The 2002 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of

Wyre Forest __NOTOC__ Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust, lies wi ...

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Council in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. One third of the council was up for election and the

Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, (often known as Independent Community And Health Concern and abbreviated as ICHC) is a political party based in Kidderminster, United Kingdom. The party was founded in 2000, having grown ou ...

party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. After the election, the composition of the council was: *

Health Concern Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, (often known as Independent Community And Health Concern and abbreviated as ICHC) is a political party based in Kidderminster, United Kingdom. The party was founded in 2000, having grown ou ...

21 *

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

6 *

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

5 *

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

5 * Liberal Democrats 2 *

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

2 *Vacant 1

Campaign

Before the election the council was run by a coalition of Health Concern,

, Liberal Democrats and

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s. 14 seats were initially expected to be contested with the Conservatives unopposed in Chaddesley

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

. However, in mid April the defending Liberal Democrat councillor for Sutton Park, Steve Roberts, died meaning that the election in that ward was postponed until a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

could be held. With

defending 6 of the seats which were being contested there was an expectation that the Health Concern group could gain a majority on the council. Since the last election in 2000, Richard Taylor from Health Concern had gained the

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

from Labour in the 2001 general election. The issue of the downgrading of the local

Kidderminster hospital Kidderminster Hospital is an acute general hospital in Kidderminster in Worcestershire, England. It is managed by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Kidderminster Union Workhouse Infirmary wh ...

, which had dominated the last two council election, continued to remain a significant theme of the campaign. Another issue which was raised in the campaign was concern over plans to establish a new incinerator in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...

, which was opposed by all the parties contesting the election.

Election result

The results saw the Health Concern party gain control of the council after making a net gain of five seats. This meant that Health Concern had 21 seats, 15 more than any other party. They thus had control of the council on the chairman's

casting vote A casting vote is a vote that someone may exercise to resolve a tied vote in a deliberative body. A casting vote is typically by the presiding officer of a council, legislative body, committee, etc., and may only be exercised to break a deadlock ...

. The gains for Health Concern were mainly at the expense of Labour who lost five seats, with the Liberal Democrats also losing a seat. However both the Conservative and Liberal parties gained one seat each. Overall turnout at the election was 32%.

Ward results

By-elections between 2002 and 2003

was held in Sutton Park on 13 June 2002 after the death of Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Roberts. The seat was gained for the Conservatives by Marcus Hart with a majority of 77 votes over Health Concern candidate Jennifer Harrison. This meant Health Concern no longer had a majority on the council, but continued to run the council with the

of the council chairman, as they had 21 of the 42 seats on the council.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2002

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2000s in Worcestershire