Local election in Surrey, England
2023 Guildford Borough Council election |
All 48 seats to Guildford Borough Council
25 seats needed for a majority |
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First party
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Second party
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Third party
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| Leader
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Julia McShane
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Paul Spooner
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Joss Bigmore
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| Party
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Liberal Democrats
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Conservative
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R4GV
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| Last election
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28.1%
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29.6%
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23.2%
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| Seats before
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17
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9
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15
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| Seats after
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25
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10
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7
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| Seat change
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 8
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1
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 8
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| Percentage
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32.1%
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26.7%
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20.3%
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Fourth party
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Fifth party
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Sixth party
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| Leader
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James Walsh
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Ramsey Nagaty
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| Party
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Labour
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GGG
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Green
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| Last election
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9.9%
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7.8%
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1.4%
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| Seats before
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2
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4
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1
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| Seats after
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3
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3
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0
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| Seat change
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1
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1
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1
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| Percentage
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13.2%
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3.1%
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2.4%
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 Map showing the results of the 2023 Guildford Borough Council elections. Numbers indicate the number of councillors elected by each ward. Yellow showing Liberal Democrats, blue showing Conservative, Magenta showing R4GV, dark green showing Guildford Greenbelt Group and red showing Labour. Striped wards have mixed representation. |
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The 2023 Guildford Borough Council election was held on 4 May 2023, to elect all 48 seats to the Guildford Borough Council in Surrey, England as part of the 2023 local elections. The results saw the Liberal Democrat take overall control of Guildford Borough Council.
Boundary changes
The election was contested on new ward boundaries following a periodic electoral review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The council size remained unchanged at 48 councillors.
Guildford town
The boundary changes resulted in the abolition of Holy Trinity, Friary & St Nicolas and Christchurch wards in the town centre. St Nicolas was split off to become a new single-member ward. A new three-member Castle ward replaced most of Holy Trinity ward, and a new three-member ward named Stoke replaced most of the Friary area of Friary & St Nicolas ward. The area covered by the former Christchurch ward was split between the new Stoke and Castle wards and also between Burpham and Merrow wards, the latter of which were both expanded in the direction of the town centre. Elsewhere in the town the ward formerly known as Stoke kept the same boundaries but was renamed as Bellfields & Slyfield with the 'Stoke' name being transferred to the new town centre ward. The ward of Stoughton was split into Stoughton North and Stoughton South, both two-member wards. Westborough ward had its boundary with Onslow adjusted to follow the A3 and the railway line, and also had its boundary with Stoughton South adjusted to largely follow the Aldershot Road. Onslow had its boundary with Stoke and St Nicolas adjusted to follow Farnham Road and the railway line.
Western villages
Worplesdon ward remained completely unchanged. Normandy ward and Pirbright ward were merged to create a new two-member Normandy & Pirbright ward. Ash South & Tongham was split into a new two-member Ash South ward, which has an adjusted boundary with Ash Wharf, and the Tongham area was moved into Pilgrims ward, making it a two-member ward. The boundary between Ash Vale and Ash Wharf was moved to north of Foxhurst Road cul-de-sac. Shalford ward's boundaries were unchanged.
Eastern villages
Effingham, Tillingbourne, and Clandon & Horsley wards remained completely unchanged. Send ward and Lovelace ward were merged to create a new three-member Send & Lovelace ward.
Background
There have been changes to the political make up of the council since the 2019 election. Three by-elections were held, simultaneously with the 2021 Surrey County Council election, to fill vacancies on the council (two due to resignations, one due to the death of a councillor). However, each seat was won by the same party that won it at the 2019 election. Subsequently, in November 2021, a Liberal Democrat councillor defected to the Conservatives, but defected from the Conservatives to sit as an Independent in July 2022. A Conservative councillor died in May 2022 and the subsequent by-election was won by the Liberal Democrats. In November 2022 an R4GV councillor left his group to sit as an Independent, and in April 2023 a R4GV councillor defected to the Liberal Democrats. Additionally, the sole Green Party councillor chose to sit as part of the R4GV group on the council shortly after the May 2019 election, but continued to be a Green Party councillor, before leaving the R4GV group in October 2022 to sit alone as a Green Party councillor again.
The cumulative impact of these changes resulted in there being 18 Liberal Democrats, 13 R4GV, 8 Conservative, 4 GGG, 2 Labour and 2 Independent councillors going into the election.
After the close of nominations it was revealed that 176 candidates were contesting the 48 seats on the council. The Conservatives contested all 48 seats, the Liberal Democrats stood in 45, Labour contested 31 and R4GV 37 in a partial electoral pact with GGG who were standing another 5 candidates.
One feature of the election was a campaign by a registered non-party campaigner, Robin Horsley, about the proposed re-development of the North Street site in Guildford town centre by property developer St Edwards, which Horsley had previously campaigned against. A planning application for North Street had been rejected in January 2023, and had been the cause of acrimony between R4GV councillors, who had supported the application, and Liberal Democrat councillors who had opposed the application. Robin Horsley's campaign, which attracted significant media coverage, featured a series of videos on what he termed 'the Battle for Guildford', which were promoted on social media and in leaflets, and he urged a vote against R4GV in the election, and for whichever parties or candidates were best placed to defeat R4GV in individual wards, on the grounds that if R4GV were elected he believed they would push through the North Street planning application.
Pre-election composition
Going in to the election, the council administration consists of a Liberal Democrat/R4GV coalition, with the Conservatives forming the main opposition party.
Summary
Election result
| 2023 Guildford Borough Council election
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| Party
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Candidates
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Seats
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Gains
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Losses
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Net gain/loss
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Seats %
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Votes %
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Votes
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+/−
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Liberal Democrats
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45
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25
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9
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1
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8
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52.1
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32.1
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14,365
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|
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Conservative
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48
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10
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6
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5
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1
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20.8
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26.7
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11,961
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R4GV
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37
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7
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0
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8
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8
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14.6
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20.3
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9,067
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Labour
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31
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3
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1
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0
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1
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6.3
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13.2
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5,924
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GGG
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5
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3
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1
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2
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1
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6.3
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3.1
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1,387
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Green
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3
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0
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0
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1
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1
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0.0
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2.4
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1,056
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|
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Independent
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3
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0
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0
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0
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0.0
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1.9
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830
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Peace
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3
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0
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0
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0
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0.0
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0.2
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92
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TUSC
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2
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0
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0
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0
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0.0
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0.1
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36
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Number of councillors per ward is shown in brackets after the ward name.
Wards won solely by the Liberal Democrats – Ash Vale (2); Ash Wharf (2); Burpham (2); Effingham (1); Onslow (3); Shalford (2); Stoke (3); Stoughton North (2); Stoughton South (2); St Nicolas (1)
Wards won solely by the Conservatives – Normandy & Pirbright (2); Pilgrims (2); Worplesdon (3)
Wards won solely by Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) – Ash South (2) Clandon & Horsley (3)
Wards won solely by Guildford Greenbelt Group – Send & Lovelace (3)
Wards won solely by Labour – Bellfields & Slyfield (2)
Wards electing councillors of more than one party – Castle (3 – 2 Con, 1 R4GV); Merrow (3 - 2 Lib Dem, 1 R4GV); Tillingbourne (2 - 1 Lib Dem, 1 Con)
The results saw the Liberal Democrat take overall control of Guildford Borough Council, increasing from 17 seats to 25. Their former coalition partners, R4GV, fell from 15 seats to 7. The Conservatives increased from 9 to 10 seats, making them the official opposition on the council, making a mixture of gains from R4GV and the Greens as well as losses to the Liberal Democrats in Ash Vale and Ash Wharf."Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
The Guildford Greenbelt Group lost 1 seat, bringing their representation down to 3 seats whilst Labour gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats in Westborough, bringing their representation up to 3 seats. The Green party also lost their sole seat in Tillingbourne ward.
Ward results
The following is a list of candidates and results for each ward of the council.
Ash South
Ash Vale
Ash Wharf
Bellfields and Slyfield
Burpham
Castle
Clandon and Horsley
Effingham
Merrow
Normandy and Pirbright
Onslow
Pilgrims
Send and Lovelace
Shalford
St Nicolas
Stoke
Stoughton North
Stoughton South
Tillingbourne
Westborough
Worplesdon
References
- "Election Timetable in England". www.gov.uk. Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- "Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- "Guildford". www.lgbce.org.uk. Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- "As It Happened: Tories Lose Four Guildford Seats But Retain County Council Control". Guildford Dragon. 8 May 2021.
- "Shock Move at Millmead – Leading Lib Dem Councillor Defects to the Conservatives". Guildford Dragon. 3 November 2021.
- "Former Lib Dem Councillor Now Quits from the Tories". Guildford Dragon. 4 July 2022.
- "Guildford ward where The Holiday was filmed taken by Lib Dems off Tories". Get Surrey. 21 October 2022.
- "Ex-Guildford Tory leader quits residents' party and slams paperwork relating to town centre revamp". Get Surrey. 17 November 2022.
- "Councillor to Stand as Lib Dem Candidate Following R4GV Rejection". Guildford Dragon. 4 April 2023.
- "Green Party Member Quits R4GV Group Because of Impending By-election". Guildford Dragon. 29 September 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- "176 Hopefuls to Fight for Borough Council Seats in Election Impossible to Call". Guildford Dragon. 5 April 2023.
- "Dragon Interview: 'Battle for Guildford' Campaigner Robin Horsley". Guildford Dragon. 28 March 2023.
- "North Street Plan Rejected by Borough Council in Knife-edge Vote". Guildford Dragon. 12 January 2023.
- "Guildford Election Interviews Feature in the BBC's Regional News". Guildford Dragon. 24 April 2023.
- "Guildford Borough Council leadership to 'rotate' between Lib Dems and R4GV following 'new agreement'". Get Surrey. 7 May 2020.
- ^ Popular vote calculated using the top candidate per party method
- Caulfield, Chris (5 May 2023). "Guildford election results in full as Liberal Democrats take control". SurreyLive. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
Categories:
Map showing the results of the 2023 Guildford Borough Council elections. Numbers indicate the number of councillors elected by each ward. Yellow showing Liberal Democrats, blue showing Conservative, Magenta showing R4GV, dark green showing Guildford Greenbelt Group and red showing Labour. Striped wards have mixed representation.
