# 2002 Craven District Council election

The 2002 Craven District Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2000 reducing the number of seats by 4. The council stayed under no overall control.

## Background

Before the election the Conservatives had exactly half of the seats on the council with 17 councillors, compared to 12 Independents and 5 Liberal Democrats. Due to boundary changes, which reduced the number of seats on the council from 34 to 30, the whole council was elected for the first time since 1974, instead of the usual one-third of the council being elected at each election.
A total of 61 candidates stood for the 30 seats contested, comprising 23 Conservatives, 18 independents, 13 Liberal Democrats and 1 candidate from the Labour Party. 3 Conservative and 3 independent candidates were elected unopposed.

## Election result

The Conservatives won the most seats to have 13 councillors but without a majority. The Liberal Democrats made gains to have 9 seats, while independents took 8 seats.
Craven local election result 2002 :
| Party | Seats | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes |
| Conservative | 13 | -4 | 43.3 | 40.1 | 8,363 |
| Liberal Democrats | 9 | +4 | 30.0 | 28.1 | 5,864 |
| Independent | 8 | -4 | 26.7 | 30.9 | 6,430 |
| Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 | 184 |

## Ward results

Aire Valley with Lothersdale (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Mark Wheeler | 552 | |
| | Conservative | Patricia Fairbank | 480 | |
| | Conservative | Robert Greaves | 410 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,442 | 37.2 |
Barden Fell :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Christopher Knowles-Fitton | 474 | 64.2 |
| | Independent | Robert Heseltine | 264 | 35.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 210 | 28.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 738 | 57.2 |
Bentham (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | John Pilkington | 741 | |
| | Conservative | Gerald Hurtley | 488 | |
| | Independent | Manuel Camacho | 439 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,668 | 39.9 |
Cowling :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | John Alderson | unopposed | | |
Embsay with Eastby :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | John Quinn | unopposed | | |
Gargrave and Malhamdale (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Stephen Butcher | 656 | |
| | Conservative | David Crawford | 563 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Andrew Wood | 451 | |
| | Independent | Carlton Hayes | 393 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,063 | 51.9 |
Glusburn (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Independent | Philip Barrett | 1,066 | |
| | Independent | Peter Seward | 364 | |
| | Independent | Arthur Dixon | 335 | |
| | Conservative | Ian Bannister | 229 | |
| | Conservative | Jennifer Wood | 194 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,188 | 43.3 |
Grassington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Peter Walbank | unopposed | | |
Hellifield and Long Preston :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Helen Firth | unopposed | | |
Ingleton and Clapham (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | David Ireton | unopposed | | |
| | Independent | Carl Lis | unopposed | | |
Penyghent :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | Richard Welch | 393 | 54.7 |
| | Independent | Anthony Macaulay | 326 | 45.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 67 | 9.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 719 | 51.2 |
Settle and Ribblebanks (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | David Heather | 652 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Elizabeth Graham | 599 | |
| | Conservative | Charles Price | 392 | |
| | Conservative | Terence Murray | 383 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,026 | 39.1 |
Skipton East (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Eric Jaquin | 342 | |
| | Conservative | Pamela Heseltine | 333 | |
| | Conservative | Christopher Harbron | 303 | |
| | Independent | Melvin Seward | 268 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Darren Moorby | 245 | |
| | Independent | Dennis Hall | 204 | |
| | Labour | Duncan Hall | 184 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,879 | 36.5 |
Skipton North (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Michael Doyle | 570 | |
| | Conservative | Marcia Turner | 569 | |
| | Conservative | Paul Whitaker | 512 | |
| | Independent | Michael Hill | 416 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,067 | 42.2 |
Skipton South (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Andrew Solloway | 325 | |
| | Independent | Frances Cook | 295 | |
| | Independent | Andrew Cook | 252 | |
| | Conservative | Alex Bentley | 181 | |
| | Conservative | Barry Blood | 177 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,230 | 25.4 |
Skipton West (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal Democrats | Paul English | 575 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Pauline English | 569 | |
| | Conservative | Margaret Spence | 279 | |
| | Conservative | Norman Spence | 261 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,684 | 30.2 |
Sutton-in-Craven (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Independent | Stephen Place | 778 | |
| | Independent | Kenneth Hart | 585 | |
| | Conservative | Barbara Barwick-Nicholson | 216 | |
| | Conservative | Dee Pollitt | 122 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 1,701 | 35.9 |
Upper Wharfedale :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | John Sayer | 481 | 58.4 |
| | Independent | Kenneth Luty | 233 | 28.3 |
| | Liberal Democrats | James Monksfield | 109 | 13.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 248 | 30.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 823 | 53.2 |
West Craven :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | John Binns | 267 | 43.6 |
| | Independent | Robert Mason | 212 | 34.6 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Andrew Rankine | 134 | 21.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 55 | 9.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 613 | 43.6 |