2011 North Warwickshire Borough Council election

Elections to North Warwickshire District Council were held on Thursday 5 May 2011.

A total of 35 seats were up for election, all councillors from all wards. The previous election produced a majority for the Conservative Party.

Election result

North Warwickshire Borough Council Election, 2011

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	17	0	4	-4	49%	48%	19,382	-4%
	Labour	18	4	0	+4	51%	50%	20,058	+11%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	0%	126	+0%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	2%	789	0%

These elections saw Labour narrowly win with a majority of just one seat and narrowly win the popular vote in the borough by just 676 votes. The number of close results in so many wards perhaps is the reason for this.

The Conservatives lost four seats at these elections, in the following wards.

• Arley and Whitacre, where Labour gained the second seat, and also came 18 votes short of winning the third seat.
• Atherstone Central, where Labour retained the seat they won at the last council elections in 2007 and additionally retained their March 2009 by-election gain of the one Conservative seat in the ward.
• Coleshill North, where Labour gained the first seat, while coming 17 votes short of winning the other seat. This was the first time Labour won a seat in this ward since 1995.
• Polesworth West, where Labour gained the Conservative seat, while retaining the seat Labour held in 2003 and 2007.

The number of seats could have flipped the other way if the Conservatives managed to have won in Atherstone North, where both of the Conservative candidates received 522 votes, which was 32 votes behind taking the second seat in that ward, which bizarrely wasn't one of the four seats the Conservatives lost at these elections. Even more astonishingly, Atherstone North had never elected a Conservative councillor in the entirety of the borough council's existence, and would not do so until the following elections in 2015, which coincided with the North Warwickshire parliamentary constituency, which incorporates all of the North Warwickshire borough except for 2 wards (Arley & Whitacre and Hartshill), as well as five Nuneaton and Bedworth wards (Bede, Exhall, Heath, Poplar, and Slough) being held by the Conservatives with an increased majority at the general election on the same day.

Ward results

Arley and Whitacre Ward (3 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Karen Barber	852
	Conservative	Pam Coton	730
	Conservative	Carol Fox	788
	Independent	Richard John Hancocks	252
	Labour	Sharon Jane Moss	770
	Labour	Harry Thomas George Taylor	770
	Labour	Nigel Ivor Turley	823
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Atherstone Central Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Denise Sandra Clews
	Labour	Lorna Elizabeth Dirveiks
	Labour	Neil Adrian David Dirveiks
	Conservative	Tony Wright
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Atherstone North Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gill Davis
	Labour	Anne Forwood
	Labour	Derek Nicholas Alfred Pickard
	Conservative	Martin George Shaw
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Atherstone South and Mancetter Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Cyril Davis
	Conservative	Lorraine Freer
	Labour	Ray Jarvis
	Labour	Ceri Short
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Baddesley and Grendon Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Anne Manley
	Labour	John Sidney Moore
	Conservative	Mel Smith
	Labour	Ray Sweet
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Coleshill North Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeremy Bowden
	Labour	Adam Joseph farrell
	Labour	Dominic Charles Ferro
	Conservative	Peter John Fowler
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Coleshill South Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christopher David Bain
	Labour	Claire Breeze
	Conservative	Gordon James Thomas Sherratt
	Conservative	Andrew Watkins
Majority
Turnout
	gain from		Swing

Curdworth Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Celia Banner
	Labour	Mike Banner
	Conservative	Joan Lea
	Conservative	Mark Simpson
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Dordon Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Steve Fowler
	Conservative	Dave Hanratty
	Conservative	Sue Hanratty
	Labour	Peter Frank Morson
	Labour	John George Winter
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Fillongley Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Ball
	Conservative	Colin Charles Hayfield
	Labour	Mary Phillips
	Conservative	Leslie John Smith
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Hartshill Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kath Johnston
	Labour	Carmel Mary Morson
	Labour	Kieren Luke Moss
	Conservative	Tim Wykes
Majority
Turnout
	gain from		Swing

Hurley and Wood End Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Freer
	Labour	Ann Lewis
	Independent	Tony Moppett
	Labour	Hayden Albert Phillips
	Conservative	Howard Smith
	Independent	Ian Frederick Thomas
Majority
Turnout
	gain from		Swing

Kingsbury Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Carol Ann Ayasamy
	Independent	Andrew Roy Jenns
	Conservative	Dave Moffatt
	Labour	Brian Peter Moss
	Labour	Margaret Ceridwen Moss
	Conservative	Stuart Swan
Majority
Turnout
	gain from		Swing

Newton Regis and Warton Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David John Humphreys
	Conservative	Tilly May
	Labour	Owen George Phillips
	Labour	Eleanor Mary Pugh
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Polesworth East Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Karen Marie Mercer-West
	Conservative	Colin Walter Peat
	Labour	Mick Stanley
	Labour	Yvette Karen Stanley
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Polesworth West Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dave Butcher
	Conservative	Lee Clarke
	Conservative	Wendy Christine Smitten
	Labour	Alison Helen Stanley
Majority
Turnout
			Swing

Water Orton Ward (2 Councillors)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Foley
	Labour	Dan Hodkinson
	Conservative	Allan Francis Holland
	Conservative	Ray Pyne
Majority
Turnout
	gain from		Swing