The 2002 Redditch Borough Council election of 2 May 2002 elected members of

Redditch Borough Council Redditch Borough Council is the local authority for Redditch, a non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Worcestershire, England. History The town of Redditch was made a Local board of health#Loc ...

in the

West Midlands region The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level for Statistics, statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known tradit ...

, England. One third of the council stood for re-election and the Labour Party lost overall control of the council to

no overall control In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...

for the first time in many years. After the election, the council comprised: * Labour 14 *

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

12 *

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

Campaign

Before the election only a small swing would have seen the Labour party lose its majority on Redditch council, with the opposition

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

and Liberal Democrats only needing to pick up three seats between them for this to happen. The Labour Party was defending seven of the eleven seats to be decided and campaigned on its success over the previous years in eliminating all council debt. There was an extra seat in West

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 ...

where the Conservative leader on the council, Carol Grandy, stood down.

Election results

Labour lost its majority but remained the largest party. Labour had held control of the council for the previous 20 years but lost this after the other parties gained three seats in the election. Among Labour losses was its leader on the council, Albert Wharrad, who lost in Winyates ward to the Liberal Democrats. One of the closest results was in Lodge Park ward where Labour held on by 22 votes and Mohammed Nasir became the first Asian

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

on Redditch council. The results meant no party had a majority on the council for the first time in over 50 years, and the Conservative party claimed that the results would have been sufficient for them to have gained Redditch constituency in a

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Turnout in the election was higher than in the last few years at 29.8%. Following the election the Labour and Conservative parties on the council elected new leaders and attempted to gain Liberal Democrat support to control the council. However the Liberal Democrats said that they would not form an agreement with either Labour or the Conservatives on their own. In the end at the council's annual general meeting on 15 May all parties joined the executive of the council, which was formed with four Labour, three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat members. The Conservatives had wanted an executive in which both they and Labour had the same number of seats and accused the Liberal Democrats of backing Labour to prevent this. The new Labour leader, David Cartwright, was elected leader of the council and retained the chairman's

casting vote A casting vote is a vote that someone may exercise to resolve a tied vote in a deliberative body. A casting vote is typically by the presiding officer of a council, legislative body, committee, etc., and may only be exercised to break a deadlock ...

Ward results

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2002

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2002 English local elections 2000s in Worcestershire