2008 Three Rivers District Council election

Elections to Three Rivers District Council were held on 1 May 2008. One-third of the council was up for election. The Liberal Democrats won the most seats, despite the Conservatives winning more votes. The Conservatives also gained a seat, strengthening their position against the Liberal Democrats, who remained stayed in overall control of Three Rivers.

The election was marked by the collapse of Labour support in South Oxhey, where Labour had been at their strongest. They lost one seat, Ashridge, to the far-right British National Party (BNP).^[1] Another seat, Northwick, was lost to the Conservatives. Labour's group leader, Kerron Cross, only narrowly retained his seat, with the BNP candidate coming second by 14 votes in a tight three-horse race.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Liberal Democrat 31 (0)
• Conservative 12 (+1)
• Labour 4 (-2)
• British National Party 1 (+1)

Election result

Three Rivers Local Election Result 2008

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	9	0	0	0	52.9	43.6	9,292	-11.3%
	Conservative	5	1	0	+1	29.4	47.1	10,035	+11.4%
	Labour	1	0	2	-2	5.9	5.9	1,266	-1.8%
	BNP	1	1	0	+1	5.9	2.4	502	+2.4%
	English Democrat	0	0	0	0	0	0.7	152	+0.7%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	74	-0.4%

Ward results

Abbots Langley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Major	904	65.0	+4.8
	Conservative	Andy Woodard	387	27.8	+1.1
	Labour	Jeannie Mehta	99	7.1	-5.9
Majority			517	2.7	+3.7
Turnout			1,390	37.6	-3.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+1.9

Ashridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BNP	Padraic Dunning	282	33.8	+33.8
	Conservative	Yessica Gould	264	31.7	-1.8
	Labour	Nena Spellen	244	29.3	-10.3
	UKIP	Andrew Shanks	44	5.3	+5.3
Majority			18	2.1	N/A
Turnout			834	32.0	+3.2
	BNP gain from Labour		Swing	+22.0

Carpenders Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Geoff Dunne	985	56.4	-2.9
	Conservative	Craig Lewell	663	38.0	+4.5
	Labour	Brendan O'Brien	99	5.7	-1.6
Majority			322	18.4	-7.4
Turnout			1747	44.0	-7.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	-3.7

Chorleywood East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Booth	1,015	81.7	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Barbara Green	288	18.3	-7.4
Majority			787	63.3	+14.7
Turnout			1,243	37.9	-8.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.4

Chorleywood West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Harry Davies	1,238	52.5	+3.0
	Conservative	Bob Arthy	1,059	44.9	+0.2
	Labour	Karen McIntosh	62	2.6	-3.2
Majority			179	7.6	+2.8
Turnout			2,359	55.7	-5.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+1.4

Croxley Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Norman	833	51.0	-3.4
	Conservative	Mark Englefield	647	39.6	+5.4
	English Democrat	Roger Holmes	152	9.3	+9.3
Majority			186	11.4	-8.9
Turnout			1,632	38.4	-6.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	-4.4

Hayling

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerron Cross	234	32.3	-25.2
	BNP	Deidre Gates	220	30.3	+30.3
	Conservative	Jacqueline Worrall	186	25.7	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	David Lowes	55	7.6	-11.9
	UKIP	Richard Evans	30	4.1	+4.1
Majority			14	1.9	-27.9
Turnout			725	28.6	-2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-13.9

Langleybury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Whateley-Smith	802	68.1	+5.6
	Conservative	Margaret Lambert	256	21.8	-0.6
	Labour	Stephen Cox	119	10.1	-5.0
Majority			545	46.3	+6.1
Turnout			1,178	32.8	-5.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+3.1

Leavesden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sue Bartrick	807	72.0	+12.7
	Conservative	Christopher Hawes	242	21.6	-8.5
	Labour	Colin Gray	72	6.4	-4.3
Majority			565	50.4	+21.2
Turnout			1,121	27.9	-6.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+10.6

Maple Cross and Mill End

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Wakeling	774	62.4	-2.3
	Conservative	James McGowan	466	37.6	+2.3
Majority			308	24.8	-4.6
Turnout			1,240	30.9	-6.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	-2.3

Moor Park and Eastbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Amrit Mediratta	1,206	76.6	+2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Gabriel Aitman	368	23.4	-2.0
Majority			838	53.2	+4.0
Turnout			1,574	35.7	-7.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.0

Northwick

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alistair Macdonald	284	33.7	+3.7
	Labour	Ron Spellen	282	33.5	-9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Feldman	276	32.8	+6.3
Majority			2	0.2	N/A
Turnout			842	23.6	-3.9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.8

Oxhey Hall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Scarth	593	60.8	+14.5
	Conservative	David Williams	328	33.6	-9.5
	Labour	Leslie Beckett	55	5.6	-5.0
Majority			265	27.2	+23.9
Turnout			976	38.1	-3.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+12.0

Penn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Nelmes	441	58.7
	Conservative	Maximin Green	310	41.3
Majority			131	17.4
Turnout			751	29.9
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Rickmansworth (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paula Hiscocks	957
	Conservative	David Sansom	879
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Humphreys	310
	Liberal Democrats	Jill Swainson	292
Turnout			2,438	36.3
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Rickmansworth West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Russell Smith	885	69.6	+9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Patricia Howell	386	30.4	-5.2
Majority			499	39.3	+14.9
Turnout			1,271	45.8	-5.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.5

Footnotes

1. Korn, Hayley (2 May 2008). "Labour loses to BNP in South Oxhey". Watford Observer. Retrieved 25 May 2008.

References

• BBC News results for Three Rivers
• Results on Three Rivers District Council official website