2006 Hertsmere Borough Council election

The 2006 Hertsmere Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Hertsmere Borough Council in Hertfordshire, 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:

Background

Before the election the Conservatives controlled the council with 26 seats, compared to 7 for Labour and 6 Liberal Democrats.^[3] As well as the normal 13 seats being contested, an extra seat was up for election in Aldenham East after the councillor Nigel Gilmore stepped down.^[3] Other councillors standing down included 2 from Labour, Joe Goldberg and Len Silverstone, and Conservatives Ron Gealy and Zita Hobbs.^[3]^[4] 9 of the 14 seats were being defended by the Conservatives, 3 by Labour and 2 by the Liberal Democrats.^[3]

Election result

The Conservatives increased their majority to 17 after gaining 2 seats from Labour.^[5]^[6] This reduced Labour to 5 councillors, behind the Liberal Democrats who stayed on 6 after retaining their 2 seats in Bushey.^[6]^[7] The Conservatives gains came in Borehamwood Brookmeadow, which they took by 103 votes, and Borehamwood Kenilworth, where Labour lost by 12 votes after several recounts.^[6] This meant Labour only won 1 seat in Borehamwood Cowley Hill, where they held on by an 86 vote majority.^[6]

The Labour group leader Leon Reefe said the reason for the defeats for the party was that "Labour voters are still disenchanted with what's going on nationally", while the Conservative council leader said "obviously national events had a bearing but I still feel that locally we are providing good services".^[6]

Hertsmere Local Election Result 2006^[2]^[8]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	11	2	0	+2	78.6	57.6	13,511	+1.1%
Liberal Democrats	2	0	0	0	14.3	21.3	4,985	-1.5%
Labour	1	0	2	-2	7.1	18.1	4,243	-1.8%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	1.2	289	+1.2%
Victory United	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	234	+1.0%
Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	0	0.8	187	+0.0%

Ward results

Aldenham East^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Goldstein	1,191	80.3	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Bird	172	11.6	−0.1
	Labour	Peter Halsley	121	8.2	−2.7
Majority			1,019	68.7	+2.9
Turnout			1,484	48.7	+4.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Borehamwood Brookmeadow^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harvey Cohen	730	45.9	−1.6
	Labour	Ian Freeney	627	39.4	+5.0
	Victory United	Elsie Alokwe	234	14.7	+14.7
Majority			103	6.5	−6.7
Turnout			1,591	36.5	+3.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Borehamwood Cowley Hill^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dinah Hoeksma	642	40.9	+2.1
	Conservative	Darren Solomons	556	35.4	+1.8
	Socialist Labour	James Dry	187	11.9	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Ownsworth	186	11.8	−5.0
Majority			86	5.5	+0.3
Turnout			1,571	31.1	+0.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Borehamwood Hillside^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sandra Parnell	1,245	62.7	+14.5
	Labour	Jennifer Reefe	741	37.3	−0.1
Majority			504	25.4	+14.7
Turnout			1,986	34.5	−3.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Borehamwood Kenilworth^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patricia Strack	511	43.4	+5.4
	Labour	Ernest Butler	499	42.4	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Zissis Kakoulakis	167	14.2	−6.5
Majority			12	1.0
Turnout			1,177	31.6	+11.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Bushey Heath^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brenda Batten	1,518	73.5	+4.7
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Kutchinsky	375	18.2	−2.2
	Labour	David Bearfield	171	8.3	−2.4
Majority			1,143	55.4	+6.0
Turnout			2,064	41.7	+1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bushey North^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Marilyn Colne	941	58.7	+1.9
	Conservative	John Slade	437	27.3	−5.4
	Labour	George Bath	118	7.4	−3.1
	Green	Arjuna Krishna-Das	106	6.6	+6.6
Majority			504	31.5	+7.3
Turnout			1,602	42.0	+6.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bushey Park^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Lynne Hodgson	741	51.5	+14.9
	Conservative	Abul Choudhury	698	48.5	−7.5
Majority			43	3.0
Turnout			1,439	48.0	+2.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bushey St James^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jean Conway	914	43.8	0.0
	Liberal Democrats	Vincent Turner	846	40.5	−5.9
	Green	Edward Canfor-Dumas	183	8.8	+8.8
	Labour	Yue Cheng	146	7.0	−2.8
Majority			68	3.3
Turnout			2,089	41.1	−1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elstree^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Derrick Gunasekera	932	75.3	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Silverman	159	12.8	+12.8
	Labour	Anthony Scott-Norman	147	11.9	−16.5
Majority			773	62.4	+19.1
Turnout			1,238	34.6	+8.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Furzefield^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christine Calcutt	1,066	59.3	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Dean	443	24.6	+0.9
	Labour	James Fisher	289	16.1	−2.3
Majority			623	34.6	+0.5
Turnout			1,798	42.4	+4.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Barr Oakmere^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Shirley Legate	1,242	66.2	−2.3
	Liberal Democrats	James Hurd	320	17.0	+17.0
	Labour	Russell Ramshaw	315	16.8	−14.7
Majority			922	49.1	+12.0
Turnout			1,877	36.2	+0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Potters Bar Parkfield^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edwin Roach	1,649	70.3	+2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Bonner	478	20.4	+2.1
	Labour	Perry Ellis	220	9.4	−4.2
Majority			1,171	49.9	0.0
Turnout			2,347	41.0	+0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shenley^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rosemary Gilligan	822	69.3	+4.5
	Labour	Richard Kirk	207	17.5	−1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Anita Ownsworth	157	13.2	−4.5
Majority			615	51.9	+5.7
Turnout			1,186	31.9	−4.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ "Local elections: Hertsmere". BBC News Online. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Local elections 2006" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Norton, Tommy (6 April 2006). "Election campaigns start". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ Norton, Tommy (28 April 2006). "Election fever grips council chamber". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ "Liberal Democrats maintain majority". Watford Observer. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Out for the count". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ Norton, Tommy (5 May 2006). "Hertsmere: Tories make gains on bad night for Labour". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o "Election results - 2006". Hertsmere Borough Council. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2011.

[hold-1] "Local elections: Hertsmere". BBC News Online. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2011.

[local-2] "Local elections 2006" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2011.

[start-3] Norton, Tommy (6 April 2006). "Election campaigns start". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[fever-4] Norton, Tommy (28 April 2006). "Election fever grips council chamber". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[maintain-5] "Liberal Democrats maintain majority". Watford Observer. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[out-6] "Out for the count". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[bad-7] Norton, Tommy (5 May 2006). "Hertsmere: Tories make gains on bad night for Labour". Borehamwood & Elstree Times. Retrieved 24 October 2011.

[results-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o "Election results - 2006". Hertsmere Borough Council. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2011.

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