# 2008 Worthing Borough Council election

The 2008 Worthing Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Worthing Borough Council in West Sussex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council. Overall turnout was 35%.
Candidates from five political parties took part in the election from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, British National Party, Labour and United Kingdom Independence Party and one candidate standing on a "Stop! Durrington's Overdevelopment – Save Titnore's Trees" platform. The results of the election were declared at a joint count with Adur council, the first time such a joint count had taken place in West Sussex. The count saw an incident where one candidate, Dawn Smith, was arrested after some of her supporters were prevented from entering the count.
The results saw the Conservatives gain three seats to increase their majority on the council. They gained Broadwater ward from the Liberal Democrats, and also Goring where the previous councillor had defected from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats. The third Conservative gain was in Offington where the previous councillor, Mark McCarthy, had been elected as a Conservative, but had resigned to sit as an independent Conservative. The Liberal Democrats did make one gain when they took Selden ward, where the previous Conservative councillor had stood down.
After the election, the composition of the council was:
* Conservative 25
* Liberal Democrat 12

## Election result

Worthing local election result 2008 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Conservative | 9 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 69.2 | 50.5 | 13,137 | -1.9% |
| Liberal Democrats | 4 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 30.8 | 37.0 | 9,632 | +4.4% |
| UKIP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.7 | 2,008 | +2.2% |
| Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.1 | 813 | -1.6% |
| BNP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 | 326 | +1.3% |
| Stop Durrington's Overdevelopment – Save Titnore's Trees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 99 | -0.2% |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Ward results

Broadwater :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Don Allen | 977 | 47.4 | −2.2 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Nick John | 952 | 46.2 | +2.2 |
| | Labour | John Turley | 132 | 6.4 | 0.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 25 | 1.2 | −4.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,061 | | |
| | Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | | |
Castle :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Democrats | David Potter | 1,167 | 55.8 | |
| | Conservative | Ruth White | 926 | 44.2 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 241 | 11.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,093 | 33 | −2.5 |
| | Liberal Democrats hold | Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | | |
Central :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Martin Coppard | 791 | 44.9 | +2.2 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Neil Condon | 698 | 39.6 | +8.8 |
| | Labour | Peter Barnes | 148 | 8.4 | −0.4 |
| | UKIP | Christopher Woodward | 126 | 7.1 | +2.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 93 | 5.3 | −6.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,763 | 28 | −3.5 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Durrington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Democrats | Michael Donin | 708 | 45.6 | |
| | Conservative | Mark Withers | 631 | 40.6 | |
| | UKIP | Chris Chatfield | 215 | 13.8 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 77 | 5.0 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,554 | 35 | −1.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats hold | Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | | |
Gaisford :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Ann Barlow | 1,026 | 48.5 | +1.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Janet Goldsbrough-Jones | 951 | 45.0 | +8.1 |
| | Labour | Hazel Rennie | 137 | 6.5 | −0.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 75 | 3.5 | −7.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,114 | 32 | −3.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Goring :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Mary Lermitte | 1,921 | 68.3 | +5.4 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Merlin Jones | 523 | 18.6 | +4.4 |
| | UKIP | Richard Bater | 368 | 13.1 | +1.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,398 | 49.7 | +1.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,812 | 42 | −1.0 |
| | Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | | |
Heene :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Paul High | 1,018 | 61.7 | +8.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Alan Jones | 632 | 38.3 | +14.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 386 | 23.4 | −6.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,650 | 28 | −3.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Marine :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Joan Bradley | 1,351 | 63.2 | −0.2 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Gary Riding | 508 | 23.8 | +9.4 |
| | UKIP | Phil Ruddock | 278 | 13.0 | +5.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 843 | 39.4 | −9.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,137 | 33 | −3.7 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Northbrook :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Mary Harding | 372 | 40.5 | −5.0 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Michael Cranefield | 354 | 38.6 | −15.9 |
| | Stop Durrington's Overdevelopment – Save Titnore's Trees | Dawn Smith | 99 | 10.8 | +10.8 |
| | BNP | Jim Baxter | 93 | 10.1 | +10.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 18 | 1.9 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 918 | 26 | +3.9 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Offington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Elizabeth Sparkes | 1,533 | 64.8 | −12.4 |
| | UKIP | Mike Glennon | 402 | 17.0 | +17.0 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Patricia Izod | 289 | 12.2 | −5.6 |
| | Labour | John Gardiner | 142 | 6.0 | +0.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,131 | 47.8 | −11.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,366 | 38 | −1.0 |
| | Conservative gain from Independent | Conservative gain from Independent | Swing | | |
Salvington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Jacqui Marsh | 1,311 | 57.5 | −3.8 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jacqueline Cranefield | 540 | 23.7 | −0.4 |
| | UKIP | Ron Brooks | 428 | 18.8 | +4.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 771 | 33.8 | −3.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,279 | 32 | −3.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Selden :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Democrats | James Doyle | 1,227 | 54.1 | +9.5 |
| | Conservative | Stephanie Hedley-Barnes | 673 | 29.7 | −15.5 |
| | BNP | David Little | 233 | 10.3 | +10.3 |
| | Labour | Ann Saunders | 133 | 5.9 | −4.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 554 | 34.4 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,266 | 39 | +3.0 |
| | Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Tarring :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Democrats | Norah Fisher | 1,083 | 54.1 | −4.2 |
| | Conservative | David Ide | 607 | 30.3 | +1.0 |
| | UKIP | Ann Brown | 191 | 9.5 | +2.8 |
| | Labour | Sid Wells | 121 | 6.0 | +0.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 476 | 23.8 | −5.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,002 | 31 | −2.8 |
| | Liberal Democrats hold | Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | | |