2023 Fenland District Council election

The 2023 Fenland District Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England. The Conservatives increased their majority on the council, against the national trend for local elections held on that day, giving the Conservative Party their largest numerical majority of any lower tier principal authority in the country.

2023 Fenland District Council election

← 2019 4 May 2023 (2023-05-04) 2027 →
All 43 seats to Fenland District Council 22 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Chris Boden Mike Cornwell (defeated) Party Conservative Independent Last election 26 seats, 50.1% 10 seats, 20.4% Seats before 26 10 Seats after 35 6 Seat change 9 4 Popular vote 25,075 7,827 Percentage 56.9% 17.8% Swing 6.8% 2.6%   Third party Fourth party   Party Liberal Democrats Green Last election 2 seats, 10.5% 1 seat, 12.8% Seats before 2 1 Seats after 2 0 Seat change 1 Popular vote 2,202 1,942 Percentage 5.0% 4.4% Swing 5.5% 8.4%
Map of the results
Leader before election Chris Boden Conservative Leader after election Chris Boden Conservative

Overview

Prior to the election the council had been under Conservative majority control since 1999, and the leader of the council was Chris Boden, who had been in post since 2019.^[1] The independent councillors, Liberal Democrats and the Green councillor formed a single political group called the "Fenland Independent Alliance", led by independent councillor Mike Cornwell.^[2]

New ward boundaries took effect for this election, increasing the number of seats on the council from 39 to 43.^[3][4]

The Conservatives won 35 of the seats on the council, increasing their majority on the Council from 13 to 27. The Green Party lost their only seat on the council, and the opposition group leader, Mike Cornwell, lost his seat by a single vote.^[5][6]

Overall results

Fenland District Council's composition after the 2023 local elections

The overall results were:^[7]

2023 Fenland District Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	43	35	1	0	9	81.4	56.9	25,075	+6.8
	Independent	19	6	0	1	4	14.0	17.8	7,827	–2.6
	Liberal Democrats	5	2	0	0		4.7	5.0	2,202	–5.5
	Labour	20	0	0	0		0.0	14.4	6,325	+7.9
	Green	6	0	0	0	1	0.0	4.4	1,942	–8.4
	Alliance for Democracy and Freedom (UK)	2	0	0	0		0.0	1.0	424	N/A
	Breakthrough Party	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.3	154	N/A
	Reform UK	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.3	115	N/A

Ward results

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Fenland District Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.^[8] The results by each ward were as follows, with an asterisk(*) indicating a sitting councillor standing for re-election.^[9]

Chatteris North & Manea

Chatteris North & Manea (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charlie Marks*	825	56.2
	Conservative	Alan Gowler	701	47.8
	Conservative	James Carney	692	47.2
	Green	Emma Pollard	527	35.9
	Labour	Janet O'Keefe	425	29.0
	Green	Liz Wright	396	27.0
Turnout			1,467	25.48
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Chatteris South

Chatteris South (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Benney*	578	48.0
	Conservative	Peter Murphy*	517	42.9
	Conservative	Anne Hay*	509	42.2
	Independent	Daniel Divine*	383	31.8
	Labour	Amanda Hirson	307	25.5
	Independent	Aurelia Stempien-Wyrwal	296	24.6
	Green	Steven Chappell	286	23.7
	Breakthrough Party	Matt Jeal	154	12.8
Turnout			1,205	25.92
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Doddington & Wimblington

Doddington & Wimblington (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maureen Davis*	732	60.5
	Conservative	David Connor*	708	58.6
	Labour	Katie Clark	256	21.2
	Labour	Philip Snowdon	246	20.3
	Liberal Democrats	Liam O'Rourke	218	18.0
Turnout			1,209	30.9
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elm & Christchurch

Elm & Christchurch (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Matthew Summers	447	45.7
	Independent	Dal Roy	402	41.1
	Conservative	Petya Kneksis	396	40.5
	Conservative	Boryana Pehlivanova	317	32.4
	Labour	Marian Phillips	211	21.6
Turnout			978	25.11
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Leverington & Wisbech Rural

Leverington & Wisbech Rural (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samantha Clark*	926	59.9
	Conservative	Chris Seaton*	889	57.5
	Conservative	Brenda Barber	818	52.9
	Labour	Benedict Allen	406	26.3
	ADF	Hermien Dyer	215	13.9
	ADF	Mark Dyer	209	13.5
	Independent	Charles Cutler	167	10.8
Turnout			1,546	30.07
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

March East

March East (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Clark*	604	41.4
	Conservative	Mark Purser*	555	38.0
	Conservative	Stuart Harris	509	34.9
	Conservative	Levent Ali	477	32.7
	Independent	Jennifer Lawler	455	31.2
	Labour	Martin Field	445	30.5
	Labour	Angela Mayes	419	28.7
	Labour	Katharine Bultitude	410	28.1
Turnout			1,459	28.28
	Independent hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

John Clark was elected in 2019 as a Conservative, but had left the party to sit as an independent in February 2023.^[10]

March North

March North (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steve Count*	563	33.5
	Conservative	Kim French*	558	33.2
	Independent	Paul Hicks	553	32.9
	Independent	Mike Cornwell*	552	32.9
	Labour	Hannah Orbell	471	28.1
	Conservative	Ashley Smith	447	26.6
	Labour	Martyn Balmont	392	23.3
	Labour	George Broughton	372	22.2
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Court	319	19.0
	Reform UK	David Maryan	115	6.8
Turnout			1,679	28.29
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

March South

March South (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jan French*	416	51.7
	Conservative	Gary Christy	409	50.8
	Labour	Clare Hale	263	32.7
	Labour	Robert Williams	207	25.7
	Green	Simon Wilkes*	174	21.6
Turnout			805	26.76
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

March West & Benwick

March West & Benwick (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Woollard	549	59.0
	Conservative	Tim Taylor	533	57.3
	Labour	Stewart Hearn	359	38.6
Turnout			930	25.11
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Parson Drove & Wisbech St Mary

Parson Drove & Wisbech St Mary (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gavin Booth*	706	50.8
	Conservative	Michael Humphrey*	688	49.5
	Liberal Democrats	Diane Cutler	617	44.4
	Conservative	Anthony Georgiou	552	39.7
	Conservative	Clayton Payne	495	35.6
	Liberal Democrats	Rasa McGill	342	24.6
	Labour	Sebastian O'Keefe	194	14.0
Turnout			1,390	26.77
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey East & Villages

Whittlesey East & Villages (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Boden*	698	53.9
	Conservative	Alex Miscandlon*	631	48.8
	Conservative	Haq Nawaz	579	44.7
	Independent	Bob Wicks*	520	40.2
	Green	David Habbin	312	24.1
	Labour	Stephen Clay	302	23.3
Turnout			1,294	25.92
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey Lattersey

Whittlesey Lattersey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jason Mockett*	190	61.3
	Labour	Ian Moyes	120	38.7
Turnout			312	24.51
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whittlesey North West

Whittlesey North West (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Dee Laws*	689	69.9
	Conservative	Elisabeth Sennitt Clough	597	60.5
	Labour	Peter Gilman	266	27.0
	Green	John Male	247	25.1
Turnout			986	25.95
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey South

Whittlesey South (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kay Mayor*	537	51.1
	Independent	Roy Gerstner	472	45.0
	Conservative	Maria Boccia	432	41.1
	Independent	Peter Bibb	337	32.1
Turnout			1,050	28.90
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Wisbech North

Wisbech North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lucie Foice-Beard	198	60.2
	Independent	Alan Wheeldon	96	29.2
	Independent	Marina Jennings	35	10.6
Turnout			336	17.01
	Conservative win (new seat)

Wisbech Riverside

Wisbech Riverside (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nick Meekins*	447	61.8
	Conservative	Dave Oliver	400	55.3
	Labour	Kathryn Hearn	255	35.3
Turnout				19.85
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Nick Meekins had stood unsuccessfully for UKIP in 2015 and had been elected in 2019 as an independent, but had rejoined the Conservatives in 2021.^[11]

Wisbech South

Wisbech South (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samantha Hoy*	859	62.8
	Conservative	Steve Tierney*	823	60.2
	Conservative	Susan Wallwork*	793	58.0
	Independent	Ruth Freeman	496	36.3
	Independent	Peter Freeman	491	35.9
Turnout			1,368	24.70
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Wisbech Walsoken & Waterlees

Wisbech Walsoken & Waterlees (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sidney Imafidon	656	49.5
	Conservative	Billy Rackley*	638	48.2
	Independent	David Patrick*	557	42.0
	Conservative	Sylwia Salvidge	549	41.4
	Independent	Garry Monger	523	39.5
	Independent	Simon Crowson	441	33.3
Turnout			1,325	25.24
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

References

1. "Your councillors". Fenland District Council. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
2. "Independent people truly representing communities". Fenland Citizen. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
3. "The Fenland (Electoral Changes) Order 2023", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2023/48, retrieved 7 May 2023
4. "Notice of Election" (PDF). Fenland District Council. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
5. Burnett, Tom; Senior, Matthew; Taylor, Joanna (5 May 2023). "Fenland District Council 2023 local election results in full as Tories retain control". Cambridgeshire Live. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
6. "Local elections 2023: Tories hold East Cambs as 18-year old wins seat". BBC News. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
7. "Fenland election result". BBC News. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
8. "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Fenland District Council. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
9. "District Election Results". Fenland District Council. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
10. Elworthy, John (9 February 2023). "Former Fenland Council leader John Clark quits Conservative Party". Cambs News. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
11. "Why I quit as an independent to re-join Tories". Wisbech Standard. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2023.