1988 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election

Map of the results for the 1988 Solihull council election.

The 1988 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council elections were held on Thursday, 5 May 1988, with one third of the council to be elected. Prior to the election, Packwood councillor, Kenneth Meeson, had defected from Independent to the Conservatives. The Conservatives retained control of the council.

Election result

Solihull Local Election Result 1988

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	10	1	2	-1	58.8	51.9	29,904	+0.9
	Labour	5	1	1	0	20.4	26.3	15,165	+8.4
	SLD	1	1	0	+1	5.9	15.6	8,987	-7.2
	Independent Ratepayers & Residents	1	0	0	0	5.9	6.1	3,539	-2.0

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:

Party		Previous council	New council
	Conservatives	30	29
	Labour	14	14
	Independent Ratepayers & Residents	4	4
	Social and Liberal Democrats	3	4
Total		51	51
Working majority		9	7

Ward results

Bickenhill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham Juniper	2,246	54.2	−0.8
	Labour	Sheila Brookes	1,519	36.7	+8.3
	SLD	David Moore	376	9.1	−7.5
Majority			727	17.6	−9.1
Turnout			4,141
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-4.5

Castle Bromwich

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Richards	2,831	67.7	+3.2
	Labour	Jeffrey Potts	1,078	25.8	+8.7
	SLD	Paul Rivers	271	6.5	−12.0
Majority			1,753	41.9	−4.1
Turnout			4,180
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.7

Chelmsley Wood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Hill	1,683	68.5	+17.1
	Conservative	Robin Draycott	581	23.7	−4.1
	SLD	Petula Holmes	191	7.8	−10.8
Majority			1,102	44.9	+21.2
Turnout			2,455
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.6

Elmdon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rona Miller	1,729	45.9	+14.1
	Conservative	Norman Page	1,690	44.8	−4.0
	SLD	Richard Blight	349	9.3	−10.1
Majority			39	1.0	−16.1
Turnout			3,768
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.0

Fordbridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Corser	1,403	73.1	+20.5
	Conservative	Neil Archer	515	26.8	−2.6
Majority			888	46.3	+23.1
Turnout			1,918
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.5

Kingshurst

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Allen	1,503	68.0	+15.4
	Conservative	Dorothy Wallace	708	32.0	−0.5
Majority			795	36.0	+16.0
Turnout			2,211
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.9

Knowle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Scannell	2,341	72.4	+5.8
	SLD	Bernadette Pruden	570	17.6	−11.3
	Labour	Christine Horton	322	10.0	+5.5
Majority			1,771	54.8	+17.1
Turnout			3,233
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.5

Lyndon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	Richard Balmer	1,550	43.2	−0.3
	Conservative	Peter Duddy	1,417	39.5	−2.3
	Labour	Walter Kinder	622	17.3	+2.6
Majority			133	3.7	+2.0
Turnout			3,589
	SLD gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.0

Meriden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Vincent	1,813	59.5	+2.7
	Alliance (SDP)	John Johnson	969	31.8	−7.2
	Labour	Robert Overton	263	8.6	+4.5
Majority			844	27.7	+9.9
Turnout			3,045
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.9

Olton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Diana Holl-Allen	2,186	55.5	+1.2
	SLD	Timothy Farzmand	1,419	36.0	−3.6
	Labour	Hugh Hendry	333	8.5	+2.4
Majority			767	19.5	+4.9
Turnout			3,938
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.4

Packwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Meeson	2,389	62.6	+14.8
	SLD	Arthur Crossley	1,193	31.3	+31.3
	Labour	Maurice Jones	234	6.1	+1.6
Majority			1,196	31.3	+31.1
Turnout			3,816
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.2

Shirley East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Morris	1,738	51.9	+2.4
	Independent Ratepayers	Richard Jackson	1,124	33.6	+13.2
	Labour	Derek Jones	486	14.5	+5.8
Majority			614	18.3	−9.7
Turnout			3,348
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.4

Shirley South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Ratepayers	Ursula Eames	2,415	53.6	+5.7
	Conservative	Theresa Samuels	1,696	37.6	−6.4
	Labour	Georgina Parisi	397	8.8	+0.7
Majority			719	15.9	+12.0
Turnout			4,508
	Independent Ratepayers hold		Swing	+6.0

Shirley West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Miriam Harris	1,671	53.2	−1.0
	SLD	John Reeve	786	25.0	−9.1
	Labour	Margaret Brittin	685	21.8	+10.1
Majority			885	28.2	+8.1
Turnout			3,142
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.0

Silhill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Hogarth	2,572	68.3	+7.9
	SLD	Jennifer Wright	697	18.5	−12.6
	Labour	Graham Craig	496	13.2	+4.7
Majority			1,875	49.8	+20.5
Turnout			3,765
	Conservative hold		Swing	+10.2

Smith's Wood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Derrick Harrison	2,155	75.3	+23.8
	Conservative	Mark Saunders	707	24.7	−2.8
Majority			1,448	50.6	+26.7
Turnout			2,862
	Labour hold		Swing	+13.3

St. Alphege

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Taylor	2,803	76.2	+4.1
	SLD	Bernard Winchombe	616	16.8	−7.8
	Labour	Thomas Hayes	257	7.0	+3.7
Majority			2,187	59.5	+11.9
Turnout			3,676
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.0

By-elections between 1988 and 1990

Shirley East by-election 2 February 1989

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	John Reeve	1,127	51.4	+51.4
	Conservative	Theresa Samuels	799	36.4	−15.5
	Labour	Philip Knowles	228	10.4	−4.1
	National Front	Norman Tomkinson	38	1.7	+1.7
Majority			328	15.0	−3.3
Turnout			2,192
	SLD gain from Conservative		Swing	-5.4

Smith's Wood by-election 2 March 1989

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Graham Craig	957	74.7	−0.6
	Conservative	Peter Llewellyn	276	21.5	−3.2
	Green	Paul Adams	48	3.7	+3.7
Majority			681	53.2	+2.6
Turnout			1,281
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.3

Packwood by-election April 1989

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SLD	Judy Morris	1,897	54.1	+22.8
	Conservative	Stephen Bishop	1,455	41.5	−21.1
	Labour	Jeffrey Potts	155	4.4	−1.7
Majority			1,196	31.3	+31.1
Turnout			3,507
	Social and Liberal Democrats gain from Independent Residents		Swing	+21.9