1997 Essex County Council election

An election to Essex County Council took place on 1 May 1997 as part of the 1997 United Kingdom local elections. 79 councillors were elected from various electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. With the creation of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Thurrock Council in 1998 the number of seats contested at this election was reduced by 19. In 1993 the breakdown of these seats were, Lab 9 Con 5 LD 5.

1997 Essex County Council election

1 May 1997
All 79 seats to Essex County Council 40 seats needed for a majority
Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Last election 32 seats, 35.3% 33 seats, 30.7% 32 seats, 31.9% Seats before 27 24 27 Seats won 40 23 15 Seat change 13 1 12 Popular vote 281,074 229,181 192,520 Percentage 38.9% 31.7% 26.6% Swing 3.1% 1.3% 5.3%   Party Loughton Residents Last election Did Not Stand Seats before 0 Seats won 1 Seat change 1 Popular vote 5,040 Percentage 0.7% Swing 0.7%
Majority party before election No Overall Control Majority party after election Conservative

Results

Essex County Council election, 1997[1][2]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	40	14	1	13	50.6	38.9	281,074	+3.6
	Labour	23	2	3	1	29.1	31.7	229,181	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	15	1	13	12	19.0	26.6	192,520	−5.3
	Loughton Residents	1	1		1	1.3	0.7	5,040	+0.7
	Green	0					1.1	7,907	+0.1
	Independent	0		1	1		1.0	7,378	+0.2
	Socialist Alliance	0					>0.1	220	N/A
Total		79						723,320

Results by Electoral Divisions

Colchester

Constable division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Clover *	3,916	45.8	−2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Phillips	2,844	33.3	−6.5
	Labour	Julie Young	1,783	20.9	+8.8
Majority			1,072	12.5	+4.1
Turnout			8,543	76.8	+37.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.1

Drury division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Yates *	3,945	39.8	−14.7
	Conservative	Jeremy Lucas	3,865	38.9	+2.8
	Labour	Roy Moules	2,115	21.3	+11.8
Majority			80	0.8	−17.5
Turnout			9,925	74.4	+29.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−8.7

Maypole division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Patricia Pascoe *	3,149	41.5	−14.8
	Labour	Christopher Pearson	2,654	35.0	+7.7
	Conservative	Richard Lamberth	1,783	23.5	+7.1
Majority			495	6.5	−22.5
Turnout			7,586	63.9	+36.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−11.3

Mersea and Stanway division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Manning-Press *	5,193	44.3	+0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Terence Brady	3,973	33.9	−6.5
	Labour	Ian Yates	2,556	21.8	+9.2
Majority			1,220	10.4	+6.6
Turnout			11,722	74.7	+39.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.3

No Green candidate as previous (−2.8).

Old Heath division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Fisher *	3,806	43.4	−7.8
	Labour	Sally Pygott	3,092	35.2	+1.0
	Conservative	Ian McCord	1,879	21.4	+9.4
Majority			714	8.1	−8.8
Turnout			8,777	67.5	+29.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−4.4

No Green candidate as previous (−2.6).

Park division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Jones *	3,141	36.4	−10.4
	Conservative	Nigel Chapman	2,876	33.3	−1.0
	Labour	Kim Naish	2,611	30.3	+11.4
Majority			265	3.1	−13.8
Turnout			8,628	66.6	+28.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−4.7

Parsons Heath division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Crunden *	4,413	42.1	−11.1
	Conservative	Derek Smith	3,062	29.2	+6.9
	Labour	Anthony Constable	3,005	28.7	+4.2
Majority			1,351	12.9	−15.8
Turnout			10,480	69.3	+32.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−9.0

Tiptree division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Peel *	3,526	40.0	−4.0
	Labour	Tania Rogers	2,783	31.5	+5.6
	Independent	Stuart Beckwith	2,147	24.3	New
	Green	Cheryl Gerrard	367	4.2	−0.5
Majority			743	8.5	−9.5
Turnout			8,823	73.1	+43.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.8

No Liberal Democrat candidate as previous (−25.2).

Wivenhoe St Andrew division

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Brian Stapleton *	3,276	42.3	−7.8
	Liberal Democrats	John Gray	2,426	31.3	+14.0
	Conservative	Jane Girdlestone	2,044	26.4	−2.5
Majority			850	11.0	−10.2
Turnout			7,746	63.4	+37.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.9

No Green candidate as previous (−3.7).

Epping Forest

Loughton St Johns

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gillian Huckle	2,570	37.0	−18.4
	Loughton Residents	Dorothy Paddon	2,146	30.9	+30.9
	Conservative	Stephen Metcalfe	1,772	25.5	−4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Spence	452	6.5	−8.1
Majority			424	6.1	−19.2
Turnout			6,940	69.7	+41.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−24.7

Loughton St. Marys

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Loughton Residents	Christopher Harper	2,894	36.9	+36.9
	Labour	Stanley Goodwin *	2,552	32.5	−12.6
	Conservative	James Brokenshire	1,952	24.9	−10.7
	Liberal Democrats	Lucille Thompson	446	5.7	−13.6
Majority			342	4.4
Turnout			7,844	73.6	+39.5
	Loughton Residents gain from Labour		Swing	+24.8

Tendring

Clacton West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roy Smith *	5,008	54.8
	Conservative	M Hughes	2,756	30.2
	Liberal Democrats	P Miller	1,375	15.0
Majority			2,252	24.6
Turnout			9,139	64.2
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Elections". Retrieved 28 January 2014.
2. "Elections". Retrieved 11 February 2014.