Cannock Chase District Council election, 2016

Elections to Cannock Chase District Council took place on 5 May 2016.^[1] This election was held on the same day as other local elections as well as Police and Crime Commissioner elections. A total of 13 councillors were elected from all but two of the council's wards as a third of the council was up for election.

The Labour Party held control of the council with a slightly reduced majority of one compared with their tally following the previous election. Labour lost one seat of their 2012 election total but held all of the other seats they were defending, albeit many with reduced majorities.

The Conservative Party won the highest number of seats and votes at the previous election but did not make any net gains on their 2012 result. They did, however, regain a seat in Hawks Green which was held by a former Conservative councillor who had defected to UKIP. This left the Conservatives with 13 seats on the council, confirming their status as the official opposition party. UKIP failed to match their 2014 success and did not win any seats at this election.

The Liberal Democrats only fielded two candidates, both in former areas of strength for them in Rugeley. Although one of these wards went to recount, they did not manage to regain any of the losses they suffered in 2012. Meanwhile, the Green Party once again stood candidates in every ward and made a surprise gain in the Hednesford South ward, ousting a sitting Labour councillor and giving them their first representation on Cannock Chase District Council. Unlike previous years, there are no independent candidates.

Results

Cannock Chase District Council election, 2016
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	9	0	1	–1	69.2
	Conservative	3	0	0	±0	23.1
	Green	1	1	0	+1	7.7			N/A
	UKIP	0	0	0	±0	0.0			N/A
	Liberal Democrat	0	0	0	±0	0.0

Council Composition

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

Party		Previous council	Staying councillors	Seats up for election	Election result	New council
	Labour	22	12	10	9	21
	Conservatives	11	10	3	3	13
	UKIP	5	4	0	0	4
	Liberal Democrats	1	1	0	0	1
	Greens	0	0	0	1	1
	Independent	1	1	0	0	1
	Vacant	1				0
Total		41	28	13	13	41

Ward results

Detailed below are all of the candidates nominated to stand in each ward in the upcoming election:

Brereton and Ravenhill

Brereton and Ravenhill (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Dudson	478	31.6	–13.8
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Fisher	475	31.4	–9.2
	UKIP	Sarah Thomas-Dean	302	20.0	N/A
	Conservative	Pam Owen	223	14.7	+0.7
	Green	Michael Lees	34	2.3	N/A
Majority			3	0.2	–4.6
Turnout				30.0	+3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	–2.3

Cannock East

Cannock East (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Mitchell	687	44.6	–29.6
	UKIP	Dave Morris	495	32.2	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Hewitt	315	20.5	–5.3
	Green	Glen Tapper	42	2.7	N/A
Majority			192	12.4	–36.0
Turnout				23.1	–1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	–30.9

Cannock North

Cannock North (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Alcott	760	53.2	–27.7
	UKIP	Rob Branson	399	27.9	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Jones	201	14.1	–5.0
	Green	Jodie Winter	68	4.8	N/A
Majority			361	25.3	–36.5
Turnout				26.1	+2.7
	Labour hold		Swing	–27.8

Cannock South

Cannock South (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maureen Freeman	749	46.6	–20.0
	Conservative	Johnny McMahon	423	26.3	±0
	UKIP	Kev Whittaker	389	24.2	N/A
	Green	Leo Harrison	46	2.9	N/A
Majority			326	20.3	–20.0
Turnout				27.7	+4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	–10.0

Cannock West

Cannock West (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Doug Smith	982	51.5	–7.1
	Labour	Pat Frondigoun	510	26.8	–14.6
	UKIP	Paul Allen	310	16.3	N/A
	Green	Maire Smith	102	5.4	N/A
Majority			472	24.7	+7.5
Turnout				33.9	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.8

Etching Hill and the Heath

Etching Hill and the Heath (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Johnson	500	32.7	–2.6
	UKIP	Danny Davies	451	29.4	N/A
	Labour	Jeffrey Winter	389	25.4	–6.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ray Jones	144	9.4	–16.3
	Green	David Thawley	47	3.1	N/A
Majority			49	3.3	–0.6
Turnout				29.5	+6.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	–16.0

Hagley

Hagley (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Stuart Crabtree
	UKIP	Mark Deakin
	Conservative	Robert Hughes
	Labour	Chris Martin
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

Hawks Green

Hawks Green (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Ann Bernard ^
	Labour	Matthew Freeman
	Conservative	Dan Snape
	Green	Kelly Tuft
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

^ Anne Bernard is the sitting councillor for the Hawks Green ward and previously defected from the Conservatives to UKIP.

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Kenny Beardmore
	UKIP	John Bernard
	Conservative	Helen Borton
	Labour	Diane Todd
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

Hednesford North

Hednesford North (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Arlette Carmichael
	UKIP	Sue Hardman
	Conservative	James Moffat
	Labour	Alan Pearson
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

Hednesford South

Hednesford South (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Brian Gamble
	Conservative	Olivia Lyons
	UKIP	Grahame Wiggin
	Green	Paul Woodhead
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

Norton Canes

Norton Canes (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Chris Cox
	Green	Richard Jenking
	Conservative	Val Jones
	Labour	Zaphne Stretton
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

Western Springs

Western Springs (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sara Allt
	Green	Sara Anderson
	Labour	Carl Bennett
	UKIP	Sarah Rose
Majority
Turnout
	[[|N/A]] hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

References

1. "District Election 2016". Cannock Chase District Council. Retrieved 28 April 2016.