2002 Redditch Borough Council election

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English The 2002 Redditch Borough Council election of 2 May 2002 elected members of Redditch Borough Council in the West Midlands region, England. One third of the council stood for re-election and the Labour Party lost overall control of the council to no overall control for the first time in many years.

After the election, the council comprised:

• Labour 14
• Conservative 12
• Liberal Democrat 3

Campaign

Before the election only a small swing would have seen the Labour party lose its majority on Redditch council, with the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats only needing to pick up three seats between them for this to happen. The Labour Party was defending seven of the eleven seats to be decided and campaigned on its success over the previous years in eliminating all council debt. There was an extra seat in West ward where the Conservative leader on the council, Carol Grandy, stood down.

Election results

Labour lost its majority but remained the largest party. Labour had held control of the council for the previous 20 years but lost this after the other parties gained three seats in the election. Among Labour losses was its leader on the council, Albert Wharrad, who lost in Winyates ward to the Liberal Democrats. One of the closest results was in Lodge Park ward where Labour held on by 22 votes and Mohammed Nasir became the first Asian councillor on Redditch council. The results meant no party had a majority on the council for the first time in over 50 years, and the Conservative party claimed that the results would have been sufficient for them to have gained Redditch constituency in a general election. Turnout in the election was higher than in the last few years at 29.8%.

Following the election the Labour and Conservative parties on the council elected new leaders and attempted to gain Liberal Democrat support to control the council. However the Liberal Democrats said that they would not form an agreement with either Labour or the Conservatives on their own. In the end at the council's annual general meeting on 15 May all parties joined the executive of the council, which was formed with four Labour, three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat members. The Conservatives had wanted an executive in which both they and Labour had the same number of seats and accused the Liberal Democrats of backing Labour to prevent this. The new Labour leader, David Cartwright, was elected leader of the council and retained the chairman's casting vote.

Redditch Local Election Result 2002

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
		5	2	0	+2	45.5	42.6	7,645
		4	0	3	-3	36.4	33.0	5,925
		2	1	0	+1	18.2	23.2	4,172
		0	0	0	0	0	1.2	207

Ward results

Abbey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Diane Thomas	986	63.7
		Robin King	345	22.3
		Gordon Hazelton	216	14.0
Majority			641	41.4
Turnout			1,547
	hold		Swing

Batchley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Jack Cookson	793	52.0
		Peter Anderson	523	34.3
		Kathleen Cummings	208	13.6
Majority			270	17.7
Turnout			1,524
	hold		Swing

Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Stephen Wheeler	806	47.1
		Michael Braley	684	40.0
		Adam Isherwood	222	13.0
Majority			122	7.1
Turnout			1,712
	hold		Swing

Crabbs Cross

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Sarah Sulley	791	50.5
		Les Smith	584	37.3
		David Gee	192	12.3
Majority			207	13.2
Turnout			1,567
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing

Feckenham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Michael Chalk	967	57.3
		Patricia Hill	449	26.6
		Graham Pollard	273	16.2
Majority			518	30.7
Turnout			1,689
	hold		Swing

Greenlands

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Philip Mould	790	43.8
		Tracey Smithers	767	42.6
		Anthony Pitt	245	13.6
Majority			23	1.2
Turnout			1,802
	hold		Swing

Lodge Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Mohammad Nasir	474	35.6
		Janet Clark	452	33.9
		Simon Preston	207	15.5
		Ian Webster	200	15.0
Majority			22	1.7
Turnout			1,333
	hold		Swing

Matchborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Anita Clayton	867	50.8
		Iris Beech	570	33.4
		Christopher Hennessey	270	15.8
Majority			297	17.4
Turnout			1,707
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing

West (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Karen Lumley	1,182
		Gavin Smithers	1,047
		John Witherspoon	536
		Caroline Ashall	415
		Michael Ashall	383
Turnout			3,563
	hold		Swing
	hold		Swing

Winyates

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Cyril Springall	778	51.7
		Albert Wharrad	578	38.4
		Gordon Craig	149	9.9
Majority			200	13.3
Turnout			1,505
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing