# 2015 East Dorset District Council election

The 2015 East Dorset District Council election took place on 7 May 2015 in order to elect members of the East Dorset District Council in Dorset, England. The whole council was up for election after boundary changes reduced the number of seats by seven. The Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.

## Background

Before the election, the Conservatives controlled the council with 30 councillors, whilst the Liberal Democrats with just six seats were the only other party on the council. However, in December 2014 the former leader of Dorset County Council councillor Spencer Flower was suspended from the Conservative Party after being charged by police and both Flower and his wife Toni Coombs stood for re-election as independents at the 2015 election. As they were the only candidates in Verwood West ward they were elected without opposition.
In three other wards, Crane, Handley Vale and Verwood East, the Conservative candidates were also unopposed. This meant 12 wards had elections in 2015 with a total of 66 candidates contesting them.
Boundary changes since the last election in 2011 reduced the number of councillors from 36 to 29. These changes also reduced the number of wards to 16, with four wards electing three councillors, five electing two and seven electing one.

## Election result

The Conservatives remained in control of the council with 24 of the 29 seats. The only three contested seats that were not won by the Conservatives, were won by the Liberal Democrats, who won both seats in Wimborne Minster, as well as one seat in Colehill East.
East Dorset local election result 2015 :
| Party | Seats | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Conservative | 24 | -6 | 82.8 | 55.1 | 44,844 | -5.7% |
| Liberal Democrats | 3 | -3 | 10.3 | 13.6 | 11,069 | -15.6% |
| Independent | 2 | +2 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 2,470 | +3.0% |
| UKIP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23.6 | 19,240 | +16.3% |
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.4 | 1,985 | +2.4% |
| Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 | 1,806 | -0.5% |

## Ward results

Alderholt :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Ian Monks | 1,133 | 62.8 |
| | UKIP | Keith Mayo | 338 | 18.7 |
| | Green | Aaron Mudd | 332 | 18.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 795 | 44.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,803 | 71.8 |
Ameysford :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Cathy Lugg | 1,145 | 68.4 |
| | UKIP | Lawrence Wilson | 529 | 31.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 616 | 36.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,674 | 70.0 |
Colehill East (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Janet Dover | 1,858 | |
| | Conservative | K. D. Johnson | 1,333 | |
| | Conservative | Graeme Smith | 1,230 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Barry Roberts | 1,080 | |
| | UKIP | Brian Lowe | 548 | |
| | UKIP | Stefan Morawiec | 415 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,464 | 73.9 |
Colehill West :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | David Packer | 927 | 53.4 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Linda Dickins | 617 | 35.5 |
| | UKIP | Stephen Homer | 193 | 11.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 310 | 17.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,737 | 83.4 |
Corfe Mullen (3 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Sarah Burns | 2,420 | |
| | Conservative | Derek Burt | 2,202 | |
| | Conservative | Paul Harrison | 2,018 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Bill Honeyman | 1,924 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Stewart Hearn | 1,791 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jason Jones | 1,534 | |
| | UKIP | Dave Evans | 985 | |
| | UKIP | David Mattocks | 940 | |
| | UKIP | Josephine Evans | 866 | |
| | Labour | David Peden | 452 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 15,132 | 71.4 |
Crane :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Steve Butler | unopposed | | |
Ferndown Central (3 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Steve Lugg | 2,645 | |
| | Conservative | Julie Robinson | 2,351 | |
| | Conservative | Peter Oggelsby | 2,315 | |
| | UKIP | Geoff Laidlaw | 1,336 | |
| | UKIP | Sue Laidlaw | 1,334 | |
| | UKIP | Peter Lucas | 1,100 | |
| | Labour | David Lee | 744 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 11,825 | 68.4 |
Hampreston and Longham :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | George Russell | 1,374 | 72.9 |
| | UKIP | Lyn Ovens | 511 | 27.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 863 | 45.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,885 | 72.0 |
Handley Vale :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Simon Tong | unopposed | | |
Parley (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Barbara Manuel | 1,899 | |
| | Conservative | John Wilson | 1,740 | |
| | UKIP | Ann Miller | 859 | |
| | UKIP | Kenny Pearce | 790 | |
| | Independent | Peter Durant | 309 | |
| | Green | Nigel Bales | 288 | |
| | Green | Martyn Rainer | 246 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,131 | 74.0 |
St Leonards (3 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Mike Dyer | 3,386 | |
| | Conservative | Ray Bryan | 3,292 | |
| | Conservative | Barry Goringe | 3,088 | |
| | UKIP | Tony Connor | 1,562 | |
| | UKIP | Oliver Kent | 1,413 | |
| | UKIP | Alistair Somerville-Ford | 1,203 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 13,944 | 74.6 |
Stour :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Robin Cook | 944 | 60.8 |
| | Independent | Simon Pritchard | 608 | 39.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 336 | 21.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,552 | 70.4 |
Verwood East (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Simon Gibson | unopposed | | |
| | Conservative | Boyd Mortimer | unopposed | | |
Verwood West (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Toni Coombs | unopposed | | |
| | Independent | Spencer Flower | unopposed | | |
West Moors and Holt (3 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Alexander Clarke | 2,736 | |
| | Conservative | David Shortell | 2,351 | |
| | Conservative | Andy Skeats | 2,313 | |
| | UKIP | Bob Blake | 1,267 | |
| | Independent | Peter Holden | 1,157 | |
| | UKIP | Linda Hills | 1,136 | |
| | UKIP | Peter Hills | 1,005 | |
| | Green | Mike Hawkes | 637 | |
| | Labour | Brian Cropper | 610 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 13,212 | 73.3 |
Wimborne Minster (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Shane Bartlett | 1,155 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | David Morgan | 1,110 | |
| | Conservative | Kelly Webb | 1,096 | |
| | Conservative | Sally Elliot | 906 | |
| | Green | Susan Durant | 482 | |
| | UKIP | Nick Wellstead | 473 | |
| | UKIP | Stuart Evans | 437 | |
| | Independent | Shirley Mear | 204 | |
| | Independent | Edward Beardsley | 192 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,055 | 68.1 |

## By-elections between 2015 and 2019
### Alderholt

Alderholt by-election 3 March 2016 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Gina Logan | 384 | 47.5 |
| | Liberal Democrats | David Tooke | 376 | 46.5 |
| | Labour | Christopher Archibold | 49 | 6.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8 | 1.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 809 | 33.3 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |

### Parley

Parley by-election 1 September 2016 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Andrew Parry | 631 | 54.3 |
| | UKIP | Lawrence Wilson | 396 | 34.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jason Jones | 84 | 7.2 |
| | Labour | Brian Cropper | 52 | 4.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 235 | 20.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1163 | 24.3 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |

### Verwood East

Verwood East by-election 12 July 2018 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Colin Beck | 706 | 75.1 |
| | Labour | Sandra Turner | 234 | 24.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 472 | 50.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 940 | 20.4 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |

### Ferndown Central

Ferndown Central by-election 25 October 2018 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Mike Parkes | 899 | 59.9 | +3.9 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Matthew Coussell | 355 | 23.7 | +23.7 |
| | UKIP | Lawrence Wilson | 246 | 16.4 | −11.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 544 | 36.3 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,500 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |