West Oxfordshire District Council election, 2006

Map of the results of the 2006 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 2006.

The 2006 West Oxfordshire District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 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 34
• Liberal Democrats 9
• Independent 5
• Labour 1^[2]

Background

After the last election in 2004 the Conservatives controlled the council with 29 councillors, while the Liberal Democrats had 13 seats, independents had six and the Labour party had one seat.^[3] However in April 2005 Conservative councillor Peter Green resigned from the party to sit as an independent, meaning that going into the 2006 election the Conservatives had 28 seats and there were 7 independents.^[4][5]

For the 16 seats contested in 2006, the Conservatives had 16 candidates, Labour 13, Liberal Democrats 11, Green party 7 and there were 3 independents.^[6]

Election result

The Conservatives increased their majority on the council after gaining six seats to take 14 of the 16 seats contested.^[5] This took the Conservatives to 34 councillors and came at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, who lost four seats, and the independents who lost two seats.^[5] The Liberal Democrats were therefore reduced to nine councillors and the independents to five, while Labour remained with a single councillor.^[5] Of the 10 councillors who sought re-election, nine were successful, with only Liberal Democrat Julian Cooper losing in Woodstock and Bladon ward by 34 votes to Conservative candidate Jill Dunsmore.^[6] Overall turnout at the election was 40.25%.^[6]

West Oxfordshire local election result 2006[6]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	14	6	0	+6	87.5	59.6	11,471	+13.1%
	Liberal Democrat	1	0	4	-4	6.3	20.0	3,850	-10.4%
	Independent	1	0	2	-2	6.3	6.6	1,273	+0.8%
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0	9.3	1,793	-0.9%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	4.5	866	-2.6%

Ward results

Ascott and Shipton[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hilary Hibbert-Biles	649	78.6	+21.2
	Labour	John Gittings	92	11.1	+11.1
	Liberal Democrat	John Miller	85	10.3	+10.3
Majority			557	67.4	+52.6
Turnout			826	50.3	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bampton and Clanfield[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Martin Barrett	856	57.6	+57.6
	Conservative	Frederick Gray	558	37.5	-15.9
	Labour	Mark Albert	73	4.9	+4.9
Majority			298	20.0
Turnout			1,487	51.9	+13.5
	Independent hold		Swing

Brize Norton and Shilton[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Verena Hunt	490	76.3
	Independent	Shane Rae	120	18.7
	Labour	Duncan Enright	32	5.0
Majority			370	57.6
Turnout			642	43.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Burford[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Derek Cotterill	556	79.8	+36.3
	Liberal Democrat	John Lilly	104	14.9	+14.9
	Labour	Matthew Deans	37	5.3	+5.3
Majority			452	64.8
Turnout			697	50.0	+2.7
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Carterton North East[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Reginald Mason	486	62.1	-8.5
	Independent	Paul Wesson	297	37.9	+37.9
Majority			189	24.1	-17.0
Turnout			783	25.3	+7.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Carterton North West[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David King	846	83.8	+29.5
	Labour	Raymond Harris	163	16.2	+4.6
Majority			683	67.7	+47.6
Turnout			1,009	31.2	+4.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Carterton South[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Windell Walcott	892	81.2	+31.8
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Madden	206	18.8	-23.0
Majority			686	62.5	+54.9
Turnout			1,098	34.9	+6.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chipping Norton[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Townley	1,198	61.0	+12.0
	Labour	Robert Evans	533	27.2	+2.9
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Allen	138	7.0	-11.4
	Green	Brian Luney	94	4.8	-3.5
Majority			665	33.9	+9.2
Turnout			1,963	42.8	-1.3
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Ducklington[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Hayward	443	67.1	+13.6
	Labour	William Tumbridge	91	13.8	-8.8
	Liberal Democrat	Gillian Workman	76	11.5	-12.4
	Green	Richard Dossett-Davies	50	7.6	+7.6
Majority			352	53.3	+23.6
Turnout			660	41.4	+5.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Eynsham and Cassington[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frances Pike	867	45.6	+10.9
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Andrews	763	40.2	-14.6
	Green	Xanthe Bevis	160	8.4	-2.1
	Labour	Richard Kelsall	110	5.8	+5.8
Majority			104	5.5
Turnout			1,900	42.2	-0.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Freeland and Hanborough[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Dingwall	732	48.9	+4.8
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Baggaley	604	40.4	-15.5
	Green	Jill Jones	100	6.7	+6.7
	Labour	Georgina Burrows	60	4.0	+4.0
Majority			128	8.6
Turnout			1,496	45.7	-6.4
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Standlake, Aston and Stanton Harcourt[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Brenda Smith	779	51.7	+0.0
	Conservative	Elizabeth Fenton	729	48.3	+0.0
Majority			50	3.3	-0.2
Turnout			1,508	47.6	-4.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

The Bartons[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Goffe	474	80.7
	Labour	Colin Carritt	113	19.3
Majority			361	61.5
Turnout			587	38.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Witney East[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Mills	959	60.9	+11.5
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Slamin	275	17.5	-6.2
	Green	Enid Dossett-Davies	217	13.8	-1.4
	Labour	David Wesson	123	7.8	-4.0
Majority			684	43.5	+17.8
Turnout			1,574	34.2	-4.1
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Witney South[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Harvey	944	60.9	+8.2
	Labour	Phillip Edney	246	15.9	-3.4
	Liberal Democrat	Michelle Coulson	206	13.3	-3.9
	Green	Sandra Simpson	153	9.9	-0.9
Majority			698	45.1	+11.8
Turnout			1,549	34.2	-2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Woodstock and Bladon[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jill Dunsmore	648	44.0	+0.1
	Liberal Democrat	Julian Cooper	614	41.7	+7.3
	Labour	Susan Roberts	120	8.1	-5.0
	Green	Paul Creighton	92	6.2	-2.5
Majority			34	2.3	-7.3
Turnout			1,474	49.1	-4.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

By-elections between 2006 and 2007

A by-election was held in Witney Central on 25 January 2007 after the disappearance of Conservative councillor Andrew Creery.^[7] The seat was held for Conservatives by Colin Adams with a majority of 210 votes over Liberal Democrat Brenda Churchill.^[7]

Witney Central by-election 25 January 2007[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Adams	417	53.5	+10.6
	Liberal Democrat	Brenda Churchill	207	26.6	+8.8
	Labour	David Wesson	87	11.2	-16.5
	Green	Sandra Simpson	68	8.7	-2.9
Majority			210	27.0	+11.9
Turnout			779	25.1	-16.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. "UK local election results". Financial Times (NewsBank). 5 May 2006.
2. "Local elections: West Oxfordshire". BBC News Online. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
3. "West Oxfordshire council". BBC News Online. 11 June 2004. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
4. "Mayor goes independent". Oxfordshire County Publications (NewsBank). 6 April 2005.
5. "Turnout high for elections". Worcestershire, West Midlands, Herefordshire, and Shropshire Counties Publications (NewsBank). 11 May 2006.
6. "West Oxfordshire District Council Election Results 1998 - 2010" (PDF). West Oxfordshire District Council. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
7. "Tory takes over missing man's seat". Oxfordshire County Publications (NewsBank). 26 January 2007.