2023 Hyndburn Borough Council election

The 2023 Hyndburn Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect 12 of the 35 members of Hyndburn Borough Council in Lancashire, England, being the usual approximate third of the council. This was on the same day as other local elections across England. The council remained under no overall control, and the leader of the council, independent councillor Miles Parkinson, lost his seat. A Conservative minority administration subsequently formed.

Background
Before the election, Labour had a minority of 13 councillors, and a coalition of the Conservatives 15 councillors, along with 5 Independent councillors and 2 Green councillors had been in control of this Hyndburn Borough Council following the May 2022 elections, with former Labour leader turned Independent, Miles Parkinson, continuing to serve as council leader, for the past year.

Labour were defending 8 seats and Conservatives were defending 4 seats. Five of the previous Labour-won seats and one of the previous Conservative-won seats, from 2019, were held by councillors who have since quit the party or switched to another party. One former Labour seat, which was vacated last year forcing a by-election, was subsequently won by a Conservative candidate, who was standing again, for a full 4 year term.

As a result of the Elections Act 2022 electors will, for the first time, be asked to present photographic identification to polling staff in order to cast their vote. Postal voters are not affected.

Council Composition
Prior to the election the composition of the council was:


 * Conservative 15
 * Labour 13
 * Independent 5
 * Green Party of England and Wales 2

In this election, there were 12 Labour Party candidates, 11 Conservative Party candidates, 7 Independent candidates, 5 Green Party candidates, 2 Liberal Democrats candidates and 1 Reform UK candidate.

Of the 7 Independent candidates running, two different candidates were running in both the Altham and Milnshaw wards and the remaining three candidates were running alone in the Barnfield, Huncoat and Overton wards. The Greens were running five candidates, across the Baxenden, Clayton-le-Moors, Overton, Rishton and St. Oswald's wards. The Liberal Democrats were running just two candidates, in the Rishton and St. Oswald's wards. The single Reform UK candidate was only running in the Clayton-le-Moors ward. And in only the three wards of Central, Church and Immanuel, were there just two-candidates running (Labour vs Conservative).

Hyndburn Borough Council's two existing Green party councillors (Paddy Short & Caroline Montague) and only one of the current sitting Independent councillors (Joyce Plummer) are not up for re-election this year. Of the other four existing Independent councillors, just two (Miles and June) would be standing for re-election this year and where the other two (Eamonn and Patrick) were standing-down.

Overview
Before the election the council was run by a coalition of the Conservatives (15 councillors) and independents (5 councillors), with independent councillor Miles Parkinson being leader of the council. He had previously been a Labour councillor and had led a Labour majority administration from 2011 until early 2022 when he and several others left Labour to sit as independents, putting the council under no overall control. Parkinson remainder leader of the council with support from the Conservatives and independents. The Labour group immediately prior to the 2023 election had 13 councillors, and there were also two Green councillors (both of whom had originally been elected as Labour councillors).

After the election both Labour and the Conservatives were left with 16 councillors. None of the independent or other party candidates who stood were elected. It was announced shortly after the election that a minority Conservative administration would operate with informal support from the Greens and the remaining independent councillor. In the event, the two Green councillors did not attend the subsequent annual council meeting on 18 May 2023, when a Conservative minority administration led by Marlene Haworth was voted into office with the support of the one independent councillor.

Local Election result
The majority grouping of councillors as the headline result of the election, was tied; with both the Conservative party and the Labour party each holding 16-seats; two seats short of the 18+ majority needed for full control.

After this election, the composition of the council's 35 seats was -


 * Conservative 16
 * Labour 16
 * Green Party of England and Wales 2
 * Independent 1

The overall results were:

The overall turnout was 33.76%.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hyndburn_Borough_Council_election

NB: Four (of the 16) Council wards, where seats will NOT be up for re-election in 2023, include the following wards - Netherton, Peel, Spring Hill and St. Andrews' in Oswaldtwistle.

Previous Councillors who are looking to Stand-Down in May 2023 included – Eamonn Higgins (Labour - Huncoat) and Patrick McGinley (Independent - Overton).

Ward results
Following the notice of election, the statement of persons nominated was released on 5 April 2023. The results for each ward were as follows, with an asterisk(*) indicating a sitting councillor standing for re-election.

Altham
The previous incumbent, Miles Parkinson, had been elected as a Labour councillor but had left the party and was standing as an Independent in this election.

Barnfield
The previous incumbent, June Harrison, had been elected as a Labour councillor in 2019 but had left the party in May 2022 and sat as an independent for the remainder of her term.

Church
Loraine Cox had been elected as a Labour councillor in 2019 but had left the party in 2022 and later joined the Conservatives. Her husband Paul stood for Labour and won in the Milnshaw ward.

Huncoat
The previous incumbent, Eamonn Higgins, had been elected as a Labour councillor in 2019 but left the party in March 2022 and sat as an independent for the remainder of his term. He did not stand for re-election.

Overton
The previous incumbent, Patrick McGinley, had been elected as a Conservative councillor in 2019 but left the party in January 2021 and sat as an independent for the remainder of his term. He did not stand for re-election.