1998 Watford Borough Council election

Watford, a city in England, held its 1998 Watford Borough Council elections on 7 May. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.

Election result

1998 Watford Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	7		53.8	14	21	58.3	7,570	39.1	-3.6
	Liberal Democrats	3		23.1	6	9	25.0	6,282	32.4	-1.0
	Conservative	3		23.1	3	6	16.7	5,514	28.5	+4.7

Ward results

Callowland

Callowland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Hodgson	479	55.7	−7.5
	Liberal Democrats	A. Canning	221	25.7	+2.7
	Conservative	M. Taylor	160	18.6	+4.8
Majority				30.0
Turnout			860	21.5
	Labour hold		Swing	5.1

Central

Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Atkin	808	47.7	−5.6
	Liberal Democrats	R. Martins	721	42.6	+7.6
	Conservative	Z. Basit	164	9.7	−2.0
Majority				5.1
Turnout			1,693	31.0
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	6.6

Holywell

Holywell

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Rosser	664	62.9	−3.5
	Liberal Democrats	J. Baddeley	218	20.6	+4.0
	Conservative	P. Jenkins	174	16.5	−0.5
Majority				42.2
Turnout			1,056	19.7
	Labour hold		Swing	3.8

Leggatts

Leggatts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. O'Brien	730	49.3	+19.6
	Labour	J. Dhindsa	620	41.9	−14.9
	Liberal Democrats	S. Hamid	130	8.8	−4.7
Majority				7.4
Turnout			1,480	33.9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	17.3

Meriden

Meriden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Banham	794	54.2	−8.1
	Conservative	P. Bell	480	32.7	+10.8
	Liberal Democrats	M. Lane	192	13.1	−2.7
Majority				21.4
Turnout			1,466	27.5
	Labour hold		Swing	9.5

Nascot

Nascot

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Brown	752	51.6	+3.3
	Labour	T. Meldrum	359	24.7	−5.3
	Liberal Democrats	J. Jenkins	345	23.7	+2.1
Majority				27.0
Turnout			1,456	26.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.3

Oxhey

Oxhey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	A. Poole	1,112	58.8	−3.4
	Conservative	G. Greenstreet	483	25.6	+4.5
	Labour	N. Akubue	295	15.6	−1.0
Majority				33.3
Turnout			1,890	40.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	4.0

Park

Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Wright	928	61.4	+6.6
	Liberal Democrats	P. Jenkins	364	24.1	−5.9
	Labour	C. Barry	220	14.6	−0.7
Majority				37.3
Turnout			1,512	37.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.3

Stanborough

Stanborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	D. Scudder	965	60.5	+17.7
	Conservative	A. Jones	359	22.5	−7.7
	Labour	S. Sardar	270	16.9	−10.1
Majority				38.0
Turnout			1,594	32.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	12.7

Tudor

Tudor (2 seats due to by-election)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	S. Palmer	690	44.8
	Labour	M. Chhina	634	41.2
	Conservative	P. Fincham	464	30.1
	Conservative	H. Ling	397	25.8
	Liberal Democrats	M. Palmer	346	22.5
	Liberal Democrats	J. Richmond	315	20.5
Turnout			1,539	29.9
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Vicarage

Vicarage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	B. Graham	990	58.7	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	A. Zafar	414	24.6	−14.9
	Conservative	A. Bell	282	16.7	+7.5
Majority				34.2
Turnout			1,686	31.0
	Labour hold		Swing	11.2

Woodside

Woodside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	A. Burtenshaw	939	51.4	+1.7
	Labour	G. O'Connell	747	40.9	−1.2
	Conservative	D. Ealey	141	7.7	−0.5
Majority				10.5
Turnout			1,827	35.7
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	1.5

References

• "Council poll results", The Guardian 9 May 1998 page 16