Coventry City Council election, 2011

Map of the 2011 Coventry election. Conservatives in blue, Labour in red

Elections for Coventry City Council were held on Thursday 5 May 2011. As the council is elected by thirds, one seat in each of the wards was up for election. The vote took place alongside the United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, 2011.

Labour took five seats (Bablake, Sherbourne, Westwood, Whoberley, and Woodlands) from the Conservatives, and retained control of the council with an increased majority, holding 35 out of 54 seats.

During the election count, a box of ballot papers for Cheylesmore ward was misplaced. Before they were discovered, Councillor Kevin Foster was about to concede that he had lost his seat, although after the additional votes were counted he had retained it.

Election result

Coventry City Council Election, 2011
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	15	+5	0	+5	83.33%	54.60%	45,537	+12.31%
	Conservative	3	0	-5	-5	16.67%	26.50%	22,104	-2.01%
	Liberal Democrat	0	0	0	0	0	5.18%	4,320	-12.52%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	4.94%	4,121	+3.61%
	Socialist Alternative	0	0	0	0	0	3.69%	3,081	+0.61%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	3.65%	3,045	-0.93%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	0.85%	708	+0.18%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.58%	484	-1.14%

Council Composition

The composition of the council before and after the election can be found in the following table:

Party		Previous council	Staying councillors	Seats up for election	Election result	New council
	Labour	30	20	10	15	35
	Conservatives	22	14	8	3	17
	Socialist Alternative	1	1	0	0	1
	Liberal Democrats	1	1	0	0	1
	Green	0	0	0	0	0
	British National Party	0	0	0	0	0
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0
Total		54	36	18	18	54

Ward results

Bablake Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Edwin Kershaw	2687	48.85%	+16.6%
	Conservative	Laura Frances Dodd	1873	34.05%	-0.6%
	Green	Walter William Milner	233	4.24%	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Simpson	231	4.20%	-13.1%
	BNP	Philip Mark Jones	208	3.78%	-2.4%
	Socialist Alternative	Hannah Grace Seaman	45	0.82%	-0.5%
Majority			814	14.8%
Turnout			5500	42.65%
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Note: the Green Party candidate stood in this ward as an independent at the last election, so it could be argued that he had a swing of -4.2%

Binley and Willenhall Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ram Lakha	2436	58.36%	+11.8%
	Conservative	Jonathan George Smith	970	23.24%	-0.4%
	UKIP	Colin Aldous Stubbs	329	7.88%	+1.5%
	BNP	Dave Clarke	207	4.96%	-0.6%
	Green	Steven Adams	123	2.95%	+1.2%
	Socialist Alternative	Lindsay Margaret Currie	79	1.89%	+0.5%
Majority			1466	35.12%
Turnout			4174	33.16%
	Labour hold		Swing

Cheylesmore Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kevin John Foster	2493	48.19	+11.69
	Labour	Alison Gingell	2188	42.30	+4.5
	Green	John Verdult	331	6.40	+2.3
	Socialist Alternative	Judy Griffiths	161	3.11	-0.09
Majority			305	5.90	+4.59
Turnout			5173	41.96	-23.84
	Conservative hold		Swing

Earlsdon Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth John Taylor	2596	43.08	+7.08
	Labour	John Fletcher	2482	41.19	+7.39
	Liberal Democrat	Greg Paul Judge	469	7.78	-15.92
	Green	Scott Redding	343	5.69	+1.09
	Socialist Alternative	Thomas Allan House	136	2.26	+0.36
Majority			114	1.89	-0.26
Turnout			6026	48.76	-23.84
	Conservative hold		Swing

Foleshill Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Abdul Salam Khan	3184	66.90%	+11.2
	Conservative	Shabbir Ahmed	1124	23.62%	-6.58
	Green	Gavin Collins	133	2.79%	N/A
	BNP	Berry Booton	125	2.63%	-0.37
	Liberal Democrat	Scott Martin Tallis	116	2.44%	-4.66
	Socialist Alternative	Jim Hensman	77	1.62%	+0.02
Majority			2060	43.29	+36.45
Turnout			4759	39.35%	-0.49
	Labour hold		Swing

Henley Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lynette Catherine Kelly	2409	57.36%	+15.76
	Liberal Democrat	Brian David Patton	1170	27.86%	+0.76
	BNP	Leisel Dawn Wagstaff	337	8.02%	-4.6
	Green	George Robinson	171	4.07%	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Josie Kenny	113	2.69%	+0.59
Majority			1239	29.50%	+15.08
Turnout			4281	32.18%
	Labour hold		Swing	-23.82

Note: The Conservative Party candidate for Henley, Steven Henry Charles Keough, withdrew his nomination.

Holbrook Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joe Clifford	2793	65.43%	+13.43
	Conservative	Charles Cox	897	21.01%	+2.81
	BNP	John Hurren	252	5.90%	-0.8
	Green	Danny Foulstone	243	5.69%	+3.79
	Socialist Alternative	Richard Marcus Charles Groves	57	1.34%	-0.16
Majority			1896	44.41%	+22.57
Turnout			4269	34.4%	-24.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Longford Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Linda Joyce Bigham	3036	72.53%
	Conservative	Will Jones	602	14.38%
	BNP	Keith Oxford	253	6.04%
	Green	John Edward Griffiths	165	3.94%
	Socialist Alternative	James Daryl Edgar	101	2.41%
Majority			2434
Turnout			4186	31.4%
	Labour hold		Swing

Lower Stoke Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Douglas McNicholas	2608	57.19%
	Conservative	Nick Williams	1018	22.32%
	Green	Laura Vesty	353	7.74%
	Socialist Alternative	Robert McArdle	291	6.38%
	BNP	Mary Jane Nicholls	261	5.72%
Majority			1590
Turnout			4560	34.7%
	Labour hold		Swing

Radford Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Skipper	2607	64.87%
	Conservative	Gareth Fowler	699	17.39%
	Green	Stephen Gray	226	5.62%
	BNP	Hunter Helmsley	205	5.10%
	Independent	John Joseph Ryan	159	3.96%
	Socialist Alternative	Glen Watson	94	2.34%
Majority			1908
Turnout			4019	29.95%
	Labour hold		Swing

Sherbourne Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Damian Gannon	2606	55.17%
	Conservative	Jane Marie Williams	1281	27.12%
	Liberal Democrat	Jamie Simpson	281	5.95%
	Green	Justin Timothy Wood	220	4.66%
	BNP	Frank Thomas Bates	195	4.13%
	Socialist Alternative	Jason Arnold Toynbee	117	2.48%
Majority			1325
Turnout			4724	37.65%
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

St. Michael's Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim O'Boyle	2419	58.07%
	Socialist Alternative	Rob Windsor	1263	30.32%
	Conservative	Dial Masih	434	10.42%
Majority			1156
Turnout			4166	26.67%
	Labour hold		Swing

Upper Stoke Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colleen Margaret Fletcher	2536	58.69%
	Liberal Democrat	Derek Stephen Benefield	799	18.49%
	Conservative	Denise Beech	508	11.76%
	BNP	Darren Thomas	193	4.47%
	Green	John Halpin	159	3.68%
	Socialist Alternative	Paul Stephen Smith	95	2.20%
Majority			1737	40.20%
Turnout			4321	33%
	Labour hold		Swing

Wainbody Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Sawdon	2452	43.58%
	Labour	Sundeep Singh	1909	33.93%
	Liberal Democrat	Napier Penlington	410	7.29%
	Green	Rachel Adshead	393	6.99%
	UKIP	Mark Taylor	379	6.74%
	Socialist Alternative	Daniel Crowter	83	1.48%
Majority			543	9.65%
Turnout			5626	45%
	Conservative hold		Swing

Westwood Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Sandy	2184	46.88%
	Conservative	Nigel Charles Lee	1793	38.48%
	Green	Merle Gering	291	6.25%
	BNP	Mark Badrick	256	5.49%
	Socialist Alternative	James Richard Donnelly	95	2.04%
Majority			391	8.39%
Turnout			4659	36.00%
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Whoberley Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Howells	2561	50.45	+15.46%
	Conservative	Ken Charley	1392	27.42	-1.82%
	Green	Jo Rathbone	330	6.50	+4.70%
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Rees Lewis	295	5.81	-15.82%
	BNP	Tom Gower	270	5.32	+0.44%
	Independent	Martyn Warwick Richards	119	2.34	n/a
	Socialist Alternative	Teresa Chalcroft	109	2.15	-0.49%
Majority			1169	23.03
Turnout			5076	40.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Woodlands Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Patricia Hetherton	2286	42.96	+7.03%
	Conservative	Christian Michael Cliffe	1972	37.06	+0.89%
	Liberal Democrat	Jacqueline Bridget Basu	549	10.32	-7.27%
	BNP	David John White	283	5.32	-1.72%
	Green	Dan Gower	187	3.51	+1.40%
	Socialist Alternative	Lenny Shail	44	0.83	-0.32%
Majority			318	5.90
Turnout			5321	40.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Wyken Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hazel Jean Sweet	2606	53.40	+7.03%
	Conservative	Jaswant Singh Birdi	1727	35.39	+3.58%
	Green	Cathy Wattebot	220	4.51	n/a
	Independent	Adrian Roll	206	4.22	n/a
	Socialist Alternative	Jodie Michelle Hannis	121	2.48	-0.90%
Majority			879	18.01
Turnout			4880	38.6
	Labour hold		Swing