2004 Craven District Council election

2004 UK local government election

The 2004 Craven District Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, 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 as follows:

Background

After the last election in 2003, the Conservatives had 11 seats, compared to 10 for independents and 9 Liberal Democrats. However, in November 2003 an independent candidate gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats at a by-election in Bentham.

At the 2004 election two long serving councillors stood down, Beth Graham from Settle and Ribblesbanks ward, who had been a councillor since 1976, and Peter Walbank of Grassington ward. Candidates at the election included the first Labour Party candidate for a few years, James Black in Skipton South, while the Green Party also stood a candidate in Aire Valley with Lothersdale.

Election result

The Conservatives gained 2 seats at the election to have 13 councillors, compared to 11 independents and 6 Liberal Democrats. Overall turnout at the election reached 50% after being held with all postal voting, only 9% below the turnout nationally at the 2001 general election, with the high turnout leading to a delay in the counting of the results.

Craven local election result 2004
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	6	2	0	+2	54.5	41.6	5,549	-4.1%
Liberal Democrats	3	0	2	-2	27.3	29.9	3,982	+5.6%
Independent	2	0	0	0	18.2	24.9	3,318	-5.1%
Green	0	0	0	0	0	2.1	285	+2.1%
Labour	0	0	0	0	0	1.5	204	+1.5%

Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patricia Fairbank	725	52.7
	Liberal Democrats	John Manley	365	26.5
	Green	John Akroyd	285	20.7
Majority			360	26.2
Turnout			1,375	51.7	+14.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Barden Fell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Knowles-Fitton	414	51.2	−13.0
	Independent	Cecil Hammond	302	37.3	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Moorby	93	11.5	+11.5
Majority			112	13.9	−14.5
Turnout			809	59.9	+2.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cowling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	John Alderson	374	45.1
	Independent	Alan Perrow	316	38.1
	Conservative	Geoffrey Dunn	140	16.9
Majority			58	7.0
Turnout			830	50.1
	Independent hold		Swing

Grassington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Foster	616	73.2
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Rankine	225	26.8
Majority			391	46.5
Turnout			841	65.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ingleton and Clapham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	David Ireton	1,403	81.9
	Conservative	Alex Bentley	310	18.1
Majority			1,093	63.8
Turnout			1,713	56.9
	Independent hold		Swing

Settle and Ribblebanks
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Whaites	740	50.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Graveson	726	49.5
Majority			14	1.0
Turnout			1,466	53.3	+14.2
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Skipton East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Eric Jaquin	728	51.1	+24.3
	Conservative	Christopher Harbron	697	48.9	+17.4
Majority			31	2.2
Turnout			1,425	52.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Skipton North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Whitaker	679	41.7	−14.7
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Doyle	549	33.7	−9.9
	Independent	John Kerwin-Davey	399	24.5	+24.5
Majority			130	8.0	−4.9
Turnout			1,627	59.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Skipton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Solloway	501	44.8	+44.8
	Conservative	Kenneth Creek	224	20.0	+4.7
	Labour	James Black	204	18.2	+18.2
	Independent	Dennis Hall	190	17.0	−40.5
Majority			277	24.8
Turnout			1,119	41.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Skipton West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul English	795	65.3	−1.7
	Conservative	Norman Spence	423	34.7	+1.7
Majority			372	30.5	−3.5
Turnout			1,218	43.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Upper Wharfedale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Sayer	581	63.5	+5.1
	Independent	Kenneth Luty	334	36.5	+8.2
Majority			247	27.0	−3.1
Turnout			915	61.1	+7.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

By-elections between 2004 and 2006

Upper Wharfedale by-election 2 March 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julia Mulligan	394	54.7	−8.8
	Independent		326	45.3	+8.8
Majority			68	9.4	−17.6
Turnout			720	47.0	−14.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

"Craven council". BBC News Online. 11 June 2004. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
^ "Ballot box – Elections". The Times. NewsBank. 12 June 2004. p. 26.
"Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
"Independents win in byelection polls". The Guardian. Press Association. 14 November 2003. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
^ "Long-serving councillors retire". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 14 May 2004.
White, Clive (18 June 2004). "Election shock as BNP moves in". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank.
Hetherington, Peter (11 June 2004). "Elections 2004: Councils report big rise in turnout in areas voting only by post: Regions Surge forces delay in count". The Guardian. NewsBank.
^ "District Council election" (PDF). Craven District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015 – via Political Science Resources.
"Labour makes surprise byelection gain". The Guardian. Press Association. 3 March 2006. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
Williamson, Howard (6 December 2006). "Leeds woman is Tories' first female candidate". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

Council elections in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire Council

City of York Council

Middlesbrough Council

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Tees Valley Mayor

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2024

Former councils
North Riding County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970
Cleveland County Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993
Craven District Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019
Hambleton District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Harrogate Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018
Richmondshire District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Ryedale District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Scarborough Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Selby District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019

See also: Wards
Boundary changes

v t e (2003 ←) 2004 United Kingdom local elections (→ 2005)
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