# 2012 Craven District Council election

The 2012 Craven District Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.
After the election, the composition of the council was as follows:
* Conservative 16
* Independent 10
* Liberal Democrats 4

## Background

Before the election the Conservatives controlled the council with 30 seats, compared to 9 independents and 3 Liberal Democrats. The Conservative leader of the council, Chris Knowles-Fitton, was among the councillors to defend their seats, standing in Barden Fell ward, while in Ingleton and Clapham, the sitting independent councillor David Ireton stood at the election as a Conservative. Meanwhile, the Conservative councillor for Hellifield and Long Preston for the past 13 years, Helen Firth, resigned from the council in March 2012 to leave that seat vacant before the election.

## Election result

The number of Conservative councillors was reduced by 2 to 16, but they retained a majority of 2 seats over the 10 independents and 4 Liberal Democrats.
Independents gained 2 seats from the Conservatives after John Kerwin-Davy took Skipton North from the Conservatives, while Chris Moorby won by 34 votes the seat in Hellifeild and Long Preston vacated by Conservative Helen Firth. However the Conservatives picked up a seat in Ingleton and Clapham as David Ireton won the seat as a Conservative, after previously being an independent councillor for the same seat. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats also gained up a seat from the Conservatives in Skipton East, where Eric Jaquin took the seat from Pam Heseltine.
Craven local election result 2012 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Conservative | 7 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 58.3 | 50.1 | 5,135 | +14.5% |
| Independent | 3 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 25.0 | 14.2 | 1,457 | -20.9% |
| Liberal Democrats | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 16.7 | 17.1 | 1,748 | +6.8% |
| Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.4 | 1,681 | -0.8% |
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.3 | 231 | +0.5% |

## Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Patricia Fairbank | 610 | 63.0 | +20.7 |
| | Labour | Paul Routledge | 359 | 37.0 | +26.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 251 | 25.9 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 969 | 33.4 | −41.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Barden Fell :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher Knowles-Fitton | 377 | 72.4 | −10.9 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Clive Bowers | 144 | 27.6 | +10.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 233 | 44.7 | −22.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 521 | 39.8 | −9.8 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Cowling :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Adrian Green | 311 | 60.4 | −9.1 |
| | Labour | Andrew Rankine | 204 | 39.6 | +9.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 107 | 20.8 | −18.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 515 | 28.9 | −10.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Grassington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Richard Foster | 390 | 73.7 | −3.4 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Edward Walker | 139 | 26.3 | +3.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 251 | 47.4 | −6.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 529 | 39.9 | −12.5 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Hellifield and Long Preston :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Robert Moorby | 489 | 51.8 | +51.8 |
| | Conservative | Richard Thwaite | 455 | 48.2 | −11.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 34 | 3.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 944 | 53.5 | −17.4 |
| | Independent gain from Conservative | Independent gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Ingleton and Clapham :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | David Ireton | 807 | 74.7 | +16.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Mark Christie | 273 | 25.3 | −7.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 534 | 49.4 | +23.5 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,080 | 35.2 | −37.1 |
| | Conservative gain from Independent | Conservative gain from Independent | Swing | | |
Settle and Ribblebanks :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Donald Whaites | 696 | 66.5 | +24.2 |
| | Labour | Christopher Baker | 350 | 33.5 | +33.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 346 | 33.1 | +28.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,046 | 35.6 | −36.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
Skipton East :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Democrats | Eric Jaquin | 480 | 46.7 | +15.9 |
| | Conservative | Pamela Heseltine | 289 | 28.1 | −16.7 |
| | Labour | Christine Rose | 259 | 25.2 | +0.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 191 | 18.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,028 | 37.3 | −10.4 |
| | Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Skipton North :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | John Kerwin-Davey | 358 | 30.3 | +5.1 |
| | Conservative | Paul Whitaker | 296 | 25.0 | −9.8 |
| | Green | Claire Nash | 231 | 19.5 | +5.2 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Roland Wohlrapp | 185 | 15.7 | +2.1 |
| | Labour | James Black | 112 | 9.5 | −2.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 62 | 5.2 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,182 | 42.0 | −11.1 |
| | Independent gain from Conservative | Independent gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
Skipton South :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Andrew Solloway | 382 | 54.7 | −2.1 |
| | Labour | Duncan Hall | 179 | 25.6 | +4.1 |
| | Conservative | Nathan Harrison | 83 | 11.9 | −2.6 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Maureen Greene | 54 | 7.7 | +0.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 203 | 29.1 | −6.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 698 | 24.7 | −8.2 |
| | Independent hold | Independent hold | Swing | | |
Skipton West :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Democrats | Paul English | 379 | 36.5 | +9.4 |
| | Independent | Bernard Clarke | 228 | 22.0 | +4.3 |
| | Labour | Peter Madeley | 218 | 21.0 | −0.8 |
| | Conservative | Kelly Hayes-Head | 213 | 20.5 | −6.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 151 | 14.5 | +13.9 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,038 | 34.6 | −4.5 |
| | Liberal Democrats hold | Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | | |
Upper Wharfedale :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | John Roberts | 608 | 86.6 | +13.0 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Hazel Bulcock | 94 | 13.4 | −13.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 514 | 73.2 | +25.9 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 702 | 45.9 | −16.6 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |