Hart District Council election, 2004

The 2004 Hart Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of Hart District Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 18
• Liberal Democrat 12
• Independent 3
• Community Campaign (Hart) 2^[2]

Campaign

In early May 2004 the Conservative leader of the council, Lorraine Fullbrook, resigned as a councillor in order to stand for the seat of South Ribble in the 2005 general election.^[3] This meant an extra seat in Church Crookham West would be contested in the local elections.^[3]

The election saw the Conservatives challenged by a new Community Campaign (Hart) group as well as from the main political parties.^[4] The group had been formed in 2003 in protest against plans to develop a barracks in Church Crookham.^[5]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives stay in control of the council despite losing 2 seats to the new Community Campaign (Hart) group and 1 seat to the Liberal Democrats.^[6] Community Campaign (Hart) gained the seats of Church Crookham East and West and came second in two additional wards.^[6] Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats gained Fleet Courtmoor from the Conservatives, while holding the other 4 seats they had been defending.^[6] However the Conservatives did manage to gain one seat in Crondall, where they defeated Brian Leversha who had resigned from the Conservatives to sit as an independent.^[6]

Meanwhile no independents were successful in being elected with former councillor Peter Carr coming closest after losing by 66 votes.^[6] The other candidates from the Labour party, British National Party and Official Monster Raving Loony Party each failed to get more than 200 votes.^[6]

Hart Local Election Result 2004[7][8]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	5	1	3	-2	41.7	45.5	8,543	-6.3%
	Liberal Democrat	5	1	0	+1	41.7	31.3	5,837	-12.7%
	Community Campaign (Hart)	2	2	0	+2	16.7	15.0	2,821	+15.0%
	Independent	0	0	1	-1	0	5.4	1,023	+5.4%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	1.5	287	-1.5%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	198	+1.1%
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	80	+0.4%

Ward results

Blackwater and Hawley[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Blewett	921	60.0	+9.3
	Conservative	Vivienne Gascoigne	562	36.6	-12.7
	Labour	Joyce Still	53	3.5	+3.5
Majority			359	23.4	+21.9
Turnout			1,536	44.4	+12.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Church Crookham East[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Community Campaign (Hart)	Edward Radley	907	55.2
	Conservative	Deborah Moss	735	44.8
Majority			172	10.5
Turnout			1,642	43.7	+10.8
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Church Crookham West[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Community Campaign (Hart)	Jennifer Radley	921	63.6	+63.6
	Conservative	Sara-Lea Kinnell	528	36.4	-19.1
Majority			393	27.1
Turnout			1,449	36.0	+7.7
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing

Crondall[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pritpal Singh	671	50.0
	Community Campaign (Hart)	John Benson	405	30.2
	Independent	Brian Leversha	266	19.8
Majority			266	19.8
Turnout			1,342	44.8
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Fleet Central[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Pearson	823	52.1
	Independent	Peter Carr	757	47.9
Majority			66	4.2
Turnout			1,580	39.4	+8.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Fleet Courtmoor[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Einchcomb	848	51.1	+10.6
	Conservative	Ernest Jasper	812	48.9	-10.6
Majority			36	2.2
Turnout			1,660	43.8	+13.9
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Fleet Pondtail[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Susan Fisher	1,192	68.5
	Conservative	Andrew Davies	549	31.5
Majority			643	36.9
Turnout			1,741	47.5	+13.9
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Fleet West[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sean Holden	762	49.5
	Community Campaign (Hart)	Stephen Cantle	515	33.5
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey Donkin	262	17.0
Majority			247	16.0
Turnout			1,539	41.4	+11.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hook[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Haffey	1,211	56.5	-8.2
	Liberal Democrat	David Evans	733	34.2	+3.5
	BNP	Roger Robertson	198	9.2	+9.2
Majority			478	22.3	-11.7
Turnout			2,142	37.7	+11.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Odiham[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Gorys	1,031	70.9	-5.8
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Over	351	24.1	+0.8
	Community Campaign (Hart)	Craig Hartwell	73	5.0	+5.0
Majority			680	46.7	-6.7
Turnout			1,455	42.1	+4.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Yateley East[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Stuart Bailey	784	55.6	-0.9
	Conservative	Thomas Schwartz	438	31.1	-3.9
	Labour	David Jenkins	107	7.6	-0.8
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan Hope	80	5.7	+5.7
Majority			346	24.6	+3.1
Turnout			1,409	34.6	+5.9
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Yateley West[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Hammersley	746	57.7	-1.8
	Conservative	Edward Bromhead	421	32.5	+5.4
	Labour	John Davies	127	9.8	-0.9
Majority			325	25.1	-7.3
Turnout			1,294	33.0	+10.8
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

References

1. "Hart council". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
2. "Elections 2004: Local authorities in England and Wales". The Independent. 2004-06-12. p. 9.
3. "Hart's leader quits". gethampshire. 2004-05-06. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
4. "Deselections no bar to political ambition". gethampshire. 2004-05-19. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
5. "Election candidate unveiled". gethampshire. 2004-05-06. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
6. "Seats win for new group". gethampshire. 2004-06-15. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
7. "Election Results for 10 June 2004". Hart District Council. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
8. "Ballot box". The Times. 2004-06-12. p. 26.