2008 Tandridge District Council election

Campaign

Before the election the Conservatives controlled the council with 31 seats, while the Liberal Democrats were the main opposition with 9 councillors. This was after Liberal Democrat councillor Sakina Bradbury of Whyteleafe ward defected to the Conservatives in February 2008. 14 of the 42 seats on the council were being contested by a total of 45 candidates, with 3 of the sitting councillors not defending seats. The Conservatives contested all 14 seats, compared to 13 Liberal Democrat candidates, 9 Labour Party, 6 UK Independence Party and 1 for the Green Party.

Issues at the election included housing, with Labour calling for more affordable housing, while both the UK Independence Party and Green Party had concerns over the number of houses being built. Other issues included recycling, with the Conservatives pointing to the weekly refuse collection that the council ran, council tax and leisure facilities.

Election result

The Conservative Party retained control of the council and made a net gain of 2 seats to have 42 councillors. The Conservatives gained Queens Park and Warlingham East, Chelsham and Farleigh from the Liberal Democrats and Valley from independent Peter Longhurst. The leader of the council, Conservative Gordon Keymer, said that it had been "a good night for us". However the Conservatives did lose Westway to the Liberal Democrats by 88 votes, which left the Liberal Democrats with 8 seats and there was 1 independent councillor. Overall turnout at the election was 42.3%.

|seats % = 78.6 |votes % = 58.0 |plus/minus = +3.2 |seats % = 21.4 |votes % = 29.5 |plus/minus = +1.3 |seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 5.4 |plus/minus = -2.3 |seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 4.7 |plus/minus = -1.5 |seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 1.9 |plus/minus = -1.2 |seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 0.5 |plus/minus = +0.5

Ward results

By-elections between 2008 and 2010

Godstone

Whyteleafe

A by-election was held in Whyteleafe on 2 February 2010 after Liberal Democrat councillor Jeffrey Gray resigned from the council when he moved away from Tandridge. The seat was held for the Liberal Democrats by David Lee with 57% of the vote.

References

References

1. (2 May 2008). "Tandridge". BBC News.
2. (3 May 2008). "Full election results". The Guardian.
3. Blackledge, Sam. (29 April 2008). "Election – Topical issues to win Tandridge votes". Get Surrey.
4. (17 December 2008). "June county election challenge for Whyteleafe councillor". This is Croydon.
5. (18 April 2008). "Election - Who's who in Surrey's 2008 elections". Get Surrey.
6. (2 May 2008). "Keep local elections local". [[Local Government Association]].
7. (2 May 2008). "Local election results in Surrey". Get Surrey.
8. Alexander, Clare. (2 May 2008). "Surrey's election results". Get Surrey.
9. "Local Elections 2008". Local Elections Archive Project.
10. (11 June 2009). "Lib Dem scuppers Tories' hopes for a council clean sweep". Tandridge Mirror.
11. "Local Authority Byelection Results".
12. Blackledge, Sam. (4 February 2010). "New Lib Dem councillor prepares for MP push". Get Surrey.
13. Mead, Chris. (5 February 2010). "Two Labour gains and UKIP second place surge". The Independent.