2000 Winchester City Council election

The 2000 Winchester Council election took place on 4 May 2000 to elect members of Winchester District Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

Campaign

One third of the seats were being contested, with an extra seat being up for election in St Bartholomew ward after the sitting Conservative councillor, Flick Drummond, emigrated to the USA and thus failed to attend any council meetings in the required 6-month period.[3] The Liberal Democrats had a majority of 13 seats before the election and despite defending 9 seats were expected to remain in control of the council.[3] 3 sitting councillors, all Liberal Democrats, stood down at the election, Miranda Bulloch, Phrynette Dickens and Alan Laidlaw.[3]

The Conservatives campaigned on a promise to reduce council tax by 5% over the next 4 years and attacked the Liberal Democrats over the closure of car parks in the city centre.[3] However the Liberal Democrats alleged lies had been said about the car parks, and said the Conservatives would have to cut services if they were to reduce council tax.[3]

The Conservatives also complained about the Liberal Democrat controlled council publishing a newsletter during the campaign.[4] They claimed that it was propaganda for the Liberal Democrats and favoured sitting councillors, however the Liberal Democrats said that the Conservative leader on the council had approved the newsletter and that the Conservatives were avoiding the real issues.[4]

Election result

The results saw the Liberal Democrats increase their control of the council, making 2 nets gains to have an overall majority of 17.[5] They gained seats in Compton and Shawford, St Bartholomew and Wonston wards, but lost one back to the Conservatives in New Alresford.[5] Despite this the Conservatives said that they were pleased to have won more votes across the whole council than the Liberal Democrats, with many seats seeing very close results.[6] Meanwhile, one Labour candidate, Oliver de Peyer, only won 7 votes in Shedfield ward, the lowest by any major party candidate in elections for Winchester council and a repeat of his performance in Sparsholt in 1998.[6] Overall turnout in the election was 39.97%, with the highest turnout being recorded in Droxford, Soberton & Hambledon ward at 57.68%.[5]

Winchester Local Election Result 2000[2][7]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Liberal Democrats 11 3 1 +2 57.9 39.3 9,756 -5.1%
  Conservative 3 0 2 -2 15.8 42.5 10,554 +3.0%
  Independent 3 0 0 0 15.8 6.8 1,678 +2.9%
  Labour 2 0 0 0 10.5 11.4 2,818 -0.7%

Ward results
Badger Farm[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Geraldine McKay 410 58.2
Conservative Peter Welburn 237 33.7
Labour Shelagh Bird 57 8.1
Majority 173 24.5
Turnout 704 36.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Bishop's Waltham[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Georgina Busher 1,013 63.5 +14.9
Conservative Alan Foster 469 29.4 +7.6
Labour Michael Chaplin 114 7.1 +2.7
Majority 544 34.1 +10.7
Turnout 1,596 31.9 -6.8
Independent hold Swing
Boarhunt & Southwick[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Kenneth Carter 263 61.2
Conservative Mike Roberts 133 30.9
Labour James Ross 34 7.9
Majority 130 30.3
Turnout 430 45.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Compton & Shawford[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Charlotte Bailey 338 50.9
Conservative Margaret Campbell-White 311 46.8
Labour Kevin Barrett 15 2.3
Majority 27 4.1
Turnout 664 55.8
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing
Denmead[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Donald Stewart 1,167 69.5 +2.8
Liberal Democrats Alan Slade 450 26.8 +0.1
Labour Timothy Curran 61 3.6 -3.0
Majority 717 42.7 +2.7
Turnout 1,678 36.0 -2.3
Conservative hold Swing
Droxford, Soberton & Hambledon[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Diana Empson 918 64.2
Liberal Democrats Margaret Scriven 465 32.5
Labour Denis May 48 3.4
Majority 453 31.7
Turnout 1,431 57.7
Conservative hold Swing
Littleton[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats George Fothergill 806 59.1 +4.1
Conservative Barry Lipscomb 516 37.8 -2.9
Labour Tessa Valentine 42 3.1 -1.2
Majority 290 21.3 +7.0
Turnout 1,364 50.9 +0.9
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
New Alresford[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ernest Jeffs 876 44.4 -2.5
Liberal Democrats Simon Cook 772 39.1 +4.9
Labour Robin Atkins 324 16.4 -2.4
Majority 104 5.3 -7.4
Turnout 1,972 47.2 -6.3
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing
Owslebury & Colden Common[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Cecily Sutton 652 49.2
Conservative Peter Facey 589 44.4
Labour Pamela Smith 85 6.4
Majority 63 4.8
Turnout 1,326 37.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Shedfield[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Paul Hoare 325 56.5
Conservative Roger Huxstep 181 31.5
Liberal Democrats Pauline Longcroft 62 10.8
Labour Oliver De Peyer 7 1.2
Majority 144 25.0
Turnout 575 47.8
Independent hold Swing
St Barnabas[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats John Higgins 770 51.1 -8.0
Conservative Michael Whatley 576 38.2 +8.8
Labour Simon Woolfenden 161 10.7 -0.8
Majority 194 12.9 -16.8
Turnout 1,507 38.0 -0.1
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
St Bartholomew[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats James Maynard 840 46.7 -5.8
Conservative Ian Jones 769 42.8 +5.4
Labour Stephen Wyeth 188 10.5 +0.4
Majority 71 3.9 -11.2
Turnout 1,797 42.1 -0.4
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing
St John and All Saints[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Pines 616 42.7 -0.6
Liberal Democrats Signe-Maria Higgins 458 31.7 -4.2
Conservative Sally Goodman 370 25.6 +4.8
Majority 158 11.0 +3.6
Turnout 1,444 30.9 -1.3
Labour hold Swing
St Luke[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Patrick Davies 595 38.7 +1.8
Conservative Stanley Trussler 504 32.7 -2.4
Liberal Democrats Colin Norris 440 28.6 +0.5
Majority 91 6.0 +4.2
Turnout 1,539 34.1 +4.7
Labour hold Swing
St Michael[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats John Beveridge 865 48.4 +5.2
Conservative Elizabeth Osborne 806 45.1 -2.3
Labour Antony De Peyer 115 6.4 -3.0
Majority 59 3.3 -0.9
Turnout 1,786 45.6 +2.1
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
St Paul[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Raymond Love 864 47.6 -0.7
Conservative Jacqueline Pitman 823 45.3 +3.0
Labour Adrian Field 129 7.1 -2.3
Majority 41 2.3 -3.7
Turnout 1,816 41.4 +0.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
The Worthys[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Graham Hutton 657 49.5
Conservative Barbara Jeffs 571 43.0
Labour Elaine Fullaway 99 7.5
Majority 86 6.5
Turnout 1,327 37.9
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Waltham Chase[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Andrew Archard 340 50.9
Conservative Richard Bates 185 27.7
Liberal Democrats Philippa Currie 84 12.6
Labour David Jones 59 8.8
Majority 155 23.2
Turnout 668 36.6
Independent hold Swing
Wonston[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Richard Bayley 560 47.4 -5.8
Conservative Michael Pocock 553 46.8 +8.5
Labour Alan Drury 69 5.8 -2.8
Majority 7 0.6 -14.3
Turnout 1,182 39.0 +1.6
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing

References
  1. "Winchester". BBC News Online. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  2. "Election results: local councils". The Times. 5 May 2000. p. 4.
  3. "Gearing up for a good, clean fight". Southern Daily Echo. 19 April 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  4. "Propaganda under attack". Southern Daily Echo. 14 April 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  5. "Local Elections Results - 4th May 2000". Winchester City Council. Archived from the original on 25 September 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  6. "Little headway on the lond road back". Southern Daily Echo. 5 May 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  7. "Winchester City Council District Elections - 4 May 2000" (PDF). Winchester City Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  8. "Local council elections - Winchester". Basingstoke Gazette. 5 May 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
Preceded by
1999 Winchester Council election		 Winchester local elections Succeeded by
2002 Winchester Council election
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