The 2015 Wychavon District Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of

Wychavon Wychavon is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, with a population size of 132,500 according to the 2021 census. Its council is based in the town of Pershore, and the other towns in the district are Droitwich Spa and Evesh ...

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

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 H ...

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 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.

Background

After the 2011 elections to Wychavon District Council the Conservatives controlled the council with 39

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 the Liberal Democrats had five seats and there was one Labour Party councillor. In March 2012 the Conservative councillor for Lovett and North

Claines Claines is a small village just to the north of Worcester, England, on the east bank of the River Severn. Claines is situated in the heart of Worcestershire on the A449 between Worcester and Kidderminster. It has a church which dates from the 10t ...

, Alan Fisher, was suspended from the council for 6 months and on his return sat as an

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 ...

councillor. Another change came in December 2013 when the councillor for Elmley Castle and Somerville, Roma Kirke, left the Conservatives to become an independent, before resigning from the council in December 2014. A further seat was vacant at the 2015 election in Badsey

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 death of Conservative councillor Reg Jakeman, leaving the Conservatives with 36 seats, Liberal Democrats five, Labour one and there was one independent. The 2015 election was the first time where

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

, district and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

elections were held at the same time in Wychavon since Wychavon District Council was founded in 1974. Over 100 candidates stood in the district election, up from 72 in 2011 and the number of contested wards increased from 21 to 28. Four Conservative candidates were elected unopposed in Bredon, Drakes Broughton,

Honeybourne Honeybourne is a village and civil parish about east of Evesham in Worcestershire, England. Much of the parish is farmland. RAF Honeybourne just south of the village was operational from 1940 until 1947. History Honeybourne was two village ...

and

Pebworth Pebworth is a village and civil parish in the county of Worcestershire, lying about 5 miles north-north-west of the town of Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire. Until 1931, the parish – which includes the hamlet of Broad Marston – was itself ...

, and

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

and

Whittington Whittington may refer to: Places * Whittington, Victoria, Australia * Whittington, Illinois, United States England * Old Whittington, Derbyshire * New Whittington, Derbyshire * Whittington Moor, Derbyshire * Whittington, Gloucestershire * Whit ...

wards.

Election result

The Conservatives retained control of the council after winning 39 seats, the same as in 2011, but up from immediately before the election. Labour lost their only seat on the council to the Conservatives in

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. The ...

West, after the Labour councillor Peter Pinfield stood down at the election, which meant the Conservatives won every seat in Droitwich. The Liberal Democrats remained the largest opposition party on the council with five seats, after holding all of the seats they had been defending. The only other councillor elected was Ged Bearcroft for 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 ...

in Great Hampton ward. He defeated the Conservative councillor for the previous 32 years, John Smith, by 17 votes after a recount, to win the first ever UK Independence Party seat on Wychavon District Council. Overall turnout at the election was 70.19%, up from 47% in 2011 and 42% in 2007, and reaching 81.78% in Bowbrook. Following the election the Conservative leader of the council, Paul Middlebrough, stepped down as leader after eight years and was succeeded by Linda Robinson.

Ward results

By-elections between 2015 and 2019

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 Droitwich East on 30 July 2015 after the death of Conservative councillor Glenise Noyes. The seat was held for the Conservatives by Karen Tomalin with a majority of the 320 votes over Labour party candidate Jacqueline O'Reilly. Two by-elections were held on 4 May 2017. A by-election was held in Evesham South after the retirement of Ken Barclay on health grounds. The seat was held for the Conservatives by Matt Snape with a majority of 351 votes over the Liberal Democrat candidate Julie Haines. A by-election was held in Droitwich South East following the death of Maureen Lawley. The seat was held for the Conservatives by Sital Harris with a majority of 903 votes over the Liberal Democrat candidate Adrian Key.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2015 2015

May 2015 events in the United Kingdom