2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

The 2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2024 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England and Hertfordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner election.

2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

2 May 2024 (2024-05-02)
16 out of 48 seats to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council 25 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	26,848, 32.7%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lynn Chesterman Paul Zukowskyj Tony Kingsbury Party Labour Liberal Democrats Conservative Last election 12 seats, 30.9% 14 seats, 25.9% 22 seats, 33.8% Seats before 12 14 22 Seats won 8 4 4 Seats after 20 16 12 Seat change 8 2 10 Popular vote 8,549 5,750 9,102 Percentage 31.8% 21.4% 33.9% Swing 0.9% 4.5% 0.1%
Winner of each seat at the 2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Leader before election Paul Zukowskyj Liberal Democrat No overall control Leader after election Max Holloway Labour No overall control

As is typical for Welwyn Hatfield's local elections, sixteen seats of the forty-eight total were contested. Of these sixteen, fourteen seats were held by Conservative councillors and two seats were held by Liberal Democrat councillors.

Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, being run by a Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition which formed after the 2023 local elections. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Green Party put candidates forward for all contested seats, with Reform UK additionally contesting seven of these seats and no independent candidates standing for any seat.

Following the election, the council remained under no overall control, with Labour the largest party, overtaking both their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. A Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition continued to run the council after the election. Labour changed their group leader after the election to Max Holloway; he was formally appointed as leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 20 May 2024.

Election result

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council's composition following the 2024 election.

2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	8	8	50.0	12	20	41.7	8,549	31.8	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats	4	2	25.0	12	16	33.3	5,750	21.4	–4.5
	Conservative	4	10	25.0	8	12	25.0	9,102	33.9	+0.1
	Green	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	2,552	9.5	+0.6
	Reform UK	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	895	3.3	+2.7

Ward results

The Statements of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, were released by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council on 8 April 2024 following the close of nominations. The results were announced the day after the election at around mid-day. Sitting councillors standing for re-election are marked with an asterisk (*)

Brookmans Park and Little Heath Ward

Brookmans Park and Little Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Short	1,036	58.9	−2.7
	Labour	Graham Beevers	374	21.3	+3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Basford	137	7.8	−4.2
	Reform UK	Harjinderpal Sandhu	120	6.8	N/A
	Green	William Berrington	92	5.2	−2.4
Rejected ballots			7
Majority			662
Turnout			1,759	35.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Haldens Ward

Haldens Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Matthew Hobbs	743	47.7	−2.9
	Conservative	Alastair Hellyer*	451	28.9	−1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Jason Payne	237	15.2	+4.9
	Green	Lesley Smith	127	8.2	+0.5
Rejected ballots			11
Majority
Turnout			1,558	31.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Handside Ward

Handside Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Skottowe	1,091	43.7	−12.0
	Conservative	Fiona Thomsom*	845	33.9	+6.3
	Labour	Vaishall Shah	321	12.9	+2.9
	Green	Philip Hopley	136	5.5	−0.6
	Reform UK	Andrew Lewis	101	4.0	N/A
Rejected ballots			5
Majority
Turnout			2,494	46.2
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Hatfield Central Ward

Hatfield Central Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Walsh	645	48.2	−9.0
	Conservative	James Bond*	328	24.5	+2.3
	Reform UK	Mark Smith	135	10.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Edwards Adam	124	9.3	−2.6
	Green	Cheryl Miles	105	7.9	−0.3
Rejected ballots			11
Majority
Turnout			1,337	25.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Hatfield East Ward

Hatfield East Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shirley Asare	783	42.3	+2.7
	Conservative	Claire Hunt	597	32.2	−0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Pashang Fatemi	315	17.0	−4.6
	Green	Ian Gregory	158	8.5	+3.0
Rejected ballots			15
Majority
Turnout			1,853	33.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Hatfield South West Ward

Hatfield South Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karthik Bonkur	784	44.5	+7.6
	Liberal Democrats	Muhammad Joglu	489	27.7	−15.8
	Conservative	Craig Stanbury*	418	23.7	+9.4
	Green	Antony John	72	4.1	−0.9
Rejected ballots			13
Majority
Turnout			1,763	29.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Hatfield Villages Ward

Hatfield Villages

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jane Otumunye	669	41.6	−2.3
	Conservative	Abbie Cook	551	34.2	+4.7
	Liberal Democrats	Brad Taylor	292	18.1	+0.2
	Green	Andreas Kukol	98	6.1	+0.8
Rejected ballots			19
Majority
Turnout			1,610	27.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Hollybush

Hollybush

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Chesterman	649	52.2	−5.5
	Conservative	Marios Artemi	297	23.9	−0.5
	Reform UK	Hamish Haddow	120	9.7	N/A
	Green	Peter Gamby	92	7.4	−0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Fauzia Haider	85	6.8	−2.2
Rejected ballots			13
Majority
Turnout			1,243	25.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Howlands Ward

Howlands

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Katherine Gardner	769	49.6	−4.8
	Conservative	Brian Seeger	428	27.6	−4.1
	Reform UK	Dean Milliken	142	9.2	N/A
	Green	Penelope Berrington	114	7.4	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Hillary Skoczylas	96	6.2	−0.3
Rejected ballots			18
Majority
Turnout			1,549	29.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Northaw and Cuffley Ward

Northaw and Cuffley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barbara Fitzsimon	852	60.6	−5.7
	Labour	Sheila Barrett	272	19.3	+3.9
	Green	Brian Edwards	164	11.7	+3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Antony Green	118	8.4	−0.7
Rejected ballots			19
Majority
Turnout			1,406	30.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Panshanger Ward

Panshanger

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Salman Khan	541	38.1	−8.9
	Conservative	Stan Tunstall*	462	32.6	+4.1
	Labour	Perry Hewitt	314	22.1	+2.5
	Green	Alice Cowley-French	102	7.2	+2.8
Rejected ballots			14
Majority
Turnout			1,419	32.7
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Peartree Ward

Peartree

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Russ Platt*	621	43.3	−0.9
	Labour	Tom Green	521	36.3	+0.9
	Conservative	Jeet Dhelaria	175	12.2	−0.5
	Green	Tanya Dickson	118	8.2	+1.3
Rejected ballots			10
Majority
Turnout			1,435	26.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Sherrards Ward

Sherrards

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leo Gilbert	606	31.5	+9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Azmat Mughal	590	30.6	−22.3
	Conservative	Durk Reyner	475	24.7	+7.2
	Green	David Cox	128	6.6	+2.3
	Reform UK	Jack Aaron	126	6.5	+2.9
Rejected ballots			7
Majority			16	0.8
Turnout			1,925	44.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Welham Green and Hatfield South Ward

Welham Green and Hatfield South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Zukowskyj*	699	41.6	+3.7
	Conservative	Teresa Travell	593	35.3	+0.3
	Labour	Linda Mendez	322	19.2	−1.5
	Green	Ian Nendick	67	4.0	+0.9
Rejected ballots			11
Majority			106	6.3
Turnout			1,681	32.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Welwyn East Ward

Welwyn East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julie Cragg*	777	40.0	−5.6
	Labour	Georg von Bülow	587	30.2	−0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Genevieve Almeyda	250	12.9	+2.0
	Green	Darrin Dexter	178	9.2	−3.4
	Reform UK	Tom Holdsworth	151	7.8	N/A
Rejected ballots			10
Majority			190	9.8
Turnout			1,943	37.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Welwyn West Ward

Welwyn West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alex Bardett	817	43.6	−3.3
	Green	Sarah Butcher	801	42.8	+6.5
	Labour	Andrew Osborne	190	10.1	+0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Rhiannon Richardson	65	3.5	−2.9
Rejected ballots			7
Majority			16	0.9
Turnout			1,873	38.5
	Conservative hold		Swing