Cherwell District Council election, 2006

The 2006 Cherwell District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

In total 45 candidates stood in the election competing for the 18 seats which were up for election.^[2] The results saw the Conservatives win 15 of the 18 seats contested.^[3] They gained 2 seats from Labour in the Banbury wards of Neithrop and Grimsbury and Castle.^[4] Their victory in Neithrop was the first time in over 30 years that Labour had not won the ward and saw the first muslim councillor, Alyas Ahmed, elected to Cherwell council.^[4] The Liberal Democrats also picked up a seat from Labour in Kidlington South where the Labour group leader on the council, Andrew Hornsby-Smith, stood down at the election.^[4] Labour only managed to keep one of their seats in the election, in Banbury Ruscote, where George Parish was re-elected.^[5] Turnout in the election ranged from a low of 20% to a high of 51%.^[3]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 38
• Labour 8
• Liberal Democrat 4^[6]

Election result

Cherwell Local Election Result 2006[7]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	15	2	0	+2	83.3	60.2	14,957	+3.1%
	Liberal Democrat	2	1	0	+1	11.1	24.8	6,167	+7.7%
	Labour	1	0	3	-3	5.6	14.3	3,563	-9.9%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.6	148	+0.0%

Ward results

Banbury Calthorpe[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Clarke	782	64.8
	Labour	Hanry Goodman	261	21.6
	Liberal Democrat	Suzanne Wilson-Higgins	164	13.6
Majority			521	43.2
Turnout			1,207
	Conservative hold		Swing

Banbury Easington[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kieron Mallon	1,357	64.1	-5.2
	Labour	Martin Weir	382	18.0	-12.7
	Liberal Democrat	Pamela Linzey-Jones	379	17.9	+17.9
Majority			975	46.1	+7.5
Turnout			2,118
	Conservative hold		Swing

Banbury Grimsbury and Castle[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Cullip	862	50.2	-6.9
	Labour	Andrew Beere	520	30.3	-12.6
	Liberal Democrat	Choudry Anjum	334	19.5	+19.5
Majority			342	19.9	+5.7
Turnout			1,716
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Banbury Hardwick[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stuart Robbins	782	59.9	-6.2
	Labour	Neil Mepham	343	26.3	-7.6
	Liberal Democrat	Frank Davies	181	13.9	+13.9
Majority			439	33.6	+1.4
Turnout			1,306
	Conservative hold		Swing

Banbury Neithrop[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alyas Ahmed	572	49.5	+4.8
	Labour	Richard Doy	371	32.1	-23.2
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Johnson	212	18.4	+18.4
Majority			201	17.4
Turnout			1,155
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Banbury Ruscote[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Parish	748	51.5	-2.1
	Conservative	Elizabeth Macleod	559	38.5	-7.9
	Liberal Democrat	Deborah Atsoparthis	145	10.0	+10.0
Majority			189	13.0	+5.8
Turnout			1,452
	Labour hold		Swing

Bicester West[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman Bolster	1,292	69.5	+12.1
	Labour	John Broad	566	30.5	-0.5
Majority			726	39.0	+12.6
Turnout			1,858
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bloxham and Bodicote[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eric Heath	1,254	70.6	+7.4
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Davis	523	29.4	-7.4
Majority			731	41.2	+14.8
Turnout			1,777
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cropredy[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Atack	703	74.3	-3.2
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Creed	243	25.7	+3.2
Majority			460	48.6	-6.4
Turnout			946
	Conservative hold		Swing

Deddington[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul O'Sullivan	675	62.2	+2.9
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Squires	410	37.8	-2.9
Majority			265	24.4	+5.8
Turnout			1,085
	Conservative hold		Swing

Fringford[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barry Wood	727	84.8	+14.5
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Cotter	130	15.2	-14.5
Majority			597	69.6	+29.0
Turnout			857
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kidlington North[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Chris Pack	906	59.7	+5.1
	Conservative	Michael Hunt	612	40.3	+11.9
Majority			294	19.4	-6.8
Turnout			1,518
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Kidlington South[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Devena Rae	1,115	44.6	+13.1
	Conservative	Mary Young	863	34.5	-3.5
	Labour	Martin Keighery	372	14.9	-9.9
	Green	Janet Warren	148	5.9	+0.2
Majority			152	10.1
Turnout			2,498
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing

Kirtlington[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Neil Godwin	650	73.4	+16.4
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew Murray	235	26.6	-16.4
Majority			415	46.8	+32.8
Turnout			885
	Conservative hold		Swing

Otmoor[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Hallchurch	566	68.4	+8.0
	Liberal Democrat	Elisabeth Yardley	262	31.6	-8.0
Majority			304	36.8	+16.0
Turnout			828
	Conservative hold		Swing

Sibford[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Reynolds	796	79.4
	Liberal Democrat	Janice Johnson	206	20.6
Majority			590	58.8
Turnout			1,002
	Conservative hold		Swing

The Astons and Heyfords[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Macnamara	1,146	73.2	+24.4
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Walton	420	26.8	-24.4
Majority			726	44.4
Turnout			1,566
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wroxton[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Douglas Webb	759	71.5
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Burns	302	28.5
Majority			457	43.0
Turnout			1,061
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "Local elections: Cherwell". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
2. "Candidates set for poll battle". thisisoxfordshire. 13 April 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
3. "Landslide for Tories in local elections". Banbury Guardian. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
4. "Tories and Lib Dems celebrate". thisisoxfordshire. 15 May 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
5. "Labour lose out in Cherwell vote". thisisoxfordshire. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
6. "Local elections". The Times. 6 May 2006. p. 64.
7. "Cherwell ward by ward results". thisisoxfordshire. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
8. "District Council election results 2006". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 2009-10-22.