The 2004 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 10 June 2004 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 ...

. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2003. The council stayed under no overall control, but with the

Conservatives 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 in ...

taking over as the largest party on the council from the

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.

Background

In total 113 candidates stood in the election with all 42 seats being contested for the first time since 1979 after boundary changes had taken place. The boundary changes meant that

Bewdley Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the River Sev ...

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 ...

had gained an extra

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 ...

and become Bewdley and Arley, while

Blakedown Blakedown is a village in the Wyre Forest District lying along the A456 in the north of the county of Worcestershire, England. Following enclosures and the arrival of the railway, it developed both agriculturally and industrially during the 19th c ...

and Chaddesley had been combined into one ward. The Conservatives put up a full slate of 42 candidates with Health Concern having the next most with 27. Other candidates included 24

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 ...

, 9

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 ...

, 7 Liberal Democrats and 3 independents. A noted feature of the candidates was that there were ten married couples standing in the election with two of them being existing councillors. Before the election Health Concern had 16 seats on the council as compared to 11 for the Conservatives. This was a drop for Health Concern from 2003 after 3 councillors had defected to the Conservatives.

Election result

The results had the Conservatives gain 8 seats to become the largest party on the council. This was mainly at the expense of Health Concern whose losses included the leader of the council, Howard Martin. For other parties the election saw the Liberals gain one seat to hold 8, while both Labour and the Liberal Democrats stayed on the same number of seats. The results meant that 14 councillors, a third of the council, would be new.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was up at 38.83% after seeing less than 31% in 2003, with the highest turnout being 54.36% in

Wolverley Wolverley is a village; with nearby Cookley (1 mi northeast), it forms a civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. It is 2 miles north of Kidderminster and lies on the River Stour and the Staffordshire and ...

. The Conservatives success was put down to a strong campaign and they were expected to form the next administration. This would be the first time in 15 years that the Conservatives would have control of Wyre Forest council, with the other parties saying they would not attempt to form a rival coalition leaving the way clear for the Conservatives. The Conservatives were expected to attempt to implement their

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

pledges including bringing a cinema to

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 ...

, changing car parking in Kidderminster and reviewing the fortnightly

refuse collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclable m ...

. Conservative control was confirmed at a council meeting on 30 June with Stephen Clee becoming leader of the council. Meanwhile, Health Concern councillors chose Ken Stokes to become the new leader of their group on the council.

Ward results

By-elections between 2004 and 2006

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 ...

was held in Aggborough and

Spennells Spennells is a suburb of Kidderminster, Worcestershire about a mile south of the town centre. It is located just to the east of the A449 and the railway line between Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England ...

after the death of Conservative councillor Maureen Aston. Candidates at the election included the former leader of the council Howard Martin for Health Concern, a former councillor for the ward, Adrian Sewell for Labour, and the first

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

candidate for an election to Wyre Forest District Council, Kate Spohrer. The seat was held by Conservative John Aston, husband of the former councillor, with a majority of 63 votes over Liberal Democrat Samantha Walker.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2004 2004 English local elections

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2000s in Worcestershire