Gosport Borough Council election, 2008

Elections to Gosport Council in Hampshire, England were held on 1 May 2008. Half of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.

Before the election the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties had held power on the council with the casting vote of the mayor.^[1] The election saw the Liberal Democrats close the gap with the Conservative party after making 5 gains, while the Labour part lost four of the five seats they had held. However following the election the Conservative party said that they would take charge of the council as they remained the largest party.^[2]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 16
• Liberal Democrat 14
• Labour 4

Election result

Gosport Local Election Result 2008
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	10	3	4	-1	58.8	53.1	11,686	+8.0%
	Liberal Democrat	6	5	0	+5	35.3	25.8	5,672	-0.8%
	Labour	1	0	4	-4	5.9	15.2	3,353	-8.1%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	3.0	669	-1.9%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	2.3	503	+2.3%
	English Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	0.6	131	+0.6%

Ward results

Alverstoke
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Hood	1,175	70.5	-5.7
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Payne	200	12.0	-3.5
	UKIP	Judith Smith	165	9.9	+9.9
	Labour	Jennifer Hall	127	7.6	-0.8
Majority			975	58.5	-2.2
Turnout			1,667	47.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Anglesey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Forder	711	49.1	-4.9
	Conservative	Brian Taylor	664	45.9	+4.5
	Labour	Graham Hewitt	72	5.0	+0.4
Majority			47	3.2	-9.4
Turnout			1,447	48.4
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Bridgemary North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Edwards	594	52.2	+20.0
	Labour	Kenneth Searle	544	47.8	-20.0
Majority			50	4.4
Turnout			1,138	32.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Bridgemary South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Geddes	625	54.2	+16.1
	Labour	Jill Wright	529	45.8	-16.1
Majority			96	8.4
Turnout			1,154	32.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Brockhurst
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Salter	571	47.5	-7.5
	Conservative	Ivor Foster	476	39.6	+11.9
	Labour	Michael O'Gorman	81	6.7	-6.0
	Green	Jane Satffieri	74	6.2	+1.5
Majority			95	7.9	-19.4
Turnout			1,202	32.1
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Christchurch
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Dickson	501	42.7	+13.7
	Liberal Democrat	Heather Carr	487	41.6	-7.4
	UKIP	Catherine Andrews	68	5.8	+5.8
	Labour	Paul Noakes	61	5.2	-7.7
	Green	Veronika Forster	55	4.7	-4.4
Majority			14	1.1
Turnout			1,172	34.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elson
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Andrea Bailey	582	46.3	-2.3
	Conservative	Lynn Hook	510	40.6	+1.8
	UKIP	Francis Bridgewater	103	8.2	+8.2
	Labour	Michael Madgwick	61	4.9	-1.2
Majority			72	5.7	-4.1
Turnout			1,256	35.8
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Forton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Mervin Bradley	448	41.0	-7.4
	Labour	Keith Farr	396	36.2	+5.2
	Conservative	Peter Greenwood	250	22.9	+9.1
Majority			52	4.8	-12.6
Turnout			1,094	32.6
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing

Grange
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kim West	359	54.5	+9.1
	Liberal Democrat	George Morby	216	32.8	+11.5
	Labour	Alan Durrant	59	9.0	-13.8
	Green	Iain MacLennan	25	3.8	-5.8
Majority			143	21.7	-1.9
Turnout			659	17.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hardway
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Langdon	792	52.1	+6.3
	Green	Andrea Smith	472	31.1	-13.6
	Labour	Jess Cully	182	12.0	+2.5
	UKIP	Darren Fells	73	4.8	+4.8
Majority			320	21.0	+19.9
Turnout			1,519	36.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Lee East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Howard Burgess	1,132	71.7	-12.7
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Keeley	373	23.6	+23.6
	Labour	Peter Bell	74	4.7	-10.9
Majority			759	48.1	-20.7
Turnout			1,579	38.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Lee West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Beavis	1,691	89.7	+3.8
	Labour	Jill Whitcher	194	10.3	-3.8
Majority			1,497	79.4	+7.6
Turnout			1,885	51.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Leesland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	David Smith	604	48.2	-18.8
	Conservative	George McAleese	555	44.3	+20.2
	Labour	Vivienne O'Gorman	94	7.5	-1.4
Majority			49	3.9	-39.0
Turnout			1,253	35.9
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Peel Common
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Philpott	913	68.1	+10.4
	Liberal Democrat	John Bowles	291	21.7	+21.7
	Labour	Joseph O'Gorman	136	10.1	-32.5
Majority			622	46.4	+31.6
Turnout			1,340	40.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Privett
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Ingeborg Forder	734	49.6	-4.5
	Conservative	Colin Jacobs	677	45.8	+8.2
	Labour	DenniJohn Madgwick	68	4.6	-3.8
Majority			57	3.8	12.7
Turnout			1,479	44.7
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Rowner and Holbrook
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Marcus Murphy	345	39.5	+11.2
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Edwards	215	24.6	-16.7
	Labour	John Train	183	20.9	-4.5
	English Democrats	Robert Shaw	131	15.0	+15.0
Majority			130	14.9
Turnout			874	26.9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Town
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Diane Searle	492	38.0	-23.5
	Conservative	Adam Burns	427	32.9	+6.0
	Liberal Democrat	Cyril Simpson	240	18.5	+6.9
	UKIP	Christine Harris	94	7.3	+7.3
	Green	Harry Haines	43	3.3	+3.3
Majority			65	5.1	-29.5
Turnout			1,296	34.9
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Election 2008: Coalition on cards again as Gosport Lib Dems close gap". The News. 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
2. "Gosport Tories take power". The News. 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2008-05-10.

• 2008 Gosport election result
• Ward results