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2004 Colchester Borough Council election

← 2003 10 June 2004 (2004-06-10) 2006 →
20 out of 60 seats to Colchester Borough Council 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	34.0% (6.5%)
First party Second party   Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Last election 24 seats, 40.6% 25 seats, 32.0% Seats before 24 25 Seats won 11 6 Seats after 28 23 Seat change 4 2 Popular vote 13,908 11,619 Percentage 40.9% 34.2% Swing 0.3% 2.2%   Third party Fourth party   Party Labour Independent Last election 5 seats, 20.0% 6 seats, 5.7% Seats before 5 6 Seats won 2 1 Seats after 6 3 Seat change 1 3 Popular vote 6,197 2,266 Percentage 18.2% 6.7% Swing 1.8% 1.0%
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election No overall control

The 2004 Colchester Borough Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of Colchester Borough Council in Essex, England. This was the same day as the other 2004 United Kingdom local elections and as the 2004 European Parliament Elections. One third of the seats were up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.

Background

Following the previous election, Cllr Bob Newman (Wivenhoe Quay) left the Labour group to sit as an independent, reducing Labour to 4 councillors. Labour then went into opposition after refusing to work with the Conservatives and a new cabinet was formed with 4 Conservative and 4 Liberal Democrat members.

A by-election took place in Wivenhoe Quay ward after the death of sitting Independent councillor Richard Davies. The by-election was won by Labour, increasing their seat count to 5.

Election result

The Conservatives gained 4 seats to become the largest party on the council with 28 seats, 3 short of a majority. They overtook the Liberal Democrats who held 23 seats, Labour with 6 seats and 3 independents. Overall turnout at the election was 34.4%.

As a result, the Conservatives took all the seats on the council cabinet for the first time since that style of government was introduced in Colchester, with the Conservative group leader John Jowers becoming the new leader of the council.

2004 Colchester Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	11	4	55.0	17	28	46.7	13,908	40.9	+0.3
	Liberal Democrats	6	2	30.0	17	23	38.3	11,619	34.2	+2.2
	Labour	2	1	10.0	4	6	10.0	6,197	18.2	–1.8
	Independent	1	3	5.0	2	3	5.0	2,266	6.7	+1.0

Ward results

Berechurch

Berechurch

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Craig Sutton*	757	45.7	−6.4
	Labour	Dave Harris	504	30.5	+2.3
	Conservative	Pauline Hazell	394	23.8	+4.7
Majority			253	15.3	−8.6
Turnout			1,655	28.8	+4.3
Registered electors			5,805
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	4.4

Castle

Castle Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Henry Spyvee*	1,185	57.9	+3.5
	Conservative	Pauline Lucas	566	27.7	+3.4
	Labour	Malcolm Cannon	296	14.5	+1.8
Majority			619	30.2	+0.1
Turnout			2,047	35.4	+6.8
Registered electors			5,830
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	0.1

No Green candidate as previous (8.0%).

Dedham & Langham

Dedham & Langham Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Garnett*	991	79.0	+5.3
	Liberal Democrats	Carolyn Catney	180	14.3	−4.9
	Labour	Ian Yates	84	6.7	−0.4
Majority			811	64.6	+10.1
Turnout			1,255	53.7	+8.7'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000022−QINU`"'
Registered electors			2,341
	Conservative hold		Swing	5.1

East Donyland

East Donyland Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andrew Raison*	428	43.9	+0.7
	Conservative	Patricia Sanderson	296	30.3	−6.9
	Independent	Peter Byham	159	16.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Barry Woodward	93	9.5	−10.1
Majority			132	13.5	+7.5
Turnout			976	48.9	+12.9'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000027−QINU`"'
Registered electors			2,996
	Labour hold		Swing	3.8

Harbour

Harbour Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Justin Knight*	594	51.2	−1.4
	Conservative	Susan Harper	292	25.2	+10.8
	Labour	David Canning	275	23.7	−9.4
Majority			302	26.0	N/A
Turnout			1,161	27.2	−1.8'"`UNIQ−−ref−0000002C−QINU`"'
Registered electors			4,306
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	6.1

Highwoods

Highwoods Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Beverley Oxford*	807	42.5	+16.2
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Booker	507	26.7	−4.9
	Conservative	Shahid Husain	423	22.3	−10.0
	Labour	Hugh Thomas	163	8.6	−0.8
Majority			300	15.8	N/A
Turnout			1,900	30.3	+8.3
Registered electors			6,103
	Independent hold		Swing	10.6

Lexden

Lexden Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Henshall*	1,194	62.3	+4.7
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Bayliss	569	29.7	−1.8
	Labour	Alan Trudgian	154	8.0	−2.9
Majority			625	32.6	N/A
Turnout			1,917	44.7	+0.7'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000035−QINU`"'
Registered electors			4,328
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.3

Marks Tey

Marks Tey Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Gower*	517	61.5	−3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Verran	134	16.0	+0.7
	Labour	John Wood	106	12.6	−7.4
	Independent	Patrick Mead	83	9.9	+9.9
Majority			383	45.6	+0.9
Turnout			840	39.0	+8.0'"`UNIQ−−ref−0000003A−QINU`"'
Registered electors			2,044
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.0

Mile End

Mile End Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Jarvis	681	46.1	+15.9
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Mecklenburg	631	42.7	−1.8
	Labour	Janet Smith	166	11.2	−1.7
Majority			50	3.4	N/A
Turnout			1,478	28.3	+2.0
Registered electors			5,183
	Conservative hold		Swing	8.9

No Independent (9.4%) or Green (3.0%) candidates as previous.

New Town

New Town Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Higgins*	972	55.3	−0.6
	Conservative	Glenn Bath	483	27.5	+3.8
	Labour	David Hough	302	17.2	−3.3
Majority			489	27.8	−3.9
Turnout			1,757	28.2	+5.3
Registered electors			6,236
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	2.2

Prettygate

Prettygate Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ron Levy*	1,304	49.0	+5.7
	Liberal Democrats	John Gray*	1,151	43.2	−5.1
	Labour	Luke Dopson	208	7.8	−0.6
Majority			153	5.7	N/A
Turnout			2,663	44.8	+8.6
Registered electors			5,989
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	5.4

St. Andrew's

St Andrew's Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tina Dopson	823	52.8	−9.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ralph Johnston	378	24.3	+3.7
	Conservative	Anne Allan	357	22.9	+8.8
Majority			445	28.6	−19.1
Turnout			1,558	22.3	+2.6
Registered electors			7,011
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing	6.6

No Socialist Alliance candidate as previous (3.1%).

St. Anne's

St Annes's Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Chuah	998	54.7	−3.6
	Conservative	Angus Allan	464	25.5	+6.1
	Labour	Robert Fisher	361	19.8	−0.4
Majority			534	29.3	−8.9
Turnout			1,823	28.3	+5.6
Registered electors			6,477
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	4.9

No Socialist Alliance candidate as previous (2.1%).

St. John's

St John's Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Smith*	929	55.4	−12.4
	Conservative	Derek Smith	587	35.0	+10.9
	Labour	Mike Warner	160	9.5	+1.4
Majority			342	20.4	N/A
Turnout			1,676	40.2	+4.2'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000054−QINU`"'
Registered electors			4,202
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	11.7

Shrub End

Shrub End Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Buston*	777	38.4	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Barry James	737	36.4	+10.4
	Labour	Kim Naish	512	25.3	−12.7
Majority			40	2.0	N/A
Turnout			2,026	34.0	+9.5
Registered electors			5,988
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.9

No Socialist Alliance candidate as previous (1.5%).

Stanway

Stanway Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Ellis	1,027	47.7	+12.9
	Liberal Democrats	Gwendoline Ilott*	839	39.0	−13.3
	Labour	John Spademan	285	13.2	+0.5
Majority			188	8.7	−8.9
Turnout			2,151	35.3	+6.5
Registered electors			6,118
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	13.1

Tiptree

Tiptree Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Martin	925	41.0	+6.0
	Independent	John Elliott*	741	32.8	−1.9
	Labour	Alan Mogridge	590	26.2	−0.4
Majority			184	8.2	+7.9
Turnout			2,256	37.9	+11.5
Registered electors			5,993
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing	4.0

West Mersea

West Mersea Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bouckley*	1,581	71.0	+8.0
	Labour	Audrey Spencer	329	14.8	−5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Baker	316	14.2	+0.0
Majority			1,252	56.2	+13.6
Turnout			2,226	38.6	+8.5
Registered electors			5,799
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.8

Wivenhoe Cross

Wivenhoe Cross Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eugene Kraft*	420	46.4	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Galpin	356	39.3	+22.1
	Labour	Aulay MacKenzie	129	14.3	−15.1
Majority			64	7.1	N/A
Turnout			905	27.2	+10.4
Registered electors			3,355
	Conservative hold		Swing	14.6

Wivenhoe Quay

1. ^ Change in turnout since 2002

By-elections

Berechurch

A by-election took place on 21 October 2004 in Berechurch after the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Susan Brooks. Labour's Dave Harris took the seat from the Liberal Democrats by a majority of 345.

Berechurch: 21 October 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dave Harris	838	51.5	+21.0
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Verran	493	30.3	−15.4
	Conservative	Andrew Bright	296	18.2	−5.6
Majority			345	21.2	N/A
Turnout			1,627	30.0	+1.2
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	18.2

References

1. ^ "BBC News Vote 2004 Colchester Council". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
2. ^ "Colchester : Council names all-Tory cabinet". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 16 June 2004.
3. "Wivenhoe: Councillor Newman leaves Labour". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 7 May 2003.
4. ^ "Colchester : Conservatives become leading party". Essex County Publications. NewsBank. 12 June 2004.
5. ^ "Summary of the number of votes cast and % turnout". Colchester Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
6. ^ "Colchester Borough Council Elections 10 June 2004 - Results". Colchester Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
7. ^ Dines, Graham (22 October 2004). "Mixed results for the Lib Dems". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
8. "Labour wins byelection in army town". The Guardian. London. 22 October 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
9. "Local Authority Byelection Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2014.

v t e Council elections in Essex
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See also: Wards Boundary changes

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See also: European Parliament election

• 2004 English local elections
• Colchester Borough Council elections
• 2000s in Essex