2006 Woking Borough Council election

File:Woking 2006 election map.png

Map of the results of the 2006 Woking council election. Liberal Democrats in yellow and Conservatives in blue. Wards in grey were not contested in 2006.

The 2006 Woking Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Woking Borough Council in Surrey, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Liberal Democrat 18
• Conservative 15
• Labour 3

Campaign

6 sitting councillors stood down at the election including the former Conservative leader of the council Jim Armitage and the independent Mike Copham who had resigned from the Conservatives.

Housing and development was a contentious issue during the campaign, with the council being required to build 240 houses a year for the next 20 years under the South East Plan. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats fought the election on a platform of opposing overdevelopment and protecting the green belt.

The campaign saw allegations of electoral fraud in Woking, which were investigated by the police. These included claims of multiple voter registrations at 6 addresses in Maybury and Sheerwater, intimidation and that blank postal votes had been given community leaders. The investigation saw one man arrested on suspicion of impersonating another voter.

Election result

The results saw the Liberal Democrats become the largest party on the council with 18 seats as compared to 15 for the Conservatives. The Conservatives failed to take any seats from the Liberal Democrats, who gained 3 seats in Horsell West, Knaphill and Mount Hermon East wards and almost won a majority on the council for the first time since 1998 after losing by just 2 votes in Byfleet after 4 recounts. Despite this the Conservatives took more votes across the council than the Liberal Democrats and made a gain from Labour in Maybury and Sheerwater. Labour was reduced to only 3 seats on the council after losing in Maybury and Sheerwater, which was the only ward where they won more than 200 votes. Overall turnout in the election was 42.17%.

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Ward results

Byfleet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Irene Watson Green	1,049	45.7
		Suzanne Kittelsen	1,047	45.6
		David Mitchell	113	4.9
		Marion Free	88	3.8
Majority			2	0.1
Turnout			2,297	41.9
	hold		Swing

Goldsworth East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Bryan Cross	1,062	50.6
		Hilary Addison	840	40.4
		Chanchal Kapoor	198	9.4
Majority			222	10.2
Turnout			2,100	39.3
	hold		Swing

Goldsworth West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Denzil Coulson	810	64.2
		Manish Gajjar	368	29.2
		John Bramall	83	6.6
Majority			442	35.0
Turnout			1,261	32.9
	hold		Swing

Hermitage and Knaphill South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Kenneth Howard	760	54.0
		Valerian Hopkins	535	38.0
		Graeme Carman	112	8.0
Majority			225	16.0
Turnout			1,407	35.5
	hold		Swing

Horsell West (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Richard Sanderson	1,297
		Gareth Davies	1,242
		Anthony Branagan	1,163
		Roger Wiltshire	1,027
		Timothy Shaw	172
		Audrey Worgan	119
		Richard Squire	107
		Christopher Lowe	88
	UK Community Issues Party	Michael Osman	79
Turnout			5,294	51.4
	hold		Swing
	gain from		Swing

Knaphill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Richard Sharp	1,302	49.4
		Anthony Hayes-Allen	978	37.1
		Matthew Davies	198	7.5
		Linda Kendall	157	6.0
Majority			324	12.3
Turnout			2,635	38.1
	gain from		Swing

Maybury and Sheerwater

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Mohammed Iqbal	1,357	48.6
		Mohammed Khan	896	32.1
		Peter Hough	389	13.9
	UK Community Issues Party	Katrina Osman	150	5.4
Majority			461	16.5
Turnout			2,792	42.2
	gain from		Swing

Mayford and Sutton Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Simon Bellord	675	71.0
		Malcolm Randall	191	20.1
		Dennis Davey	45	4.7
		Christopher Martin	40	4.2
Majority			484	50.9
Turnout			951	50.4
	hold		Swing

Mount Hermon East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Norman Johns	860	48.4
		David Bittleston	786	44.2
		Judith Squire	69	3.9
		Michael Kelly	62	3.5
Majority			74	4.2
Turnout			1,777	48.7
	gain from		Swing

Mount Hermon West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Susan Smith	970	56.7
		Carl Thomson	603	35.2
		Mary Kingston	77	4.5
		John Pitt	62	3.6
Majority			367	21.5
Turnout			1,712	43.3
	hold		Swing

St Johns and Hook Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Kingsbury	963	63.4
		Andrew Larkham	271	17.8
		Adrian Gray	188	12.4
		Marcia Taylor	52	3.4
		Colin Bright	46	3.0
Majority			692	45.6
Turnout			1,520	43.3
	hold		Swing

West Byfleet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Frederick Webber-Taylor	1,183	66.8
		Michael Wilson	249	14.1
		Richard Wilson	196	11.1
		Louise Every	87	4.9
		Robin Milner	57	3.2
Majority			934	52.7
Turnout			1,772	44.6
	gain from		Swing