Tower Division, Suffolk

Tower Division is an electoral division in Suffolk which returns two county councillors to Suffolk County Council.

Tower
County Council constituency for the Suffolk County Council
District	West Suffolk
Region	East of England
Population	22,028 (2019)
Electorate	16,494 (2021)
Major settlements	Bury St Edmunds Town Centre
Current constituency
Created	2005
Seats	2
Councillor	David Nettleton (Conservative) Robert Everitt (Conservative)
Local council	West Suffolk Council
Created from	Northgate & St. Olaves, Risbygate & Sextons

Geography

It is made up of the central and North West Bury St Edmunds and consists of the West Suffolk council wards of Miden, St Olaves, Tollgate, and Abbeygate along with a small part of Westgate ward between the River Linnet, Hospital Road, and Petticoat lane.^[1]

History

The first elections for this division were held as part of the 2005 United Kingdom local elections, after the division was created through The County of Suffolk (Electoral Changes) Order 2004^[2][3]

Both seats of the division are currently held by Conservative party after David Nettleton defected to the Conservatives in December 2019 having been elected as an independent.^[4]

Members for Tower

Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	David Lockwood	Labour	2005–2009		Paul Hopfensperger	Conservative	2005–2008[5]
						Independent	2008–2009
	Paul Farmer	Conservative	2009–2010		Mark Ereira-Guyer	Green	2009–2017
	Stefan Oliver	Conservative	2010–2013
	David Nettleton	Independent	2013–2019
		Conservative	2019–present		Robert Everitt	Conservative	2017–present

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

2021 Suffolk County Council election: Tower^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Everitt *	2,277	33.7	+4.9
	Conservative	David Nettleton *	2,104
	Green	Steph Holland	1,993	29.5	+7.4
	Green	Matthew Rowe	1,489
	Labour	Donna Higgins	1,409	20.8	+5.2
	Labour	Marilyn Sayer	830
	Independent	Frank Stennett	691	10.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	David Poulson	269	4.0	–2.3
	Communist	Darren Turner	120	1.8	N/A
Majority			284	4.2	+1.0
Rejected ballots			932	15.3	15.1
Turnout			6,090	36.9	3.8
Registered electors			16,494		928
	Conservative hold		Swing	–1.2
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Elections in the 2010s

2017 Suffolk County Council election: Tower^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Everitt	1,833	22.9	+0.2
	Independent	David Nettleton *	1,628	20.4	–5.4
	Independent	Paul Hopfensperger[9]	1,623	20.3	N/A
	Green	Mark Ereira-Guyer *	1,406	17.6	–9.9
	Labour	Quentin Cornish	998	12.5	–4.1
	Labour	Alex Griffin	907
	Liberal Democrats	Julia Lale	507	6.3	–1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Sheena Rawlings	173
Majority			205	2.6	+7.3
Turnout			5,147	33.1
Registered electors			15,566
	Conservative gain from Green		Swing	2.8
	Independent hold		Swing

2013 Suffolk County Council election: Tower

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Mark Ereira-Guyer *	1,481	23.2	–3.9
	Independent	David Nettleton	1,389	21.8	–4.2
	Conservative	Robert Everitt	1,227	19.3	–9.5
	Conservative	Patsy Warby	1,008
	UKIP	Luke Levene	983	15.4	+15.4
	Labour	Diane Hind	895	14.0	+5.0
	Labour	Nicola Ridgeway	840
	UKIP	James Lumley	823
	Liberal Democrats	Judy Roadway	399	6.3	–2.8
Majority			162	1.4	–0.3
Turnout			6,374	29.6	–5.5
	Green hold		Swing	+0.2
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.7

Tower By-Election 11 November 2010^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stefan Oliver	1,005	28.8	0.0
	Independent	David Nettleton	950	27.2	+1.2
	Labour	Kevin Hind	759	21.7	+12.6
	Green	Pippa Judd	479	13.7	−13.4
	Liberal Democrats	David Chappell	300	8.6	−0.4
Majority			55
Turnout			3,505	20.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.6

Elections in the 2000s

2009 Suffolk County Council election: Tower^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Farmer	2,042	28.8
	Green	Mark Ereira-Guyer	1,924	27.1
	Independent	David Nettleton	1,846	26.0
	Conservative	Richard Rout	1,726
	Labour	Keith Waterson	645	9.1
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Warren	641	9.9
	Labour	Kevin Hind	624
	Liberal Democrats	Allan Jones	605
Majority			118 & 78	1.7
Turnout			10,053	32.7
Registered electors			15,576
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Green gain from Labour		Swing

2005 Suffolk County Council election: Tower

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	David Lockwood *	3,181	32.7
	Conservative	Paul Hopfensperger[12]	2,747	28.3
	Labour	Ray Nowak *	2,720	-
	Conservative	Robert Everitt	2,663	-
	Liberal Democrats	David Chappell	1,738	17.9
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Warren	1,266	-
	UKIP	Brian Lockwood	801	8.2
	Independent	David Nettleton	799	8.2
	UKIP	Ivan Cook	509	-
	Independent	Melinda Nettleton	498	-
	Green	Adam Stacey	455	4.7
	Green	Samantha Hunt Stacey	432	-
Majority			27	4.5
Turnout				68.6
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

1. "Tower Electoral Division Profile 2017" (PDF). www.suffolkobservatory. Suffolk Observatory. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
2. "The County of Suffolk (Electoral Changes) Order 2004", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 9 December 2004, SI 2004/3252
3. "Suffolk County Council Election Results" (PDF).
4. Geater, Paul. "Independent councillor joins Suffolk Tories for role in policy-making". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
5. "Top Tory quits in middle schools protest". eadt.co.uk. East Anglian Daily Times. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
6. "West Suffolk: Declaration of Result of Poll" (PDF). suffolk.gov.uk. Suffolk County Council. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
7. "Official Declaration of Result - Tower". Twitter. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
8. "Forest Heath & St Edmundsbury: Declaration of Result of Poll" (PDF). suffolk.gov.uk. Suffolk County Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
9. "Councillor Paul Hopfensperger - Official Website".
10. "Tower by-election results". Suffolk County Council. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
11. "Suffolk County Council Elections 2009". elections.suffolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
12. "Councillor Paul Hopfensperger - Official Website".