The 2006 Winchester Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

District Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

gained overall control of the council from no overall control. After the election, the composition of the council was: * Conservative 29 * Liberal Democrat 21 * Independent 4 *

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 ...

Campaign

Before the election the Liberal Democrats had 26 seats, the Conservatives 22, independents 5 and

4. 19 seats were being contested with 4 Liberal Democrat and 1 independent councillors standing down at the election, while the council leader Sheila Campbell and 2 other cabinet members were defending seats. Issues in the election included anti-social behaviour, council tax, rural transportation and planning policy.

Election result

The count was disrupted delaying the last result after some of the ballot papers were set on fire meaning water had to be poured into the ballot box. The results saw the Conservatives take control of the council for the first time since the early 1990s. They gained 7 seats included 5 from the Liberal Democrats and 1 each from Labour and the independents. Conservatives defeated both the Liberal Democrat council leader Sheila Campbell and the Labour leader Patrick Davies. The widespread press coverage earlier in the year about the local Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten having had sex with male prostitutes was seen as having damaged the Liberal Democrats and benefited the Conservatives. In the July after the election Oaten announced that he would be standing down from parliament at the next general election. Following the election George Beckett became the new Conservative leader of the council.

Ward results

Bishop's Waltham

Cheriton & Bishops Sutton

Colden Common and Twyford

Denmead

Droxford, Soberton and Hambledon

Kings Worthy

Olivers Battery & Badger Farm

Owslebury & Curdridge

Shedfield

Sparsholt

St. Barnabas

St. Bartholomew

St. John and All Saints

St. Luke

St. Michael

St. Paul

Swanmore and Newton

The Alresfords

Wonston and Micheldever

References

{{Hampshire elections

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2006 English local elections 2000s in Hampshire