2006 Craven District Council election

Map of the results of the 2006 Craven District Council election. Independents in light grey, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow. Wards in dark grey were not contested in 2006.

The 2006 Craven District Council election took place on 4 May 2006 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 as follows:

• Conservative 13
• Independent 11
• Liberal Democrats 6[2]

Candidates

Candidates at the election included possibly the oldest candidate in the country, Bob Leakey, at the age of 91, who stood for his own Virtue Currency Cognitive Appraisal Party in Settle and Ribblebanks, after having stood at the 2005 general election in Skipton and Ripon constituency.[3] Another candidate at the election was the leader of the Craven Ratepayers Action Group, Alan Perrow, who was nominated for the Conservatives, against independent councillor Philip Barrett.[3] However Perrow quit the party days after being approached to be a Conservative candidate, to instead stand independently at the election, although he was still on the ballot paper as a Conservative.[4]

Election result

There was no change in the composition of the council, after all of the sitting councillors held the seats they were defending.[5] This left the Conservatives with 13 seats, independents had 11 seats and there were 6 Liberal Democrats.[5]

Craven local election result 2006[2][6]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	4	0	0	0	44.4	30.3	2,646	+5.4%
	Conservative	3	0	0	0	33.3	45.4	3,960	+3.8%
	Liberal Democrats	2	0	0	0	22.2	23.3	2,035	-6.6%
	Virtue Currency Cognitive Appraisal Party	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	83	+1.0%

Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Wheeler	644	53.0	+26.5
	Conservative	Irene Greaves	572	47.0	−5.7
Majority			72	5.9
Turnout			1,216	44.7	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Bentham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Manuel Camacho	685	57.6	+9.1
	Conservative	William Burton	505	42.4	−9.1
Majority			180	15.1
Turnout			1,190	41.3
	Independent hold		Swing

Gargrave and Malhamdale[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Butcher	758	66.6	+8.1
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Jerger	380	33.4	−8.1
Majority			378	33.2	+16.1
Turnout			1,138	47.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Glusburn[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Philip Barrett	946	73.8
	Conservative	Alan Perrow	336	26.2
Majority			610	47.6
Turnout			1,282	41.2
	Independent hold		Swing

Hellifield and Long Preston[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Helen Firth	461	61.2
	Independent	Victoria Lunn	292	38.8
Majority			169	22.4
Turnout			753	44.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ingleton and Clapham[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Carl Lis	unopposed
	Independent hold		Swing

Penyghent[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Welch	434	59.5	+4.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Fawcett	295	40.5	+40.5
Majority			139	19.1	+9.8
Turnout			729	49.8	−1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Settle and Ribblebanks[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Heather	716	54.2	+4.7
	Conservative	Robert Firth	522	39.5	−11.0
	Virtue Currency Cognitive Appraisal Party	Robert Leakey	83	6.3	+6.3
Majority			194	14.7
Turnout			1,321	46.3	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Sutton-in-Craven[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Stephen Place	723	66.0
	Conservative	David Harrison	372	34.0
Majority			351	32.1
Turnout			1,095	39.9
	Independent hold		Swing

References

1. "Local elections: Craven". BBC News. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
2. "UK local election results". Financial Times. London: NewsBank. 5 May 2006.
3. "Council critic joins Tories for election". West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Counties Publications. NewsBank. 7 April 2006.
4. Tyack, Tom (21 April 2006). "Tory candidate quits days after joining party". Craven Herald & Pioneer. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
5. Moore, Lindsey (5 May 2006). "Election brings no change to council make-up". Craven Herald & Pioneer. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
6. "Declaration of Result of Poll" (PDF). Craven District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2015 – via Political Science Resources.
7. "Local Election Results 2006". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 14 March 2015.