2002 Sunderland City Council election

The 2002 Sunderland Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council in Tyne and Wear, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Campaign

66 candidates contested the 25 seats that were available in the election.[3] The election was said to be the "first time in recent memory" that every seat that was up for election was contested.[3] Candidates included 6 from the British National Party and an independent, former Conservative group leader Ron Smith, in Pallion ward.[3]

Postal voting in the election was up on the 2001 general election with 9,770 postal votes returned by 1 May, an increase of 3,500 on the general election.[4]

Election result

The results saw Labour easily holding control of the council after losing just 1 seat in the election.[5] The only change came in St Peter's ward with the Conservatives gaining the seat from Labour.[6] Meanwhile, none of the British National Party candidates managed to win a seat,[7] but the party did come second in 2 wards, Town End Farm and Southwick.[6] The results meant Labour held 62 seats after the election, compared to 11 for the Conservatives.[8]

Following the election the Labour leader of the council for the previous 3 years, Colin Anderson, was defeated in a leadership election by Bob Symonds.[9]

Sunderland Local Election Result 2002[10][11]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 21 0 1 -1 84.0 56.9 27,882
  Conservative 3 1 0 +1 12.0 31.9 15,629
  Liberal Democrats 1 0 0 0 4.0 7.9 3,852
  BNP 0 0 0 0 0 3.1 1,537
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 121

Ward results
Castletown[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Foster 1,248 86.2
Conservative Gwennyth Gibson 199 13.8
Majority 1,049 72.5
Turnout 1,447
Labour hold Swing
Central[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Hollern 949 59.3
Liberal Democrats John Jackson 337 21.1
Conservative Dorreen Storey 314 19.6
Majority 612 38.3
Turnout 1,600
Labour hold Swing
Colliery[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Maureen Ambrose 1,070 62.2
Conservative John Brown 651 37.8
Majority 419 24.3
Turnout 1,721
Labour hold Swing
Eppleton[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Elizabeth Bell 1,239 67.0
Conservative David Wilson 611 33.0
Majority 628 33.9
Turnout 1,850
Labour hold Swing
Fulwell[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Norman Bohill 1,863 66.5
Labour Gary Hollern 609 21.7
Liberal Democrats Amie Leung 181 6.5
BNP Joseph Dobbie 148 5.3
Majority 1,254 44.8
Turnout 2,801
Conservative hold Swing
Grindon[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Scott 902 67.0
Conservative David Francis 445 33.0
Majority 457 33.9
Turnout 1,347
Labour hold Swing
Hendon[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Martin 1,092 45.0
Conservative Kathryn Chamberlin 992 40.9
BNP David Guynan 340 14.0
Majority 100 4.1
Turnout 2,424
Labour hold Swing
Hetton[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Richard Tate 1,186 75.1
Conservative Olwyn Bird 394 24.9
Majority 792 50.1
Turnout 1,580
Labour hold Swing
Houghton[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joseph Lawson 1,341 80.3
Conservative Gordon Newton 330 19.7
Majority 1,011 60.5
Turnout 1,671
Labour hold Swing
Pallion[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Brian Dodds 1,148 44.4
Conservative Stephen Daughton 1,032 39.9
Liberal Democrats Elizabeth Foreman 286 11.1
Independent Ronald Smith 121 4.7
Majority 116 4.5
Turnout 2,587
Labour hold Swing
Ryhope[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Wares 1,451 69.8
Conservative William Dunn 628 30.2
Majority 823 39.6
Turnout 2,079
Labour hold Swing
St Chad's[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Leslie Scott 1,433 58.2
Conservative Alistair Newton 1,030 41.8
Majority 403 16.4
Turnout 2,463
Labour hold Swing
St Michael's[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Forbes 1,923 66.9
Labour Phillip Gibson 950 33.1
Majority 973 33.9
Turnout 2,873
Conservative hold Swing
St Peter's[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Arnott 1,047 39.4
Labour Christine Shattock 952 35.8
Liberal Democrats John Lennox 657 24.7
Majority 95 3.6
Turnout 2,656
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Shiney Row[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kathryn Rolph 1,423 72.5
Conservative Marjorie Matthews 539 27.5
Majority 884 45.1
Turnout 1,962
Labour hold Swing
Silksworth[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Gibson 1,623 72.2
Conservative Patricia Francis 484 21.5
BNP David Rogers 141 6.3
Majority 1,139 50.7
Turnout 2,248
Labour hold Swing
South Hylton[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas Wright 898 68.4
Conservative Michael Dixon 415 31.6
Majority 483 36.8
Turnout 1,313
Labour hold Swing
Southwick[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Paul Stewart 933 62.9
BNP Alan Brettwood 292 19.7
Liberal Democrats Jane Walters 167 11.3
Conservative Alice Mclaren 92 6.2
Majority 641 43.2
Turnout 1,484
Labour hold Swing
Thorney Close[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Robert Kirby 1,011 67.1
Conservative Paula Wilkinson 260 17.3
BNP Joseph Dobbie 235 15.6
Majority 751 49.9
Turnout 1,506
Labour hold Swing
Thornholme[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Mark Greenfield 1,113 56.6
Labour Leonard Lamb 594 30.2
Conservative Neville Chamberlin 260 13.2
Majority 519 26.4
Turnout 1,967
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Town End Farm[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Richard Bell 831 61.1
BNP John Martin 381 28.0
Conservative Gillian Connor 149 10.9
Majority 450 33.1
Turnout 1,361
Labour hold Swing
Washington East[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Derek Sleightholme 1,463 62.1
Conservative Jacqueline Atkinson 537 22.8
Liberal Democrats Avril Kitching 357 15.1
Majority 926 39.3
Turnout 2,357
Labour hold Swing
Washington North[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Walker 1,136 79.5
Conservative Kathleen Irvine 293 20.5
Majority 843 59.0
Turnout 1,429
Labour hold Swing
Washington South[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Young 1,325 49.8
Conservative Lee Martin 871 32.7
Liberal Democrats Owen Dumpleton 466 17.5
Majority 454 17.1
Turnout 2,662
Labour hold Swing
Washington West[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Stephenson 1,075 65.8
Liberal Democrats David Griffin 288 17.6
Conservative Justin Garrod 270 16.5
Majority 787 48.2
Turnout 1,633
Labour hold Swing

References
  1. "Sunderland". BBC News Online. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  2. "Full results". Financial Times. 4 May 2002. p. 7.
  3. Unwin, Bruce (8 April 2002). "Line-up lists closed for council seats campaigners". The Northern Echo. p. 6.
  4. "Postal voting soars in BNP candidate areas". The Times. 1 May 2002. p. 10.
  5. Summers, Deborah (3 May 2002). "BNP fails to make impact in English council polls". The Herald. p. 1.
  6. "No Headline". The Northern Echo. 3 May 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  7. "Still no sign of recovery for the Tories". The Times. 3 May 2002. p. 1.
  8. Tapping, Colin (4 May 2002). "Labour suffers disappointment in triplicate at mayoral elections". The Northern Echo. p. 9.
  9. Foster, Sarah (7 May 2002). "Labour group opts for new man". The Northern Echo. p. 6.
  10. "Sunderland". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  11. "Election results; Local Election". The Times. 4 May 2002. p. 16.
Preceded by
2000 Sunderland City Council election		 Sunderland City Council elections Succeeded by
2003 Sunderland City Council election
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