2023 Rochford District Council election

2023 English local election

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4 May 2023 (2023-05-04)

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13 out of 39 seats to Rochford District Council
20 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Simon Wootton		James Newport
Party	Conservative	Independent	Liberal Democrats
Last election	21 seats, 38.4%	2 seats, 5.1%	5 seats, 17.7%
Seats before	18	10	5
Seats won	5	1	4
Seats after	14	9	8
Seat change	3	1	3
Popular vote	6,393	1,621	5,002
Percentage	31.9%	8.1%	25.0%
Swing	6.5%	4.7%	7.3%

	Fourth party	Fifth party

Leader	Christine Mason
Party	Rochford Resident	Green
Last election	10 seats, 21.0%	1 seat, 4.8%
Seats before	5	1
Seats won	3	0
Seats after	7	1
Seat change	1
Popular vote	2,767	889
Percentage	13.8%	4.4%
Swing	7.2%	0.4%

Leader before election

Simon Wootton
Conservative
No overall control

Leader after election

John Mason
Rochford District Residents
No overall control

The 2023 Rochford District Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Rochford District Council in Essex, England. This would be on the same day as other local elections in England.

Less than three months before the election, three Conservative councillors left the party, putting the council under no overall control with the Conservatives becoming a minority administration. Prior to that, the Conservatives had held a majority of the seats on the council since 2002.

The election saw the council remain under no overall control. A coalition of the Rochford District Residents, Liberal Democrats, Greens and independent councillors subsequently formed an administration, with John Mason of the Rochford District Residents being appointed leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 23 May 2023.

Summary

Election result

2023 Rochford District Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
Party		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	5	3	38.5	9	14	35.9	6,393	31.9	–6.5
	Independent	1	1	7.7	8	9	23.1	1,621	8.1	+4.7
	Liberal Democrats	4	3	30.8	4	8	20.5	5,002	25.0	+7.3
	Rochford Resident	3	1	23.1	4	7	17.9	2,767	13.8	–7.2
	Green	0		0.0	1	1	2.6	889	4.4	–0.4
	Labour	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	2,891	14.4	–0.2
	Britain First	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	214	1.1	N/A
	Reform UK	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	187	0.9	N/A
	ADF	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	47	0.2	N/A

Ward results

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Rochford District Council following the close of nomination on 5 April 2023. The results for each ward were as follows:

Downhall & Rawreth

Downhall & Rawreth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	James Newport*	1,050	68.0	+1.1
	Conservative	Stuart Belton	296	19.2	–5.0
	Labour	James Hedges	126	8.2	–0.7
	Reform UK	Grant Randall	71	4.6	N/A
Majority			754	48.8	+6.1
Turnout			1,543	27.9	+0.2
Registered electors			5,530
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	3.0

Foulness & The Wakerings

Foulness & The Wakerings
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Daniel Efde*	731	55.4	–17.9
	Labour	Philip Hannan	421	31.9	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Deborah Taylor	168	12.7	N/A
Majority			310	23.5	–23.1
Turnout			1,320	23.2	–3.6
Registered electors			5,690
	Conservative hold		Swing	11.6

Hawkwell East

Hawkwell East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Rochford Resident	Elliot Mason	513	36.1	–5.5
	Conservative	Mike Webb*	436	30.7	–7.8
	Green	Rachel White	213	15.0	N/A
	Labour	Victoria Williams	213	15.0	–4.8
	ADF	Mark Vallance	47	3.3	N/A
Majority			77	5.4	+2.3
Turnout			1,422	30.3	+0.3
Registered electors			4,693
	Rochford Resident gain from Conservative		Swing	1.2

Hawkwell West

Hawkwell West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Rochford Resident	Nick Booth	870	54.3	+15.3
	Conservative	Toni Carter*	432	27.0	–22.6
	Labour	Keith Montgomery	166	10.4	–0.9
	Green	Andrew White	134	8.4	N/A
Majority			438	27.3	N/A
Turnout			1,602	32.2	–1.5
Registered electors			4,975
	Rochford Resident hold		Swing	19.0

Hockley

Hockley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Rochford Resident	Adrian Eves*	929	60.0	+5.8
	Conservative	James Hall	386	24.9	–7.8
	Labour	Ian Rooke	233	15.1	+1.9
Majority			543	35.1	+13.6
Turnout			1,548	30.6	–1.0
Registered electors			5,059
	Rochford Resident hold		Swing	6.8

Hockley & Ashingdon

Hockley & Ashingdon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Carter*	472	28.9	–8.7
	Rochford Resident	Phil Capon	455	27.9	+10.8
	Britain First	Paul Harding	214	13.1	N/A
	Labour	Hollie Ridley	190	11.6	+1.8
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Gardner	173	10.7	–8.3
	Green	Leanne Dalby	126	7.8	N/A
Majority			17	1.0	–17.8
Turnout			1,630	31.7	–0.6
Registered electors			5,142
	Conservative hold		Swing	9.8

Hullbridge

Hullbridge
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Tracey Knight*	982	58.7	*N/A*
	Conservative	Kelly Moody	469	28.0	–3.7
	Labour	David Lench	223	13.3	–0.9
Majority			513	30.7	N/A
Turnout			1,674	29.4	–4.0
Registered electors			5,694
	Independent hold		Swing	N/A

Lodge

Lodge
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Ward*	687	42.3	+2.0
	Independent	Ian Wilson	639	39.3	N/A
	Labour	Patricia Norrington	300	18.5	+6.2
Majority			48	3.0	N/A
Turnout			1,626	31.5	–1.6
Registered electors			5,162
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Roche North & Rural

Roche North & Rural
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Wootton*	409	31.3	–13.2
	Labour	Myra Weir	358	27.4	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Irlam	281	21.5	–11.6
	Green	John-Barry Waldron	256	19.7	N/A
Majority			51	3.9	–7.6
Turnout			1,304	25.4	–2.3
Registered electors			5,134
	Conservative hold		Swing	9.2

Roche South

Roche South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Williams*	490	40.9	–2.8
	Labour	Shona Hyde-Williams	348	29.0	+4.7
	Liberal Democrats	Derek Brown	200	16.7	N/A
	Green	Samantha Spiteri	160	13.4	N/A
Majority			142	11.9	+0.2
Turnout			1,198	25.1	–1.2
Registered electors			4,773
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.8

Sweyne Park & Grange

Sweyne Park & Grange
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Brewer	1,039	72.9	*N/A*
	Conservative	Scott Peters	387	27.1	–1.3
Majority			652	45.8	N/A
Turnout			1,426	29.2	+0.4
Registered electors			4,884
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Trinity

Trinity
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Page	1,149	58.1	–2.5
	Conservative	Cheryl Roe*	698	35.3	+3.7
	Labour	Billy Ridley	130	6.6	–1.1
Majority			451	22.8	–6.8
Turnout			1,977	36.3	–0.8
Registered electors			5,446
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	3.4

Wheatley

Wheatley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Linden	942	54.1	+14.7
	Conservative	Ian Beatwell	500	28.7	+0.2
	Labour	Lorraine Ridley	183	10.5	+2.0
	Reform UK	Adrian Short	116	6.7	N/A
Majority			442	25.4	+14.5
Turnout			1,741	34.6	–2.1
Registered electors			5,032
	Liberal Democrats gain from Independent		Swing	7.3

References

"What is Council and Democracy?". Rochford District Council. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
Dedman, Simon (24 February 2023). "Tories lose control of council after three quit". BBC News. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
Dedman, Simon (24 May 2023). "Colchester: Power-sharing ends between Labour and Lib Dems". BBC News. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
"Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Rochford District Council. 4 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
Meyler, Piers (11 April 2023). "Every Rochford local election candidates 2023 and where they are standing". Essex Live. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
"Election results". Rochford District Council. Retrieved 19 July 2023.

v t e Council elections in Essex
Essex County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1965 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
Basildon Borough 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 2021 2022 2023 2024
Braintree District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Brentwood Borough 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 2021 2022 2023 2024
Castle Point Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chelmsford City Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Colchester City Council	1950 1951 1973 1976 1978 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 2021 2022 2023 2024
Epping Forest 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 2021 2022 2023 2024
Harlow District Council	1973 1976 1978 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 2021 2022 2023 2024
Maldon District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Rochford 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 2021 2022 2023 2024
Southend-on-Sea City Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Tendring District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Thurrock Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Uttlesford District Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
See also: Wards Boundary changes

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