Cherwell District Council election, 2000

The 2000 Cherwell District Council election took place on 4 May 2000 to elect members of Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.^[1]

The results saw the Conservatives gain 7 seats, 6 of them from the Labour party, to win a majority on the council for the first time since 1995.^[2] Conservative gains came mainly in the Banbury and Bicester areas, with the biggest name Labour councillor to lose in the election being the former mayor, John Hanna.^[3] One of the Conservative winners in the election was Mary Young, who won in South East Kidlington ward to become a councillor for the first time at the age of 81.^[4] Turnout in the election varied from a high of 53% in Ruscote to a low of 11% in Neithrop.^[3]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 33
• Labour 13
• Liberal Democrat 4
• Independent 2^[5][6]

Election result

Cherwell Local Election Result 2000[5]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	15	7	0	+7	83.3	51.5	9,848
	Labour	2	0	6	-6	11.1	29.2	5,587
	Liberal Democrat	1	1	2	-1	5.6	19.3	3,702

Ward results

Adderbury^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Harper	590	73.9
	Liberal Democrat	David Puckering	208	26.1
Majority			382	47.8
Turnout			798	38.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ambrosden^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Markham	331	63.4
	Liberal Democrat	Claire Brown	191	36.6
Majority			140	26.8
Turnout			522	19.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ardley^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Catharine Fulljames	454	80.5
	Liberal Democrat	Ralph Rookwood	110	19.5
Majority			354	61.0
Turnout			564	21.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bicester East^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Rose Stratford	1,073	50.8
	Labour	John Hanna	667	31.6
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Yardley	374	17.7
Majority			406	19.2
Turnout			2,114	27.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Bicester South^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Diana Edwards	483	61.4
	Labour	Di Pettifer	304	38.6
Majority			179	22.8
Turnout			787	24.7

Bicester West^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Norman Bolster	1,130	47.4
	Labour	Les Sibley	937	39.3
	Liberal Democrat	Kay Brown	315	13.2
Majority			193	8.1
Turnout			2,382	30.9

Bodicote^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Ann Graham	534	65.8
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Davis	277	34.2
Majority			257	31.6
Turnout			811	47.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Calthorpe^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Elizabeth Macleod	853	60.5
	Labour	Roy Mold	379	26.9
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey Fisher	179	12.7
Majority			474	33.6
Turnout			1,411	20.2

Easington^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Hilary Smith	952	59.2
	Liberal Democrat	Daphne Nash	423	26.3
	Labour	Andrew Beere	232	14.4
Majority			529	32.9
Turnout			1,607	31.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

Gosford^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Maurice Billington	230	46.6
	Liberal Democrat	Anne Parsley	218	44.1
	Labour	Joyce Ruiz	46	9.3
Majority			12	2.5
Turnout			494	47.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grimsbury^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sandra Mold	644	53.1
	Conservative	Thomas Greeves	568	46.9
Majority			76	6.2
Turnout			1,212	18.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Hardwick^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Elsie Milne	617	61.5
	Labour	Balbiz Dhesi	387	38.5
Majority			230	23.0
Turnout			1,004	19.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Hornton^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Lorna Mansell	231	54.9
	Labour	Elizabeth Gatliff	135	32.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mervyn Probert	55	13.1
Majority			96	22.8
Turnout			421	40.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kidlington North West^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Pack	852	60.2
	Labour	Andrew Hornsby-Smith	564	39.8
Majority			288	20.4
Turnout			1,416	31.1
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing

Kidlington South East^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mary Young	533	42.8
	Labour	Anthony Chinn	435	34.9
	Liberal Democrat	Devena Rae	277	22.2
Majority			98	7.9
Turnout			1,245	28.2

Launton^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Evans	474	80.7
	Liberal Democrat	Derek Turner	113	19.3
Majority			361	61.4
Turnout			587	34.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Neithrop^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Doy	470	58.1
	Conservative	Christopher Mills	339	41.9
Majority			131	16.2
Turnout			809	11.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Ruscote^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Keith Strangwood	456	47.8
	Labour	Wendy Humphries	387	40.6
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Burns	110	11.5
Majority			69	7.2
Turnout			953	53.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

1. "Cherwell". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
2. Watt, Nicholas (2000-05-05). "Tories back on the map after heartland wins". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
3. "Elections 2000: Cherwell". Oxford Mail. 2000-05-05. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
4. "New councillor is 81 years young". Oxford Mail. 2000-05-09. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
5. "Election results: local councils". The Times. 2000-05-05. p. 4.
6. "Council election results (A - N)". London: guardian.co.uk. 2000-05-05. Retrieved 2009-10-19.