2006 Wokingham District Council election

The 2006 Wokingham District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Wokingham Unitary Council in Berkshire, 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 41
Liberal Democrat 13^[2]

Campaign

The election saw the United Kingdom Independence Party put forward a candidate in all of the 18 wards which were being contested.^[3] This was the first time they had done this and meant they put forward more candidates than Labour who contested 16 of the wards.^[3]

During the campaign the Liberal Democrat leader on the council, Coling Lawley, received death threats, which led the police launch an investigation.^[4]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives strengthen their control of the council after gaining three seats from the Liberal Democrats.^[5] The gains came in Coronation, Loddon and Hillside wards with one of the defeated Liberal Democrats being their leader Coling Lawley who lost by 472 votes in Coronation ward.^[6] Overall turnout in the election was 39.8%.^[7]

Wokingham Local Election Result 2006^[2]^[7]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	15	3	0	+3	83.3	56.3	20,353	+3.1%
Liberal Democrats	3	0	3	-3	16.7	29.0	10,497	-6.3%
Labour	0	0	0	0	0	6.9	2,512	+1.5%
UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	6.5	2,333	+0.8%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.8	291	+0.4%
Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	171	+0.5%

Ward results

Arborfield^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Cowan	541	72.7	−5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Bacon	172	23.1	+10.1
	UKIP	Ronald Bristow	31	4.2	−4.5
Majority			369	49.6	−15.7
Turnout			744	41.1	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bulmershe & Whitegates^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sellam Rahmouni	999	43.8
	Conservative	Tanya De Hoedt	727	31.9
	Labour	Gregory Bello	338	14.8
	UKIP	Peter Williams	216	9.5
Majority			272	11.9
Turnout			2,280	38.7	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Coronation^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Baker	1,285	56.9
	Liberal Democrats	Coling Lawley	813	36.0
	Labour	Jasdip Garcha	88	3.9
	UKIP	Amy Thornton	72	3.2
Majority			472	20.9
Turnout			2,258	52.8	+6.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Emmbrook^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Deborah Lewis	1,448	54.6
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Malvern	757	28.5
	UKIP	Ann Davis	277	10.4
	Labour	Anna Rogerson	171	6.4
Majority			691	26.1
Turnout			2,653	44.6	−0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Evendons^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Denis Morgan	1,367	58.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jeremy Harley	639	27.2
	UKIP	Franklin Carstairs	197	8.4
	Labour	Franco Valente	144	6.1
Majority			728	31.0
Turnout			2,347	37.0	−3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Finchampstead North^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Stanton	1,363	71.1
	Liberal Democrats	Roland Cundy	382	19.9
	UKIP	Ian Gordon	116	6.0
	Labour	Pippa White	57	3.0
Majority			981	51.2
Turnout			1,918	46.8	−0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Finchampstead South^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Weeks	1,221	68.9
	Liberal Democrats	James May	351	19.8
	UKIP	Leslie Huntley	113	6.4
	Labour	Roger Hayes	86	4.9
Majority			870	49.1
Turnout			1,771	42.0	+1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hawkedon^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Firmager	1,152	59.9
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Orchard	505	26.3
	Labour	Jacqueline Pluves	175	9.1
	UKIP	Vincent Pearson	91	4.7
Majority			607	33.6
Turnout			1,923	30.9	−1.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hillside^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Bradley	1,303	46.8
	Liberal Democrats	Tania Christidis	1,109	39.8
	Labour	David Sharp	183	6.6
	Monster Raving Loony	Peter Owen	120	4.3
	UKIP	Andrew Findlay	70	2.5
Majority			194	7.0
Turnout			2,785	42.6	+3.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Loddon^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Abdul Loyes	941	45.6
	Liberal Democrats	Carol Jewell	736	35.7
	Labour	Alberto Troccoli	241	11.7
	UKIP	William Brooks	144	7.0
Majority			205	9.9
Turnout			2,062	33.6	+4.9
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Maiden Erlegh^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Swaddle	1,295	52.2
	Liberal Democrats	Caroline Smith	735	29.6
	Labour	Jacqueline Rupert	173	7.0
	Green	David Hogg	164	6.6
	UKIP	David Lamb	112	4.5
Majority			560	22.6
Turnout			2,479	34.7	−4.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Norreys^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Lee	1,452	63.7
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Harper	390	17.1
	Labour	John Woodward	228	10.0
	UKIP	Keith Knight	209	9.2
Majority			1,062	46.6
Turnout			2,279	37.9	−1.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Remenham, Wargrave & Ruscombe^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Schutz	1,398	73.5
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Alder	357	18.8
	UKIP	Geoffrey Bulpit	75	3.9
	Labour	Richard Fort	72	3.8
Majority			1,041	54.7
Turnout			1,902	47.0	−3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Shinfield South^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Barrie Patman	969	65.9
	Liberal Democrats	Fiona Rolls	203	13.8
	Green	Marjory Bisset	127	8.6
	Labour	Julianne Grafton	112	7.6
	UKIP	Joan Huntley	59	4.0
Majority			766	52.1
Turnout			1,470	35.7	−2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

South Lake^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Rowland	724	45.9
	Conservative	Parvindar Batth	611	38.7
	Labour	Paul Sharples	134	8.5
	UKIP	David Hill	108	6.8
Majority			113	7.2
Turnout			1,577	35.8	+3.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Swallowfield^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stuart Munro	637	76.2	+7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Denis Thair	144	17.2	−3.3
	UKIP	Jeremy Allison	55	6.6	−4.5
Majority			493	59.0	+11.1
Turnout			836	43.2	+2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Winnersh^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Prue Bray	1,199	47.9
	Conservative	Derek Sefton	1,083	43.2
	UKIP	Anthony Pollock	109	4.4
	Labour	Keith Wilson	63	2.5
	Monster Raving Loony	Colin Forrestal	51	2.0
Majority			116	4.7
Turnout			2,505	42.6	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Wokingham Without^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Angus Ross	1,560	65.9
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Bristow	282	11.9
	UKIP	Graham Widdows	279	11.8
	Labour	Rosemary Chapman	247	10.4
Majority			1,278	54.0
Turnout			2,368	40.3	−0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ "Local elections: Wokingham". BBC News Online. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Local elections". The Times. 5 May 2006. p. 9.
^ ^a ^b "UKIP makes Wokingham a target in May local elections". getwokingham. 19 April 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
^ "Police investigate death threats to Lib Dem leader". Reading Post. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
^ "Labour holds Reading despite loss". BBC News Online. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
^ "Tories tighten their grip as Lib Dem chief ousted". getwokingham. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t "Local election results". Wokingham Borough Council. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2010.

[hold-1] "Local elections: Wokingham". BBC News Online. Retrieved 14 January 2010.

[local-2] "Local elections". The Times. 5 May 2006. p. 9.

[target-3] "UKIP makes Wokingham a target in May local elections". getwokingham. 19 April 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.

[death-4] "Police investigate death threats to Lib Dem leader". Reading Post. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.

[reading-5] "Labour holds Reading despite loss". BBC News Online. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.

[ousted-6] "Tories tighten their grip as Lib Dem chief ousted". getwokingham. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2010.

[results-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t "Local election results". Wokingham Borough Council. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2010.

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