Pontefract North Explained

Country:England
Coordinates:53.67°N -1.26°W
Label Position:top
Official Name:Pontefract North
Region:Yorkshire and the Humber
Metropolitan Borough:City of Wakefield
Metropolitan County:West Yorkshire
Constituency Westminster:Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley

Pontefract North is an electoral ward of the City of Wakefield district, used for elections to Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.[1]

Overview

The ward is one of 21 in the Wakefield district, and has been held by Labour since the current boundaries were formed for the 2004 Council election. As of 2015, the electorate stands at 12,495 of which 94.4% identify as "White British" and 69.3% of who identify as Christian.[2]

Notable landmarks in the ward include Pontefract Racecourse, Pontefract Castle and Valeo Confectionery, with the main areas being Monkhill and Pontefract Town centre.[3]

Representation

Like all wards in the Wakefield district, Pontefract North has 3 councillors, whom are elected on a 4-year-rota. This means elections for new councillors are held for three years running, with one year every four years having no elections.

The current councillors are Clive Tennant, Patricia Garbutt and Lorna Malkin, all of whom are Labour.[4]

The last time a Conservative councillor represented the ward was Philip Thomas who elected in the 2008 Council election however, he ran for re-election as an independent as was subsequently defeated in the 2011 election by Paula Sherriff who would later serve as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury between 2015 and 2019.[5]

Councillors

!Election!Councillor!Councillor!Councillor
1996Fredrick Hodgson (Lab)Jack Kershaw (Lab)Frank Ward (Lab)
1998
1999
2000David Grason (Lab)
2002
2003Clive Tennant (Lab)
2004Patricia Garbutt (Lab)
2006
2007
2008Philip Thomas (Cons)
2010
2011
2012Paula Sherriff (Lab)
2014
2015
2015 by-electionLorna Malkin (Lab)
2016
2018
2019
2021
2022

Election Results

*The 2004 election was the first one with the new boundaries. As such, all three seats were up for election.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wakefield Ward Profile - Selection: Pontefract North Ward. Wakefield Observatory. 2015.
  2. Web site: Seat Details. www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. 2020-01-10.
  3. Web site: Pontefract North - MapIt. mapit.mysociety.org. 2020-01-10.
  4. Web site: Your Councillors. 2020-01-10. WMDC. en. 2020-01-10.
  5. News: Dewsbury parliamentary constituency - Election 2019. BBC. 2020-01-10. en-GB.
  6. Web site: Pontefract North by-election result. Council. Wakefield Metropolitan District. www.wakefield.gov.uk. 2020-01-11.
  7. Web site: Wakefield Council - Vote 2004. 12 June 2004. BBC News. 2020-01-11.