2023 Dartford Borough Council election

2023 UK local government election

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4 May 2023 (2023-05-04)

2027 →

All 42 seats to Dartford Borough Council
22 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Jeremy Kite	Kelly Grehan	Laura Edie
Party	Conservative	Labour	Green
Last election	29 seats, 53.1%	10 seats, 29.4%	0 seats, 0.6%
Seats before	31	7	1
Seats won	29	11	1
Seat change		1	1
Popular vote	27,404	17,141	2,069
Percentage	55.8%	34.9%	4.2%
Swing	3.0%	5.1%	3.6%

	Fourth party	Fifth party

Party	Residents	Independent
Last election	3 seats, 5.4%	0 seats, 1.6%
Seats before	1	2
Seats won	1	0
Seat change	2
Popular vote	1,640	117
Percentage	3.3%	0.2%
Swing	2.1%	1.4%

Results by ward

Leader before election

Jeremy Kite
Conservative

Leader after election

Jeremy Kite
Conservative

The 2023 Dartford Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect all 42 members of Dartford Borough Council in Kent, England.

This election took place alongside other local elections across England.

The council remained under Conservative majority control after the election.

Changes since 2019 election

After Cllr Jonathon Hawkes, leader of the Labour Group, lost his seat in 2019, Cllr Sacha Gosine was elected as the new Leader of the Opposition. He was replaced by Cllr Kelly Grehan in 2022. Between 2019 and 2023, the Labour Group lost 3 councillors. Deputy Leader Cllr Adrian Oakley-Dow resigned from the party following the election of a new Deputy. Around this time, Cllr Romana Gosine was expelled by the party for an alleged "breach of the rules". Cllr Laura Edie left the Labour Party after criticising the national party's policies, and sat as a Green Party councillor for the remainder of her term. She was re-elected as a Green councillor in 2023.

In April 2021, 2 councillors from the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association, Cllrs Sue Butterfill and Anita Barham, left the party to form a new Independent Party Group. They later joined the Conservative Party. Cllr Barham stood as a Conservative candidate in Swanscombe in 2023, but was not elected.

Cllr Ann Allen died in October 2021, triggering a by-election in Maypole & Leyton Cross. Cllr Lucas Reynolds also stood down for personal reasons, triggering a by-election in Wilmington, Sutton-At-Hone & Hawley. Both seats were held by the Conservatives with large majorities.

In May 2022, it was announced that Cllr Laura Edie and Cllr Peter Harman (of the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association) had formed the Alliance Group together.

A by-election was also held in February 2023, once again in Wilmington, Sutton-At-Hone & Hawley, where the Conservative majority was increased.

Summary

Election result

2023 Dartford Borough Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	42	29	1	1		69.0	55.8	27,404	+2.7
	Labour	42	11	2	1	1	26.2	34.9	17,141	+5.5
	Green	9	1	1	0	1	2.4	4.2	2,069	+3.6
	Residents	4	1	0	2	2	2.4	3.3	1,640	–2.1
	Reform UK	5	0	0	0		0.0	1.0	503	N/A
	Britain First	2	0	0	0		0.0	0.3	168	N/A
	Independent	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	117	–1.4
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	63	–0.1

Ward results

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Dartford Borough Council following the close of nominations on 4 April 2023. The results for each ward were as follows:

Bean & Village Park

Bean & Village Park
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Hammock*	392	74.5	−7.0
	Labour	Graham Windram	134	25.5	+7.0
Turnout			526	27.42
	Conservative hold		Swing

Brent

Brent (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rosanna Currans*	840	63.4	+1.5
	Conservative	Peter Whapshott	718	54.2	−2.5
	Labour	Sarah Crook	359	27.1	+4.4
	Labour	Marian Benford	355	26.8	+5.8
	Green	Claire Edie	130	9.8	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Cullen O'Donnell	63	4.8	N/A
Turnout			1,324	30.33
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bridge

Bridge
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clement Quaqumey	316	61.5	−0.8
	Labour	Peter Grehan	198	38.5	+16.7
Turnout			514	19.93	−5.17
	Conservative hold		Swing

Burnham

Burnham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Davis*	358	56.1	+5.1
	Labour	Amanda Cook	280	43.9	−5.1
Turnout			638	28.94
	Conservative hold		Swing

Darenth

Darenth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Denman	215	35.8	−11.6
	Labour	Catherine Stafford	207	34.5	+2.9
	Independent	Tony Prentice	117	19.5	N/A
	Britain First	Nicholas Scanlon	61	10.2	N/A
Turnout			600	30.32
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ebbsfleet

Ebbsfleet (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Danny Nicklen*	615	55.3	+17.5
	Labour	Jonathon Hawkes	535	48.1	+8.5
	Labour	Victoria Akintomie-Akinwamide	507	45.6	+7.0
	Labour	Victoria Oguntope	479	43.1	+6.2
	Conservative	Subhash Goswami	406	36.5	+9.9
	Conservative	Edith Nwachukwu	392	35.3	+12.7
Turnout			1,112	27.51
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Greenhithe & Knockhall

Greenhithe & Knockhall (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Residents	Peter Harman*	623	51.7	+8.0
	Conservative	David Mote*	499	41.4	+2.9
	Conservative	Carol Gale	359	29.8	+0.1
	Residents	Dawn Johnston	354	29.4	−14.4
	Conservative	Safiul Azam	345	28.7	+0.7
	Residents	Elizabeth Wickham	335	27.8	−5.3
	Labour	Lisa Bullock	270	22.4	+5.4
	Labour	Joshua Grills	224	18.6	+5.7
	Labour	James Ray	205	17.0	+4.2
Turnout			1,204	22.40
	Residents hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Residents		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Heath

Heath (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Lloyd*	910	62.5	−0.9
	Conservative	Patsy Thurlow*	837	57.4	+1.5
	Labour	David Celino-Stock	405	27.8	+4.5
	Labour	Sally Wainwright	243	16.7	−6.0
	Reform UK	Michael Brown	141	9.7	N/A
Turnout			1,457	33.10
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Joyden's Wood

Joyden's Wood (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brian Garden*	1,131	80.6	+6.4
	Conservative	Marilyn Peters*	1,067	76.0	+1.8
	Labour	Carole Jones	253	18.0	+5.3
	Labour	Peter Summers	245	17.5	+7.2
Turnout			1,404	34.28
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Longfield, New Barn & Southfleet

Longfield, New Barn & Southfleet (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeremy Kite*	1,431	71.7	+2.5
	Conservative	Steven Brown*	1,406	70.4	+4.3
	Conservative	Roger Perfitt*	1,317	65.9	+5.0
	Labour	Timothy Cook	388	19.4	+6.7
	Labour	Lacey Povey	375	18.8	+7.8
	Labour	Allan Fisher	327	16.4	+4.5
	Green	Alastair Humphreys	256	12.8	N/A
Turnout			1,997	36.36
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Maypole & Leyton Cross

Maypole & Leyton Cross
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kyle Stealey*	435	68.7	−15.4
	Labour	David Brooker	198	31.2	+15.4
Turnout			633	29.3	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Newtown

Newtown (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Debbie Graham	528	38.9	−3.2
	Green	Laura Edie*	509	37.5	+24.9
	Labour	Jonathan Wynne	401	29.5	−9.7
	Conservative	Andrew Mensah	399	29.4	−6.6
	Conservative	Sheun Oke	365	26.9	−6.8
	Green	Julian Hood	348	25.6	N/A
Turnout			1355	33.18	−2.02
	Labour hold		Swing
	Green gain from Labour		Swing

Princes

Princes (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ricky Jones*	490	47.9	+3.8
	Labour	Alina Vaduva	395	38.6	+0.2
	Conservative	Monjur Showkat	388	38.0	+2.3
	Conservative	Rebecca Storey*	386	37.8	−0.8
	Green	Ciara O'Hare	76	7.4	N/A
	Green	Kerry O'Hare	60	5.9	N/A
	Reform UK	Lou Sparrow	49	2.7	N/A
Turnout			1021	24.73	−6.77
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Stone Castle

Stone Castle (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Cutler*	518	56.0	+11.5
	Conservative	Lucy Canham*	491	53.0	+2.8
	Conservative	John Burrell*	440	47.5	−0.3
	Labour	Trevor Donnelly	362	39.1	+4.0
	Labour	Pat Kelly	320	34.6	−0.1
	Labour	Rachel Gogo	315	34.1	+5.7
Turnout			925	17.10	−7.1
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Stone House

Stone House (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tom Oliver*	667	52.4	+9.7
	Labour	Rachael Anne	556	43.7	−2.4
	Conservative	Milan Suter	535	42.0	+1.8
	Labour	Karl Harris	491	38.6	+1.7
	Green	Louise Maclean	125	9.8	N/A
Turnout			1272	27.3	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Swanscombe

Swanscombe (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Emma Ben Moussa*	732	61.2	+21.6
	Labour	Claire Pearce	476	39.8	+7.7
	Conservative	Anita Barham*	379	31.7	−6.4
	Residents	Lorna Cross	328	27.4	−10.7
	Conservative	Santosh Patil	125	10.4	+1.0
	Britain First	Paul Golding	107	8.9	N/A
Turnout			1,197	25.67
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Residents		Swing

Temple Hill

Temple Hill (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kelly Grehan*	796	62.1	+19.1
	Labour	Alina Gaskin*	737	57.5	+15.6
	Labour	Darren Povey	704	55.0	+15.0
	Conservative	Thomas Denman	393	30.7	+3.8
	Conservative	Thomas Shippam	327	25.5	+0.6
	Conservative	Ganesh Malyala	322	25.1	+0.9
	Reform UK	Barry Taylor	102	8.0	−17.4
	Reform UK	Enrique Martin-Garcia	93	7.3	−16.7
Turnout			1,281	21.14
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Town

Town (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Shippam*	544	62.4	+9.4
	Conservative	Richard Wells*	530	60.8	+10.0
	Labour	Justina Lambert	309	35.4	−1.9
	Labour	Jiri Marek	292	33.5	−2.4
Turnout			872	23.83
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Hill

West Hill (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julie Ozog*	1,096	57.0	+4.8
	Conservative	Denzil Reynolds*	1,062	55.2	+4.9
	Conservative	Drew Swinerd*	969	50.4	+3.1
	Labour	Robert Celino-Stock	632	32.9	+0.7
	Labour	Suyi Michelli	600	31.2	+0.3
	Labour	Sandra Woodeson	580	30.2	±0.0
	Green	Garry Turner	374	19.4	N/A
Turnout			1,923	33.04
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wilmington, Sutton-at-Hone & Hawley

Wilmington, Sutton-at-Hone & Hawley (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Holt*	1,270	68.3	+8.2
	Conservative	Eddy Lampkin*	1,162	62.5	+6.1
	Conservative	Av Sandhu	1,047	56.3	+4.5
	Labour	Abigail Jones	449	24.1	+8.2
	Labour	Raymond Kelleher	414	22.3	+5.7
	Labour	Geoffrey Prout	375	20.2	+5.3
	Green	Richard Moore	191	10.3	N/A
	Reform UK	Marc Mason	118	6.3	N/A
Turnout			1,860	30.54
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

Leading "Alliance Group" of the Green Party and one of the independent councillors.

"Council minutes, 11 May 2022". Dartford Borough Council. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
"Notice of Election". Dartford Borough Council. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
Greenwood, Keely (5 May 2023). "Kent local elections 2023: Dartford council remains under Tory control as Britain First falls short". Kent Online. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
"Dartford Labour vote in new opposition council leader amid local party shake up". Kent Online. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
"Dartford councillor for Newtown Laura Edie quits Labour Party over handling of school closures". Kent Online. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
"Swanscombe and Greenhithe Resident's Association councillors quit to form new Independent Party Group on Dartford Council". Kent Online. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
"Conservatives retain three Wilmington by-election seats in Dartford council and Kent County Council". Kent Online. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
"Council minutes, 11 May 2022". Dartford Borough Council. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
"Wilmington, Sutton-at-Hone & Hawley Borough Ward - Thursday 9 February 2023". Dartford Borough Council. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
"Dartford Borough Council Elections - Thursday 4 May 2023". Dartford Borough Council. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
"Statement of Persons Nominated". Dartford Borough Council. 4 April 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
Clarke, Amy (5 May 2023). "Dartford Borough Council election results by ward". News Shopper. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

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