2014 Cannock Chase District Council election

Elections to Cannock Chase District Council took place on 22 May 2014 on the same day as other local elections in England and the European Parliament elections.^[1] A third of the council was up for election, meaning a total of 13 councillors were elected from all but two of the council's wards. There were no elections held in the Hagley or Hednesford South wards as those wards elect only two councillors in the other two years of the election cycle.

The Labour Party held control of the council and increased its majority by one compared with the previous election when it had gained the council from no overall control. Notably, UKIP came a close second and gained four seats, despite not previously contesting an election in the district; a subsequent Conservative defection shortly after the election saw them assume the status of official opposition party. Compared with the results of the 2010 election when these seats were last up for election, Labour's vote share decreased slightly but they gained one seat from the Conservatives whilst UKIP gained three seats from the Conservatives and one from the Liberal Democrats. This left the Conservatives and Lib Dems, who had previously won eight seats between them and run the council in a coalition, winning just one seat each.

Results[edit]

Cannock Chase District Council election, 2014

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	6	1	0	1	46.1	35.0	7,024	1.1
	UKIP	4	4	0	4	30.8	33.3	6,691	N/A
	Conservative	1	0	4	4	7.7	23.8	4,777	16.1
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	2	2	7.7	5.6	1,120	17.0
	Independent	1	1	0	1	7.7	2.3	466	N/A

Council Composition[edit]

Prior to the election, the composition of the council was:

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Ward results[edit]

Vote share changes are based on the results achieved by parties in 2010 when these seats were last contested.

Brereton and Ravenhill[edit]

Brereton and Ravenhill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gerald Molineux	609	39.5	5.0
	Labour	Michelle Dudson	482	31.3	0.8
	UKIP	Linda Whitehouse ^	451	29.2	N/A
Majority			127	8.2
Turnout			1,542	30.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	2.9

^ Linda Whitehouse was the sitting councillor for the Rawnsley ward and previously defected from the Conservatives to UKIP.

Cannock East[edit]

Cannock East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Muriel Davies	726	46.0	8.6
	UKIP	Dave Morris	584	37.0	N/A
	Conservative	Mike Hoare	268	17.0	28.4
Majority			142	9.0
Turnout			1,578	29.8
	Labour hold		Swing	22.8

Cannock North[edit]

Cannock North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Allen	791	50.9	5.8
	UKIP	Amanda Capewell	563	36.2	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Jones	200	12.9	12.9
Majority			228	14.7
Turnout			1,554	27.8
	Labour hold		Swing	21.0

Cannock South[edit]

Cannock South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Witton	657	42.2	0.4
	UKIP	Kevin Whittaker	551	35.4	N/A
	Conservative	John Beddows	350	22.5	15.7
Majority			106	6.8
Turnout			1,558	26.6
	Labour hold		Swing	17.9

Cannock West[edit]

Cannock West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hyra Sutton	909	45.3	19.1
	UKIP	Richard Pursehouse	586	29.2	N/A
	Labour	Craig Woods	512	25.5	10.1
Majority			323	16.1
Turnout			2,007	35.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	24.2

Etching Hill and the Heath[edit]

Etching Hill and the Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Stephanie Whitehouse	494	33.0	N/A
	Conservative	John Rowley	473	31.6	6.1
	Labour	Dee Barfield	333	22.2	1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Ansell	199	13.3	25.4
Majority			21	1.4	N/A
Turnout			1,499	28.4
	UKIP gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	29.2

Hawks Green[edit]

Hawks Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Martin Buttery	634	43.0	N/A
	Conservative	Mike Sutherland	465	31.6	15.9
	Labour	Tony Johnson	374	25.4	0.4
Majority			169	11.4	N/A
Turnout			1,473	26.3
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	29.5

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury[edit]

Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Alan Dean	621	42.1	N/A
	Labour	Linda Tait	494	33.5	2.2
	Conservative	Helen Borton	310	21.0	16.1
Majority			127	8.6	N/A
Turnout			1,476	29.7
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	22.2

Hednesford Green Heath[edit]

Hednesford Green Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Adamson	524	43.0	7.1
	UKIP	Mick Sage	335	27.5	N/A
	Conservative	Graham Burnett	283	23.2	12.6
	Independent	Ron Turville	77	6.3	N/A
Majority			189	15.5
Turnout			1,219	31.2
	Labour hold		Swing	10.2

Hednesford North[edit]

Hednesford North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sheila Cartwright	653	40.5	1.7
	UKIP	John Pugh	562	34.9	N/A
	Conservative	John Burnett	397	24.6	7.6
Majority			91	5.6
Turnout			1,612	30.0
	Labour hold		Swing	16.6

Norton Canes[edit]

Norton Canes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Preece	710	41.1	2.0
	UKIP	Martin Robinson	554	32.0	N/A
	Conservative	Peter Gilbert	440	25.4	19.9
	Liberal Democrats	Ken Ansell	25	1.4	14.2
Majority			156	9.1	N/A
Turnout			1,729	30.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	11.0

Rawnsley[edit]

Rawnsley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Bill Hardman	447	35.7	N/A
	Labour	Sue Holliday	419	33.5	2.4
	Conservative	Colin Lea	336	26.9	14.9
	Liberal Democrats	Dameon Johnson	49	3.9	23.2
Majority			28	2.2	N/A
Turnout			1,251	32.6
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	11.0

Western Springs[edit]

Western Springs

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Mick Grocott ^	389	24.6	N/A
	Labour	Chris Martin	349	22.1	1.3
	Conservative	Jim Bowater	346	21.9	11.8
	UKIP	Shane Harrison	309	19.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Ray Easton	187	11.8	31.1
Majority			40	2.5	N/A
Turnout			1,580	28.6
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	27.9

^ Mike Grocott was re-elected as the councillor for the Western Springs ward after he had previously left the Liberal Democrats to become an independent.

References[edit]