

Hatfield Central (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Darren Gilbert	535
	Labour	Mike Alder	512
	Labour	Colin Croft	501
	Conservative	David Falco	484
	Labour	Margaret White	473
	Conservative	Bukky Olawoyin	463
	Liberal Democrats	Adam Edwards	211
	Liberal Democrats	Heather Richardson	188
	Liberal Democrats	Karen Richardson	177
Turnout			3,544	28.5

Hatfield East (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Mick Long	934
	Conservative	Bernard Sarson	906
	Conservative	Paul Smith	889
	Labour	Constance Elliott	376
	Labour	Sheila Jones	358
	Liberal Democrats	Lis Meyland-Smith	348
	Liberal Democrats	Jacqueline Brennan	336
	Labour	Susana Tinsley	298
Turnout			4,445	33.5

Hatfield South (2)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Hedges	514
	Conservative	David Hughes	483
	Labour	Linda Mendez	409
	Labour	Andrew Tinsley	344
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Archer	157
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Griffiths	121
Turnout			2,028	28.2

Hatfield Villages (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Clare Berry	629
	Conservative	Mark Gilding	577
	Conservative	Howard Morgan	544
	Labour	Mel Jones	245
	Labour	Susan Archer	200
	Labour	Ian Scammell	197
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Benakis	129
	Liberal Democrats	Maurice Richardson	126
Turnout			2,647	25.7

Hatfield West (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Nick Atkinson	976
	Conservative	Kim Morris	944
	Conservative	Carol Juggins	938
	Labour	Maureen Cook	669
	Labour	Dee Ferner	588
	Labour	Cathy Watson	525
	Liberal Democrats	Hazel Laming	381
	Liberal Democrats	James Finlay	298
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Tidy	272
Turnout			5,591	33.5

Hollybush (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Lynn Chesterman	610
	Conservative	Sarah Atkinson	607
	Labour	Margaret Birleson	594
	Conservative	Ronald Smith	560
	Labour	Sue Jones	513
	Conservative	Stuart Pile	480
	Liberal Democrats	Win Smith	240
Turnout			3,604	28.2

Howlands (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Hannah Berry	795
	Conservative	Les Page	725
	Conservative	George Michaelides	678
	Green	Jill Weston	596
	Labour	Alan Chesterman	443
	Labour	Zacha Hennessey	384
	Labour	Brian Payne	365
	Green	Susan Groom	325
	Green	Ian Nendrick	325
	Liberal Democrats	Lynda Cowan	168
Turnout			4,804	39.2

Northaw and Cuffley (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Colin Couch	1,235
	Conservative	John Mansfield	1,144
	Conservative	John Nicholls	1,143
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Bain	329
Turnout			3,851	36.3

Panshanger (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Sara Johnston	916
	Conservative	Darren Bennett	884
	Conservative	Roger Trigg	844
	Labour	Brian Edwards	346
	Green	Hollyann Holdsworth	258
	Liberal Democrats	Shirley Shaw	247
	Liberal Democrats	Jonquil Basch	213
Turnout			3,708	32.1

Peartree (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Malcolm Cowan	516
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Lotz	470
	Labour	Steve Roberts	453
	Labour	Dean Milliken	452
	Liberal Democrats	Frank Marsh	443
	Labour	Jacqui Russell	399
	Conservative	Christopher Hay	397
	Conservative	Stanley Laver-Walton	321
	Conservative	Sandra Benjamin	310
Turnout			3,761	26.9

Sherrards (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Alan Franey	1,015
	Conservative	Jonathan Beckerman	993
	Conservative	Patricia Mabbott	993
	Labour	Bill Couzens	470
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Arch	393
	Labour	Tony Crump	384
	Liberal Democrats	Valerie Skottowe	368
	Green	Bernice Dowlen	347
Turnout			4,963	43.7

Welham Green (2)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Doug Berry	754
	Conservative	Keith Pieri	752
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Archer	510
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Zukowskyj	411
	BNP	Mark Fuller	131
	Labour	Bridgit Croft	83
Turnout			2,641	49.7

Welwyn East (3)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Julie Cragg	1,513
	Conservative	Carl Storer	1,457
	Conservative	Steven Markiewicz	1,425
	Liberal Democrats	Janice Skidmore	265
	Liberal Democrats	June Burnham	250
	Labour	Julia Henderson	226
	Liberal Democrats	Jack Burnham	215
Turnout			5,351	41.7

Welwyn West (2)^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Andrew Canter	840
	Conservative	Mandy Perkins	826
	Liberal Democrats	John Blackburn	269
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Skidmore	237
	Labour	Mbizo Mpofu	115
Turnout			2,287	39.4

References

^ "Welwyn Hatfield". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Tories hold on to Welwyn Hatfield". Watford Observer. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "Election Results - 1 May 2008". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
^ Hencke, David (10 May 2008). "New Tory councillor resigns over allegations he lied about cancer". The Guardian. p. 17.
^ "Tory resigns amid cancer claims". BBC News Online. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
^ "National: Full election results". The Guardian. 3 May 2008. p. 45.

[change-1] "Welwyn Hatfield". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2010.

[hold-2] "Tories hold on to Welwyn Hatfield". Watford Observer. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2010.

[results-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "Election Results - 1 May 2008". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Retrieved 10 March 2010.

[cancer-4] Hencke, David (10 May 2008). "New Tory councillor resigns over allegations he lied about cancer". The Guardian. p. 17.

[resigns-5] "Tory resigns amid cancer claims". BBC News Online. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2010.

[national-6] "National: Full election results". The Guardian. 3 May 2008. p. 45.

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