2008 Craven District Council election explained

The 2008 Craven District Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

Background

Before the election an alliance between 9 of the 10 independents and the 6 Liberal Democrats controlled the council, with independent Carl Liss as council leader.[3] The 14 Conservative councillors were in opposition, supported by the remaining independent councillor, Ken Hart.[3]

Election result

The Conservatives won 8 of the 11 seats contested, including gaining one seat, to have exactly half of seats on the council.[4] The Conservative gain came in Skipton East where Pam Heseltine took the seat from the Liberal Democrats.[4] This reduced the Liberal Democrats to 5 councillors after they held the other 2 seats they were defending.[4] The only independent councillor to be defending a seat, David Ireton, retained it in Ingleton and Clapham, while the 5 Labour candidates came last in each of the wards they contested.[4]

Following the election Conservative Chris Knowles-Fitton became leader of the council, taking over from independent Carl Lis.[5]

Notes and References

  1. News: Craven. 2 May 2008. BBC News Online. 15 March 2015.
  2. News: Full election results. 3 May 2008. The Guardian. NewsBank. 0261-3077.
  3. News: Conservative likely to become leader. 3 May 2008. The Yorkshire Post. NewsBank. 0963-1496.
  4. News: Tories gain one Craven Council seat but fail to take control. 2 May 2008. Craven Herald & Pioneer. NewsBank. 0961-1908.
  5. News: Tories take over leadership of council. Tate. Lesley. 23 May 2008. Craven Herald & Pioneer. 10 January 2018.