2023 Guildford Borough Council election

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2023 Guildford Borough Council election
← 2019 4 May 2023 2027 →
All 48 seats to Guildford Borough Council
25 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  Blank Blank Blank
Leader Julia McShane Paul Spooner Joss Bigmore
Party Liberal Democrats Conservative R4GV
Last election 28.1% 29.6% 23.2%
Seats before 17 9 15
Seats after 25 10 7
Seat change Increase 8 Increase 1 Decrease 8
Percentage 32.1% 26.7% 20.3%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Blank Blank Blank
Leader James Walsh Ramsey Nagaty
Party Labour GGG Green
Last election 9.9% 7.8% 1.4%
Seats before 2 4 1
Seats after 3 3 0
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 1 Decrease 1
Percentage 13.2% 3.1% 2.4%
Map showing the results of the 2023 Guildford Borough Council elections. Numbers indicate the number of councillors elected by each ward. Yellow showing Liberal Democrats, blue showing Conservative, Magenta showing R4GV, dark green showing Guildford Greenbelt Group and red showing Labour. Striped wards have mixed representation.
Leader before election

Julia McShane
Liberal Democrat
No overall control

Leader after election

Julia McShane
Liberal Democrats

The 2023 Guildford Borough Council election was held on 4 May 2023, to elect all 48 seats to the Guildford Borough Council in Surrey, England as part of the 2023 local elections.[1] The results saw the Liberal Democrat take overall control of Guildford Borough Council.[2]

Boundary changes[edit]

The election was contested on new ward boundaries following a periodic electoral review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The council size remained unchanged at 48 councillors.[3]

Guildford town

The boundary changes resulted in the abolition of Holy Trinity, Friary & St Nicolas and Christchurch wards in the town centre. St Nicolas was split off to become a new single-member ward. A new three-member Castle ward replaced most of Holy Trinity ward, and a new three-member ward named Stoke replaced most of the Friary area of Friary & St Nicolas ward. The area covered by the former Christchurch ward was split between the new Stoke and Castle wards and also between Burpham and Merrow wards, the latter of which were both expanded in the direction of the town centre. Elsewhere in the town the ward formerly known as Stoke kept the same boundaries but was renamed as Bellfields & Slyfield with the 'Stoke' name being transferred to the new town centre ward. The ward of Stoughton was split into Stoughton North and Stoughton South, both two-member wards. Westborough ward had its boundary with Onslow adjusted to follow the A3 and the railway line, and also had its boundary with Stoughton South adjusted to largely follow the Aldershot Road. Onslow had its boundary with Stoke and St Nicolas adjusted to follow Farnham Road and the railway line.

Western villages

Worplesdon ward remained completely unchanged. Normandy ward and Pirbright ward were merged to create a new two-member Normandy & Pirbright ward. Ash South & Tongham was split into a new two-member Ash South ward, which has an adjusted boundary with Ash Wharf, and the Tongham area was moved into Pilgrims ward, making it a two-member ward. The boundary between Ash Vale and Ash Wharf was moved to north of Foxhurst Road cul-de-sac. Shalford ward's boundaries were unchanged.

Eastern villages

Effingham, Tillingbourne, and Clandon & Horsley wards remained completely unchanged. Send ward and Lovelace ward were merged to create a new three-member Send & Lovelace ward.

Background[edit]

There have been changes to the political make up of the council since the 2019 election. Three by-elections were held, simultaneously with the 2021 Surrey County Council election, to fill vacancies on the council (two due to resignations, one due to the death of a councillor). However, each seat was won by the same party that won it at the 2019 election.[4] Subsequently, in November 2021, a Liberal Democrat councillor defected to the Conservatives, but defected from the Conservatives to sit as an Independent in July 2022.[5][6] A Conservative councillor died in May 2022 and the subsequent by-election was won by the Liberal Democrats.[7] In November 2022 an R4GV councillor left his group to sit as an Independent, and in April 2023 a R4GV councillor defected to the Liberal Democrats.[8][9] Additionally, the sole Green Party councillor chose to sit as part of the R4GV group on the council shortly after the May 2019 election, but continued to be a Green Party councillor, before leaving the R4GV group in October 2022 to sit alone as a Green Party councillor again.[10]

The cumulative impact of these changes resulted in there being 18 Liberal Democrats, 13 R4GV, 8 Conservative, 4 GGG, 2 Labour and 2 Independent councillors going into the election.

After the close of nominations it was revealed that 176 candidates were contesting the 48 seats on the council. The Conservatives contested all 48 seats, the Liberal Democrats stood in 45, Labour contested 31 and R4GV 37 in a partial electoral pact with GGG who were standing another 5 candidates.[11]

One feature of the election was a campaign by a registered non-party campaigner, Robin Horsley, about the proposed re-development of the North Street site in Guildford town centre by property developer St Edwards, which Horsley had previously campaigned against. A planning application for North Street had been rejected in January 2023, and had been the cause of acrimony between R4GV councillors, who had supported the application, and Liberal Democrat councillors who had opposed the application. Robin Horsley's campaign, which attracted significant media coverage, featured a series of videos on what he termed 'the Battle for Guildford', which were promoted on social media and in leaflets, and he urged a vote against R4GV in the election, and for whichever parties or candidates were best placed to defeat R4GV in individual wards, on the grounds that if R4GV were elected he believed they would push through the North Street planning application.[12][13][14]

Pre-election composition[edit]

Going in to the election, the council administration consists of a Liberal Democrat/R4GV coalition, with the Conservatives forming the main opposition party.[15]

Council composition by political party allegiance as of April 2023
Political party Council members
Liberal Democrats 18
18 / 48
R4GV 13
13 / 48
Conservative 8
8 / 48
GGG 4
4 / 48
Labour 2
2 / 48
Green 1
1 / 48
Independent 2
2 / 48

Summary[edit]

Election result[edit]

2023 Guildford Borough Council election[16]
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Liberal Democrats 45 25 9 1 Increase 8 52.1 32.1 14,365
  Conservative 48 10 6 5 Increase 1 20.8 26.7 11,961
  R4GV 37 7 0 8 Decrease 8 14.6 20.3 9,067
  Labour 31 3 1 0 Increase 1 6.3 13.2 5,924
  GGG 5 3 1 2 Decrease 1 6.3 3.1 1,387
  Green 3 0 0 1 Decrease 1 0.0 2.4 1,056
  Independent 3 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 1.9 830
  Peace 3 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 0.2 92
  TUSC 2 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 0.1 36

Number of councillors per ward is shown in brackets after the ward name.

Wards won solely by the Liberal Democrats – Ash Vale (2); Ash Wharf (2); Burpham (2); Effingham (1); Onslow (3); Shalford (2); Stoke (3); Stoughton North (2); Stoughton South (2); St Nicolas (1)

Wards won solely by the Conservatives – Normandy & Pirbright (2); Pilgrims (2); Worplesdon (3)

Wards won solely by Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) – Ash South (2) Clandon & Horsley (3)

Wards won solely by Guildford Greenbelt Group – Send & Lovelace (3)

Wards won solely by Labour – Bellfields & Slyfield (2)

Wards electing councillors of more than one party – Castle (3 – 2 Con, 1 R4GV); Merrow (3 - 2 Lib Dem, 1 R4GV); Tillingbourne (2 - 1 Lib Dem, 1 Con)

The results saw the Liberal Democrat take overall control of Guildford Borough Council, increasing from 17 seats to 25. Their former coalition partners, R4GV, fell from 15 seats to 7. The Conservatives increased from 9 to 10 seats, making them the official opposition on the council, making a mixture of gains from R4GV and the Greens as well as losses to the Liberal Democrats in Ash Vale and Ash Wharf."Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.

The Guildford Greenbelt Group lost 1 seat, bringing their representation down to 3 seats whilst Labour gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats in Westborough, bringing their representation up to 3 seats. The Green party also lost their sole seat in Tillingbourne ward.

Ward results[edit]

The following is a list of candidates and results for each ward of the council.[17][16]

Ash South[edit]

Ash South (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
R4GV Sue Wyeth-Price 737 51.6
R4GV David Shaw 535 37.4
Liberal Democrats Martin Elburn 534 37.4
Liberal Democrats Philip Buckley 387 27.1
Conservative Carl Flynn 274 19.2
Conservative George Wrycroft 244 17.1
Majority
Turnout 1,429 31.3
R4GV win (new seat)
R4GV win (new seat)

Ash Vale[edit]

Ash Vale (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Carla Morson 1,183 67.2
Liberal Democrats Richard Lucas 1,070 60.8
Conservative Nigel Manning* 571 32.4
Conservative Marsha Moseley* 498 28.3
Majority
Turnout 1,761 34.4
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Ash Wharf[edit]

Ash Wharf (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Fiona White* 699 48.6
Liberal Democrats Philip Bellamy 617 42.9
Conservative John Tonks 475 33.1
Conservative Wendy Pritchard 379 26.4
Labour Mick Gallagher 280 19.5
Green Claire Whitehouse 246 17.1
Majority
Turnout 1,437 29.6
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Bellfields and Slyfield[edit]

Bellfields and Slyfield (2 seats; same boundaries as previous ‘Stoke’ ward)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Amanda Creese 453 41.8
Labour James Walsh* 419 38.7
Conservative Philip Hooper 336 31.0
Liberal Democrats Wendy Wakeling 327 30.2
Conservative Suleman Miah 288 26.6
Liberal Democrats Nicholas Strugnell 257 23.7
R4GV Steve Isaacs 172 15.9
R4GV Linda Tillett 163 15.0
Majority
Turnout 1,084 28.8
Labour hold Swing
Labour hold Swing

Burpham[edit]

Burpham (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats George Potter* 1,065 45.6
Liberal Democrats Jane Tyson 839 35.9
Conservative Christian Holliday 669 28.6
Conservative Adam Heilbron 668 28.6
R4GV Liz Hyland 465 19.9
Labour Ian Creese 378 16.2
R4GV Charles Wilce 358 15.3
Majority
Turnout 2,337 47.4
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Castle[edit]

Castle (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
R4GV Maddy Redpath* 1,159 35.2
Conservative Richard Mills 1,128 34.3
Conservative Geoff Davis 1,091 33.1
R4GV John Redpath* 1,074 32.6
Conservative Alex Perestaj de Gusmao Fiuza 964 29.3
Liberal Democrats Ciarán Doran 910 27.6
R4GV John Rigg* 909 27.6
Liberal Democrats Sara Gillingham 779 23.7
Labour Joan O'Byrne 439 13.3
Labour Sean Sussex 325 9.9
Labour Matthew Smith 303 9.2
Independent Paul Canning 263 8.0
Majority
Turnout 3,293 46.0
R4GV win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)

Clandon and Horsley[edit]

Clandon and Horsley (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
R4GV Catherine Young* 1,949 62.4
R4GV Dawn Bennett 1,859 59.5
R4GV Ruth Brothwell* 1,804 57.7
Conservative Stephen Cullens 667 21.4
Conservative Ian Bond 641 20.5
Conservative Toni Hourahane 595 19.0
Liberal Democrats Wendy Ross 400 12.8
Liberal Democrats David Roe 360 11.5
Liberal Democrats Liam O'Keeffe 334 10.7
Labour Dan Symonds 309 9.9
Majority
Turnout 3,124 44.0
R4GV hold Swing
R4GV hold Swing
R4GV hold Swing

Effingham[edit]

Effingham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Merel Rehorst-Smith 521 64.8
Conservative Lulu Boder 240 29.9
Labour Shek Rahman 43 5.3
Majority
Turnout 811 41.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Merrow[edit]

Merrow (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Jo Shaw 1,315 41.1
Liberal Democrats Yves de Contades 1,094 34.2
R4GV Joss Bigmore* 995 31.1
Conservative David Humphries 954 29.8
R4GV Dennis Booth* 866 27.0
Conservative Katie Lam 861 26.9
Conservative Christopher Jay 815 25.4
R4GV Stuart Brown 736 23.0
Labour Nathan Cassidy 648 20.2
Independent Graham Ellwood 487 15.2
Majority
Turnout 3,203 44.8
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
R4GV win (new seat)

Normandy and Pirbright[edit]

Normandy and Pirbright (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Keith Witham* 938 58.0
Conservative David Bilbé* 840 52.0
Liberal Democrats Ken Howard 341 21.1
R4GV Geoff Doven 324 20.0
Labour Simon Schofield 282 17.5
R4GV Gina Redpath 213 13.2
Independent Jane Hill 80 5.0
Majority
Turnout 1,616 35.6
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)

Onslow[edit]

Onslow (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Angela Goodwin* 1,272 57.9
Liberal Democrats James Jones 933 42.5
Liberal Democrats Steven Lee* 908 41.3
Conservative Adrian Chandler 479 21.8
Conservative Shamsul Alam 425 19.4
R4GV Howard Moss 395 18.0
Conservative Adam Ekinci 391 17.8
R4GV James Heaphy 389 17.7
R4GV Lynsey Brown 317 14.4
Labour Hannah Rich 289 13.2
Labour Nick Bragger 273 12.4
Labour Vlad Stoiana-Mois 193 8.8
TUSC Sam Church 36 1.6
TUSC James Lewis 35 1.6
Majority
Turnout 2,196 43.6
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Pilgrims[edit]

Pilgrims (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Matt Furniss 835 56.8
Conservative Sallie Barker 749 51.0
R4GV Toni Belcher 358 24.4
R4GV John Price 238 16.2
Liberal Democrats Stephen Mallet 234 15.9
Liberal Democrats Amy Rogers 196 13.3
Labour Malcolm Hill 150 10.2
Majority
Turnout 1,469 36.5
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)

Send and Lovelace[edit]

Send and Lovelace (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
GGG Pat Oven 980 46.6
GGG James Brooker 960 45.6
GGG Jason Fenwick 855 40.6
R4GV Pete Bennett 515 24.5
R4GV Geraldine Powell 506 24.0
Conservative Anna Griffiths 473 22.5
Conservative Alexander Stewart-Clark 425 20.2
Conservative Justin Offord 379 18.0
Liberal Democrats Basil Bahrani 192 9.1
Liberal Democrats Duncan McMillan 189 9.0
Labour Jordan Baker 188 8.9
Labour Rob Woof 186 8.8
Liberal Democrats Dale Miller 181 8.6
Majority
Turnout 2,105 38.7
GGG win (new seat)
GGG win (new seat)
GGG win (new seat)

Shalford[edit]

Shalford (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Catherine Houston 947 50.3
Liberal Democrats Dominique Williams 760 40.4
Conservative Jonathan Fremaux 476 25.3
Conservative Nicholas Watts 470 25.0
GGG Ramsey Nagaty* 407 21.6
GGG Nigel Keane 333 17.7
Labour Peter Lockhart 182 9.7
Majority
Turnout 1,883 45.5
Liberal Democrats gain from R4GV Swing
Liberal Democrats gain from GGG Swing

St Nicolas[edit]

St Nicolas
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tom Hunt* 518 46.2
Conservative Marisa Goldsborough 252 22.5
R4GV Nikki Ackerley 250 22.3
Labour Chris Pegsman 101 9.0
Majority
Turnout 1,124 50.1
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Stoke[edit]

Stoke (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Cait Taylor* 634 33.0
Liberal Democrats Vanessa King 629 32.7
Liberal Democrats Stephen Hives 578 30.1
Green Sam Peters 516 26.8
Labour Harriet Kittermaster 467 24.3
Labour Sue Hackman 460 23.9
Labour Brian Creese 431 22.4
R4GV Arjun Lakhani 340 17.7
Conservative Sam Tough 319 16.6
R4GV Annelize Kidd 318 16.5
Conservative Brett Vorley 290 15.1
Conservative Stuart Zissman 283 14.7
R4GV Julian Lyon 256 13.3
Majority
Turnout 1,923 34.9
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Stoughton North[edit]

Stoughton North (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Gillian Harwood* 750 47.1
Liberal Democrats Lizzie Griffiths 684 42.9
Conservative David Quelch 423 26.6
Conservative Stephen Rowden 336 21.1
Labour Andy Giess 284 17.8
Labour Shelley Grainger 252 15.8
R4GV Neda Moghaddam 164 10.3
R4GV Bill Stokoe 162 10.2
Majority
Turnout 1,593 37.3
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Stoughton South[edit]

Stoughton South (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Katie Steel 660 40.5
Liberal Democrats Masuk Miah* 653 40.1
Labour Anne Rouse 420 25.8
Labour George Dokimakis 407 25.0
Conservative Alex Dinc 294 18.1
Conservative Andre Hester 243 14.9
R4GV Zoë Nash-Williams 190 11.7
R4GV Tom Johnston 155 9.5
Peace John Morris 92 5.7
Majority
Turnout 1,628 37.8
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Tillingbourne[edit]

Tillingbourne (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Danielle Newson 801 44.4
Conservative Bob Hughes 781 43.3
Conservative Lynette Nusbacher 667 37.0
Liberal Democrats Paul Abbey* 630 34.9
Green Lucy Howard 294 16.3
Labour Jim Wynn 118 6.5
Labour John Marsh 111 6.2
Majority
Turnout 1,803 40.9
Liberal Democrats gain from Green Swing
Conservative hold Swing

Westborough[edit]

Westborough (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Julia McShane* 599 45.8
Liberal Democrats Sandy Lowry 570 43.6
Labour Howard Smith 508 38.8
Liberal Democrats James Steel* 450 34.4
Conservative Syed Selim 290 22.2
Conservative Mike Parsons 263 20.1
Conservative Paul Spooner* 249 19.0
R4GV Shailja Lal 199 15.2
R4GV Shivendra Lal 180 13.8
Majority
Turnout 1,308 24.5
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)

Worplesdon[edit]

Worplesdon (3 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Honor Brooker 1,087 41.6
Conservative Bill Akhtar 1,071 41.0
Conservative Philip Brooker 1,052 40.2
R4GV Bob McShee* 855 32.7
R4GV Brigitte Ahier 721 27.6
R4GV Robert Pidgeon 630 24.1
Liberal Democrats Jon Edwards 463 17.7
Liberal Democrats Marilyn Merryweather 462 17.7
Labour John Hawthorne 385 14.7
Labour Nick Trier 382 14.6
Liberal Democrats Sinclair Webster 352 13.5
Majority
Turnout 2,615 40.1
Conservative gain from R4GV Swing
Conservative gain from R4GV Swing
Conservative gain from R4GV Swing

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Election Timetable in England". www.gov.uk. Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  3. ^ "Guildford". www.lgbce.org.uk. Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  4. ^ "As It Happened: Tories Lose Four Guildford Seats But Retain County Council Control". Guildford Dragon. 8 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Shock Move at Millmead – Leading Lib Dem Councillor Defects to the Conservatives". Guildford Dragon. 3 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Former Lib Dem Councillor Now Quits from the Tories". Guildford Dragon. 4 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Guildford ward where The Holiday was filmed taken by Lib Dems off Tories". Get Surrey. 21 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Ex-Guildford Tory leader quits residents' party and slams paperwork relating to town centre revamp". Get Surrey. 17 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Councillor to Stand as Lib Dem Candidate Following R4GV Rejection". Guildford Dragon. 4 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Green Party Member Quits R4GV Group Because of Impending By-election". Guildford Dragon. 29 September 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  11. ^ "176 Hopefuls to Fight for Borough Council Seats in Election Impossible to Call". Guildford Dragon. 5 April 2023.
  12. ^ "Dragon Interview: 'Battle for Guildford' Campaigner Robin Horsley". Guildford Dragon. 28 March 2023.
  13. ^ "North Street Plan Rejected by Borough Council in Knife-edge Vote". Guildford Dragon. 12 January 2023.
  14. ^ "Guildford Election Interviews Feature in the BBC's Regional News". Guildford Dragon. 24 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Guildford Borough Council leadership to 'rotate' between Lib Dems and R4GV following 'new agreement'". Get Surrey. 7 May 2020.
  16. ^ a b Popular vote calculated using the top candidate per party method
  17. ^ Caulfield, Chris (5 May 2023). "Guildford election results in full as Liberal Democrats take control". SurreyLive. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2023_Guildford_Borough_Council_election&oldid=1173349492"