County

County Elections 2017 – Results in OX3

TonyOX3

Here are the results of the county council elections in the four OX3 Divisions, held on 4 May 2017.

Overall there were no surprises and no change in the parties holding each seat. There were no strong signs in our area either of a Labour collapse or a LibDem surge. The absence of UKIP meant there were significant blocks of votes to go elsewhere. Turnout was generally close to 10 percentage points higher than in the County elections four years ago.

I think the Greens will be disappointed to come bottom in three divisions and next to bottom in Churchill & Lye Valley. However, they have a habit of fielding paper candidates, even to the extent of advertising for people to stand as such not long before the elections. The only Green who I know campaigned was Symon Hill in BS&R (if you know of others please leave a comment), but even so he couldn’t make any headway against the other parties.

Barton, Sandhills & Risinghurst

Election result
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Independent Chaka Artwell appears to have collected a sizeable chunk of the UKIP vote, though perhaps this was more of a ‘none of the above’ vote rather than a vote for Mr Artwell’s politics. The Conservatives also appear to have gained some votes from UKIP.

Churchill & Lye Valley

Election result
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No UKIP effect here but a small increase in the Conservative vote, and as in BS&R a slight drop for Labour and a small increase for the LibDems.

Headington & Quarry

Election result
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It’s hard to believe that the big rise in the LibDem vote was due to votes transferred from UKIP, but it doesn’t look like they went anywhere else. Perhaps UKIP voters didn’t bother to turn out. Despite an active campaign newcomer Bill Asquith (Lab) couldn’t repeat the close race run by Dee Sinclair four years ago, so Roz Smith (LibDem) saw her majority rise from 31 to 892.

Marston & Northway

Election result
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In 2013 UKIP’s Nicholas Fell and Independent Charlie Haynes took 27.5% of the votes between them, so it’s not surprising that the four candidates standing this time all saw an increase in their share of the vote. The big increases went to the Conservatives and LibDems, with re-elected Mark Lygo (Lab) only picking up a 2.8 percentage point increase and seeing his lead over Mark Bhagwandin (Con) drop from 32.6 percentage points to 24.0.

County Elections 4 May 2017

TonyOX3

Here are the candidates in the four Headington divisions for the county elections on 4 May 2017. All sitting candidates (marked *) are standing for re-election. Several of the other names may ring a bell; Chaka Artwell (Ind) , Peter Coggins (LibDem), Miranda Shaw (Green) and Maria Bourbon (LibDem) have all stood unsuccessfully for election in this area in recent years. This will be the fourth time Duncan Hatfield (Con) and Alistair Morris (Green) have stood since 2012, and Mark Bhagwandin (Con) tops my list of serial candidates – this is his fifth try at being elected in OX3 since 2012.

In the last County elections there were two UKIP candidates in this area. This time there are none, and there is only one in the whole of the city (in Jericho and Osney).

The candidates standing in the city by-election in Barton & Sandhills Ward on the same day are here.

County Elections

BARTON, SANDHILLS & RISINGHURST
Cath Convery Con
† Symon Hill Green
† Chaka Artwell Ind
Glynis Phillips * Lab
† Steve Wheeler Lib Dem
† Also a candidate in city by-election, Barton & Sandhills
CHURCHILL & LYE VALLEY
Johnson Kyeswa Con
Steven Dawe Green
Liz Brighouse * Lab
Peter Coggins Lib Dem
HEADINGTON & QUARRY
Duncan Hatfield Con
Miranda Shaw Green
Bill Asquith Lab
Roz Smith * Lib Dem
MARSTON & NORTHWAY
Mark Bhagwandin Con
Alistair Morris Green
Mark Lygo * Lab
Maria Bourbon Lib Dem

The full official list of candidates for the whole of Oxford City is here.