West Oxfordshire UK local election 2015 map

The 2015 West Oxfordshire District Council election took place on 22 May 2015 to elect members of

West Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based. Area The area is mainly rural downland ...

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 county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Council in Oxfordshire,

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

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 ...

stayed in overall control of the council. After the election, the composition of the council was: *

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 in ...

40 *

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 ...

4 * Liberal Democrats 4 *

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 ...

Background

After the last election in 2014 the Conservatives controlled the council with 40

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, while

had five seats, the Liberal Democrats had three seats and there was one

. 17 seats were contested in 2015, with 2 seats being elected in Hailey,

Minster Lovell Minster Lovell is a village and civil parish on the River Windrush about west of Witney in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,409. Minster Lovell village has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New ...

and

Leafield Leafield is a village and civil parish about northwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Langley, west of Leafield village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 945. The village is above sea lev ...

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 ...

after the resignation of a councillor. Four councillors stood down at the election, Mark Booty, Eve Coles, Hywel Davies and Simon Hoare, while 13 councillors sought re-election. The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties each had a full 17 candidates, the Greens had 16 candidates and the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

had 14 candidates.

Election result

The Conservatives remained in control of the council with 40 councillors after winning 16 of the 17 seats contested. They gained a seat in

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

from Labour, but in

Charlbury Charlbury () is a town and civil parish in the Evenlode valley, about north of Witney in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the edge of Wychwood Forest and the Cotswolds. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's po ...

and

Finstock Finstock is a village and civil parish about south of Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. The parish is bounded to the northeast by the River Evenlode, to the southeast partly by the course of Akeman Street Roman road, and on other sides by ...

Liberal Democrat Andy Graham took the seat from the Conservatives. This left both Labour and the Liberal Democrats with four seats, while there remained one independent councillor. All 13 councillors who stood again were re-elected and overall turnout at the election was 71.58%.

Ward results

By-elections between 2015 and 2016

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

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

North on 20 August 2015 after

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 ...

David Snow resigned from the council in June 2015. David Snow had been originally elected as a Conservative but resigned from the party in May 2013. The seat was gained for the Conservatives by Carol Reynolds with a majority of 63 votes over Liberal Democrat Diane West.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2015 2015 English local elections May 2015 events in the United Kingdom 2015 2010s in Oxfordshire