2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

The 2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2024 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England.[1] This was on the same day as other local elections across England and Hertfordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner election.

2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

← 2023 2 May 2024 (2024-05-02) 2026 →

16 out of 48 seats to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
25 seats needed for a majority
Turnout26,848, 32.7%
  First party Second party Third party
  Blank Blank Blank
Leader Lynn Chesterman Paul Zukowskyj Tony Kingsbury
Party Labour Liberal Democrats Conservative
Last election 12 seats, 30.9% 14 seats, 25.9% 22 seats, 33.8%
Seats before 12 14 22
Seats won 8 4 4
Seats after 20 16 12
Seat change Increase 8 Increase 2 Decrease 10
Popular vote 8,549 5,750 9,102
Percentage 31.8% 21.4% 33.9%
Swing Increase 0.9% Decrease 4.5% Increase 0.1%

Winner of each seat at the 2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

Leader before election

Paul Zukowskyj
Liberal Democrat
No overall control

Leader after election

Max Holloway
Labour
No overall control

As is typical for Welwyn Hatfield's local elections, sixteen seats of the forty-eight total were contested. Of these sixteen, fourteen seats were held by Conservative councillors and two seats were held by Liberal Democrat councillors.

Prior to the election the council was under no overall control, being run by a Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition which formed after the 2023 local elections.[2][3] The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Green Party put candidates forward for all contested seats, with Reform UK additionally contesting seven of these seats and no independent candidates standing for any seat.

Following the election, the council remained under no overall control, with Labour the largest party, overtaking both their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. A Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition continued to run the council after the election. Labour changed their group leader after the election to Max Holloway; he was formally appointed as leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 20 May 2024.[4]

Election result

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Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council's composition following the 2024 election.
2024 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Party This election Full council This election
Seats Net Seats % Other Total Total % Votes Votes % +/−
  Labour 8   8 50.0 12 20 41.7 8,549 31.8 +0.9
  Liberal Democrats 4   2 25.0 12 16 33.3 5,750 21.4 –4.5
  Conservative 4  10 25.0 8 12 25.0 9,102 33.9 +0.1
  Green 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 2,552 9.5 +0.6
  Reform UK 0   0.0 0 0 0.0 895 3.3 +2.7

Ward results

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The Statements of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, were released by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council on 8 April 2024 following the close of nominations.[1] The results were announced the day after the election at around mid-day.[5][6] Sitting councillors standing for re-election are marked with an asterisk (*)

Brookmans Park and Little Heath Ward

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Brookmans Park and Little Heath
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Short 1,036 58.9 −2.7
Labour Graham Beevers 374 21.3 +3.1
Liberal Democrats Peter Basford 137 7.8 −4.2
Reform UK Harjinderpal Sandhu 120 6.8 N/A
Green William Berrington 92 5.2 −2.4
Rejected ballots 7
Majority 662
Turnout 1,759 35.6
Conservative hold Swing

Haldens Ward

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Haldens Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Matthew Hobbs 743 47.7 −2.9
Conservative Alastair Hellyer* 451 28.9 −1.9
Liberal Democrats Jason Payne 237 15.2 +4.9
Green Lesley Smith 127 8.2 +0.5
Rejected ballots 11
Majority
Turnout 1,558 31.9
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Handside Ward

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Handside Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Anthony Skottowe 1,091 43.7 −12.0
Conservative Fiona Thomsom* 845 33.9 +6.3
Labour Vaishall Shah 321 12.9 +2.9
Green Philip Hopley 136 5.5 −0.6
Reform UK Andrew Lewis 101 4.0 N/A
Rejected ballots 5
Majority
Turnout 2,494 46.2
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing

Hatfield Central Ward

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Hatfield Central Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ian Walsh 645 48.2 −9.0
Conservative James Bond* 328 24.5 +2.3
Reform UK Mark Smith 135 10.1 N/A
Liberal Democrats Edwards Adam 124 9.3 −2.6
Green Cheryl Miles 105 7.9 −0.3
Rejected ballots 11
Majority
Turnout 1,337 25.2
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Hatfield East Ward

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Hatfield East Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Shirley Asare 783 42.3 +2.7
Conservative Claire Hunt 597 32.2 −0.7
Liberal Democrats Pashang Fatemi 315 17.0 −4.6
Green Ian Gregory 158 8.5 +3.0
Rejected ballots 15
Majority
Turnout 1,853 33.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Hatfield South West Ward

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Hatfield South Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Karthik Bonkur 784 44.5 +7.6
Liberal Democrats Muhammad Joglu 489 27.7 −15.8
Conservative Craig Stanbury* 418 23.7 +9.4
Green Antony John 72 4.1 −0.9
Rejected ballots 13
Majority
Turnout 1,763 29.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Hatfield Villages Ward

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Hatfield Villages
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jane Otumunye 669 41.6 −2.3
Conservative Abbie Cook 551 34.2 +4.7
Liberal Democrats Brad Taylor 292 18.1 +0.2
Green Andreas Kukol 98 6.1 +0.8
Rejected ballots 19
Majority
Turnout 1,610 27.4
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Hollybush

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Hollybush
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alan Chesterman 649 52.2 −5.5
Conservative Marios Artemi 297 23.9 −0.5
Reform UK Hamish Haddow 120 9.7 N/A
Green Peter Gamby 92 7.4 −0.4
Liberal Democrats Fauzia Haider 85 6.8 −2.2
Rejected ballots 13
Majority
Turnout 1,243 25.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Howlands Ward

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Howlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Katherine Gardner 769 49.6 −4.8
Conservative Brian Seeger 428 27.6 −4.1
Reform UK Dean Milliken 142 9.2 N/A
Green Penelope Berrington 114 7.4 +1.0
Liberal Democrats Hillary Skoczylas 96 6.2 −0.3
Rejected ballots 18
Majority
Turnout 1,549 29.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Northaw and Cuffley Ward

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Northaw and Cuffley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Barbara Fitzsimon 852 60.6 −5.7
Labour Sheila Barrett 272 19.3 +3.9
Green Brian Edwards 164 11.7 +3.3
Liberal Democrats Antony Green 118 8.4 −0.7
Rejected ballots 19
Majority
Turnout 1,406 30.7
Conservative hold Swing

Panshanger Ward

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Panshanger
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Salman Khan 541 38.1 −8.9
Conservative Stan Tunstall* 462 32.6 +4.1
Labour Perry Hewitt 314 22.1 +2.5
Green Alice Cowley-French 102 7.2 +2.8
Rejected ballots 14
Majority
Turnout 1,419 32.7
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing

Peartree Ward

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Peartree
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Russ Platt* 621 43.3 −0.9
Labour Tom Green 521 36.3 +0.9
Conservative Jeet Dhelaria 175 12.2 −0.5
Green Tanya Dickson 118 8.2 +1.3
Rejected ballots 10
Majority
Turnout 1,435 26.1
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Sherrards Ward

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Sherrards
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Leo Gilbert 606 31.5 +9.9
Liberal Democrats Azmat Mughal 590 30.6 −22.3
Conservative Durk Reyner 475 24.7 +7.2
Green David Cox 128 6.6 +2.3
Reform UK Jack Aaron 126 6.5 +2.9
Rejected ballots 7
Majority 16 0.8
Turnout 1,925 44.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Welham Green and Hatfield South Ward

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Welham Green and Hatfield South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Paul Zukowskyj* 699 41.6 +3.7
Conservative Teresa Travell 593 35.3 +0.3
Labour Linda Mendez 322 19.2 −1.5
Green Ian Nendick 67 4.0 +0.9
Rejected ballots 11
Majority 106 6.3
Turnout 1,681 32.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Welwyn East Ward

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Welwyn East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Julie Cragg* 777 40.0 −5.6
Labour Georg von Bülow 587 30.2 −0.4
Liberal Democrats Genevieve Almeyda 250 12.9 +2.0
Green Darrin Dexter 178 9.2 −3.4
Reform UK Tom Holdsworth 151 7.8 N/A
Rejected ballots 10
Majority 190 9.8
Turnout 1,943 37.9
Conservative hold Swing

Welwyn West Ward

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Welwyn West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alex Bardett 817 43.6 −3.3
Green Sarah Butcher 801 42.8 +6.5
Labour Andrew Osborne 190 10.1 +0.1
Liberal Democrats Rhiannon Richardson 65 3.5 −2.9
Rejected ballots 7
Majority 16 0.9
Turnout 1,873 38.5
Conservative hold Swing

References

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  1. ^ a b "Election Day - Thursday 2 May 2024". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Welwyn Hatfield election result". BBC News. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Joint Administration and Cabinet line-up announced". One Welwyn Hatfield. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  4. ^ Mountney, Dan (16 May 2024). "New Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council leader announced". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  5. ^ Mountney, Dan (3 May 2024). "Welwyn Hatfield local election results 2024". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Election Results 2 May 2024". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. 3 May 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.