West Oxfordshire District Council election, 2004

Map of the results of the 2004 West Oxfordshire District Council election. Conservatives in blue, Liberal Democrats in yellow and independent in light grey. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2004.

The 2004 West Oxfordshire District Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of West Oxfordshire 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]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 29
• Liberal Democrats 13
• Independent 6
• Labour 1^[2]

Background

After the last election in 2003 the Conservatives controlled the council with 29 seats, while the Liberal Democrats had 12, there were six independent councillors and the Labour party had two seats.^[3] A total of 54 candidates stood for the 17 seats up for election in 2004, comprising 16 each for the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, 11 Labour candidates, nine Green party and two independents.^[4]

Election result

The Conservatives remained in control of the council with 29 councillors, after winning 12 of the 17 seats contested.^[5] 13 of the 14 councillors who were standing again were re-elected, with only Conservative councillor James Mills losing his seat in Standlake, Aston and Stanton Harcourt ward to Liberal Democrat Elisabeth Bickley.^[4] The Liberal Democrats took four seats and therefore finished with 13 councillors on the council.,^[5] while all three members of the Conservative council cabinet were re-elected, including the council leader Barry Norton in North Leigh ward.^[6]

Conservative Andrew Creery also gained one seat in Witney Central from Labour, after the Labour councillor for the previous 30 years, Ted Cooper, stood down at the election.^[6] This reduced Labour to its worst ever position on the council with just one councillor.^[6] Meanwhile independent councillor Derrick Millard retained his seat in Stonesfield and Tackley, to mean there remained six independent councillors.^[4] Overall turnout at the election was 45.19%.^[4]

West Oxfordshire local election result 2004[4][7]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	12	1	1	0	70.6	46.5	10,996	+7.9%
	Liberal Democrat	4	1	0	+1	23.5	30.4	7,180	-0.1%
	Independent	1	0	0	0	5.9	5.8	1,360	-8.2%
	Labour	0	0	1	-1	0	10.2	2,419	-1.0%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	7.1	1,686	+2.3%

Ward results

Chadlington and Churchill[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Owen	499	66.0	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Leffman	152	20.1	-14.4
	Labour	Georgina Burrows	105	13.9	+13.9
Majority			347	45.9	+15.0
Turnout			756	49.9	+9.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Charlbury and Finstock[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Glena Chadwick	985	66.7	+4.5
	Conservative	Ian Lyne	491	33.3	+33.3
Majority			494	33.5	+3.9
Turnout			1,476	50.9	+9.7
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Chipping Norton[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Howes	964	49.0	+9.5
	Labour	Mark Walker	478	24.3	-22.3
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Allen	363	18.4	+4.4
	Green	Rachel Griffiths	163	8.3	+8.3
Majority			486	24.7
Turnout			1,968	44.1	+8.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Eynsham and Cassington[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Margaret Stevens	1,045	54.8	-3.0
	Conservative	Frances Pike	662	34.7	+0.4
	Green	Xanthe Bevis	201	10.5	+2.6
Majority			383	20.1	-3.3
Turnout			1,908	43.0	+10.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Freeland and Hanborough[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Stuart Brooks	935	55.9
	Conservative	Jill Dunsmore	737	44.1
Majority			198	11.8
Turnout			1,672	52.1	+6.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Hailey, Minster Lovell and Leafield[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Hoare	942	68.3	+3.3
	Liberal Democrat	Malcolm West	306	22.2	-12.8
	Labour	William Tumbridge	131	9.5	+9.5
Majority			636	46.1	+16.0
Turnout			1,379	44.9	+8.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kingham, Rollright and Enstone[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Walker	899	62.1	+1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Tatton	286	19.8	-0.2
	Labour	Melanie Deans	262	18.1	-0.9
Majority			613	42.4	+1.5
Turnout			1,447	46.0	+11.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Milton under Wychwood[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeffrey Haine	571	74.2	-2.2
	Liberal Democrat	John Lilly	199	25.8	+2.2
Majority			372	48.3	-4.5
Turnout			770	49.2	+5.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

North Leigh[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barry Norton	513	60.2
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Workman	200	23.5
	Labour	Helen Bridge	139	16.3
Majority			313	36.7
Turnout			852	56.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Standlake, Aston and Stanton Harcourt[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Elisabeth Bickley	831	51.7
	Conservative	James Mills	775	48.3
Majority			56	3.5
Turnout			1,606	52.1	+9.0
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing

Stonesfield and Tackley[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Derrick Millard	1,060	69.3	-0.6
	Liberal Democrat	Gillian Workman	249	16.3	-0.2
	Green	Susan Turnbull	220	14.4	+0.8
Majority			811	53.0	-0.5
Turnout			1,529	48.8	+12.8
	Independent hold		Swing

Witney Central[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Creery	524	42.9	+14.2
	Labour	Richard Kelsall	339	27.7	+2.8
	Liberal Democrat	June Taylor	217	17.8	+4.6
	Green	Sandra Simpson	142	11.6	+8.4
Majority			185	15.1
Turnout			1,222	41.1	+1.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Witney East[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Smith	710	49.4	+16.8
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Madden	341	23.7	-27.2
	Green	Enid Dossett-Davies	218	15.2	+9.3
	Labour	Raymond Harris	169	11.8	+1.3
Majority			369	25.7
Turnout			1,438	38.3	+6.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Witney North[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Chapman	569	45.2	+6.7
	Green	Richard Dossett-Davies	324	25.7	+5.9
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Slamin	239	19.0	-22.7
	Labour	Diana Kelsall	128	10.2	+10.2
Majority			245	19.4
Turnout			1,260	41.1	+6.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Witney South[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Green	863	52.7	+21.7
	Labour	Phillip Edney	317	19.3	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Olive Minett	282	17.2	+6.6
	Green	Jill Jones	177	10.8	+5.8
Majority			546	33.3	+27.7
Turnout			1,639	36.3	+6.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Witney West[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Louise Chapman	574	51.3	+9.5
	Independent	Ian Lucas	300	26.8	+1.9
	Labour	David Wesson	142	12.7	-1.6
	Green	Christopher Marchant	102	9.1	+2.8
Majority			274	24.5	+7.6
Turnout			1,118	37.0	+13.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Woodstock and Bladon[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Hudspeth	703	43.9
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Poskitt	550	34.4
	Labour	Susan Roberts	209	13.1
	Green	Tracy Dighton-Brown	139	8.7
Majority			153	9.6
Turnout			1,601	53.7	+5.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

By-elections between 2004 and 2006

Witney East by-election 7 July 2005[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Curry	420	50.5	+1.1
	Liberal Democrat	Daniel Coulson	253	30.4	+6.7
	Green	Enid Dossett-Davies	109	13.1	-2.1
	Labour	David Wesson	49	5.9	-5.9
Majority			167	20.1	-5.6
Turnout			831	19.8	-18.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "West Oxfordshire council". BBC News Online. 11 June 2004. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
2. "West Oxfordshire". The Guardian (NewsBank). 12 June 2004.
3. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
4. "West Oxfordshire District Council Election Results 1998 - 2010" (PDF). West Oxfordshire District Council. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
5. "Tories keep a grip in poll". Worcestershire, West Midlands, Herefordshire, and Shropshire Counties Publications (NewsBank). 17 June 2004.
6. "Election 2004: Tories strengthen in West". Oxfordshire County Publications (NewsBank). 11 June 2004.
7. "Ballot box - Elections". The Times (NewsBank). 12 June 2004. p. 26.