2011 Christchurch Borough Council election

The 2011 Christchurch Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Christchurch Borough Council in Dorset, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

Map of the results of the 2011 Christchurch Borough Council election. Conservatives in blue, independents in grey and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

Election result

The Conservatives increased their majority on the council after winning 21 of the 24 seats.[2] They gained both of the seats in Portfield ward from the Liberal Democrats, with Conservatives Margaret Phipps and Lisle Smith being elected.[2] A further gain came in Town Centre where Conservative Gillian Geary took one of the two seats for the ward, while Paul Hilliard was elected for the first time in Grange ward.[2]

The Liberal Democrat defeats in Portfield and Town Centre wards reduced them to just one seat on the council, with Peter Hall in Town Centre ward being the party's only councillor.[2] The only other non-Conservatives elected were independents Colin Bungey and Fred Neale who were re-elected in Jumpers ward.[2] Overall turnout at the election was 48.7%.[3]

Following the election Ray Nottage was chosen by the Conservative group as the new leader of the council.[4]

Christchurch local election result 2011[5][6]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	21	4	0	+4	87.5	63.3	19,708	+2.3%
	Independent	2	0	1	-1	8.3	7.1	2,219	+1.0%
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	3	-3	4.2	13.8	4,310	-11.9%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	9.2	2,860	+4.9%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	6.5	2,034	+3.6%

Ward results

Burton and Winkton (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Flagg	903
	Conservative	Colin Jamieson	869
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas Woodford	649
	Labour	John Merritt	301
	UKIP	John Dendy	243
Turnout			2,965	50.5	+5.8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grange (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Denise Jones	606
	Conservative	Paul Hilliard	513
	Labour	Vera Hill	312
	Independent	Ellen Stammas	251
	Liberal Democrats	John Campbell	214
	Liberal Democrats	Renetta Vick	153
Turnout			2,049	34.4	+1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Highcliffe (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Lofts	1,423
	Conservative	Myra Mawbey	1,413
	Labour	Andrew Satherley	254
	Labour	Carol Wilcox	245
Turnout			3,335	57.4	+3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Jumpers (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Colin Bungey	798
	Independent	Frederick Neale	673
	Conservative	Paul Kinzett	490
	Conservative	Malcolm Mawbey	411
	Liberal Democrats	Martyn Hurll	233
	Labour	Abdulhaye Qureshi	135
Turnout			2,740	46.3	+3.3
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Mudeford and Friars Cliff (3 seats)[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Claire Bath	unopposed
	Conservative	Mike Duckworth	unopposed
	Conservative	Trevor Watts	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

North Highcliffe and Walkford (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sally Derham Wilkes	1,136
	Conservative	Nicholas Geary	1,001
	Labour	Donald Barr	381
Turnout			2,518	53.1	+1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Portfield (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lisle Smith	542
	Conservative	Margaret Phipps	515
	Liberal Democrats	David Davies	352
	Liberal Democrats	Brett Bader	295
	Independent	Thomas Lane	273
	Labour	Christopher Sleightholme	200
Turnout			2,177	39.4	+3.4
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Purewell and Stanpit (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Nottage	920
	Conservative	Bernard Davis	849
	Liberal Democrats	Zoe Larrad	424
	Liberal Democrats	Derek Chaffey	416
	Independent	Barry Sherwin	224
	Labour	Philippa Lloyd	181
Turnout			3,014	48.2	+1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Catherine's and Hurn (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Susan Spittle	1,175
	Conservative	Tavis Fox	1,083
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Lodge	282
	UKIP	Simon Boyd	270
	Labour	James Kennedy	228
Turnout			3,038	56.0	+0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Town Centre (2 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Hall	751
	Conservative	Gillian Geary	675
	Conservative	Lucy Filer	594
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Slaney	541
	UKIP	John Reid	240
	Labour	Michael Woods	194
Turnout			2,995	49.2	+2.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

West Highcliffe (3 seats)[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lesley Dedman	1,583
	Conservative	Patricia Jamieson	1,572
	Conservative	David Jones	1,435
	UKIP	Philip Glover	557
	Labour	Christopher Thompson	429
	UKIP	Carl Williams	399
	UKIP	David Williams	325
Turnout			6,300	53.0	+6.9
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "England council elections". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
2. Clark, Katie (6 May 2011). "Tories triumph in Christchurch". Bournemouth Daily Echo. NewsBank.
3. "Election night live". Bournemouth Daily Echo. NewsBank. 6 May 2011.
4. Clark, Katie (16 May 2011). "Size of Tory majority 'not a problem'". Bournemouth Daily Echo. NewsBank.
5. "Local authority elections: England". The Guardian. NewsBank. 7 May 2011.
6. "Christchurch - previous election results". Christchurch Borough Council. dorsetforyou.com. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
7. Clark, Katie (11 April 2011). "Local elections: Mudeford and Friars Cliff councillors named". Bournemouth Daily Echo. Retrieved 22 May 2015.