1998 Wyre Forest District Council election

The 1998 Wyre Forest District Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Wyre Forest District Council in Worcestershire, England. One-third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Background

14 seats were contested at the election with Labour defending 7, the Liberal Democrats 4 and the Conservatives, Liberals and independents 1 seat each.^[2] Labour was confident of defending the majority of 10 they held over the other parties before the election.^[2]

Election result

The results saw Labour increase their majority on the council after gaining two seats, one each from an independent and Liberal Democrat.^[3] The other change in the election saw the Conservatives gain a seat in Bewdley ward from the Liberal Democrats.^[3] Labour attributed their performance to the capable candidates they had stood but were disappointed by the turnout.^[4]

Wyre Forest local election result 1998^[4]^[5]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %
Labour	9	2	0	+2	64.3
Liberal Democrats	2	0	2	-2	14.3
Conservative	2	1	0	+1	14.3
Liberal	1	0	0	0	7.1
Independent	0	0	1	-1	0

By-elections between 1998 and 1999

Oldington and Foley Park

A by-election was held in Oldington and Foley Park after the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Adrian Beavis after he was found guilty of false accounting.^[6] The seat was gained for Labour by Barry McFarland with a majority of 27 votes over Conservative Justin Tomlinson.^[6]^[7]

Oldington and Foley Park by-election 3 December 1998^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barry McFarland	354	35.8	−6.7
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	327	33.0	+27.3
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Kendall	309	31.2	−17.5
Majority			27	2.7
Turnout			990	23.3
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Chaddesley

A by-election was held in Chaddesley after the death of Conservative councillor Harry Purcell.^[8]

Chaddesley by-election 18 February 1999^[9]
Party		Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	490	89.3	+6.4
	Labour	59	10.7	−6.4
Majority		431	78.5
Turnout		549	30.6
	Conservative hold	Swing

References

^ ^a ^b "Policy and politics: Local Elections: Analysis: Council poll results". The Guardian. 9 May 1998. p. 16.
^ ^a ^b Smith, Sue (7 April 1998). "Labour confident of retaining majority". Birmingham Mail. p. 25.
^ ^a ^b Probert, Andy (8 May 1998). "Tight grip maintained by Labour". Birmingham Mail. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b Howarth, Jayne (8 May 1998). "Midlands gives Blair thumbs-up". Birmingham Post. p. 3.
^ "Local Elections results". The Times. 9 May 1998. p. 46.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Labour Gain In Wyre By-election". Birmingham Post. NewsBank. 4 December 1998.
^ ^a ^b "Local Authority Byelection Results - December 1998". Local Authority Byelection Results. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
^ "Tributes as leading Tory dies". Birmingham Mail. NewsBank. 11 December 1998. p. 4.
^ "Local Authority Byelection Results - February 1999". Local Authority Byelection Results. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

[policy-1] "Policy and politics: Local Elections: Analysis: Council poll results". The Guardian. 9 May 1998. p. 16.

[confident-2] Smith, Sue (7 April 1998). "Labour confident of retaining majority". Birmingham Mail. p. 25.

[tight-3] Probert, Andy (8 May 1998). "Tight grip maintained by Labour". Birmingham Mail. p. 5.

[thumbs-4] Howarth, Jayne (8 May 1998). "Midlands gives Blair thumbs-up". Birmingham Post. p. 3.

[local-5] "Local Elections results". The Times. 9 May 1998. p. 46.

[gain-6] "Labour Gain In Wyre By-election". Birmingham Post. NewsBank. 4 December 1998.

[oldington-7] "Local Authority Byelection Results - December 1998". Local Authority Byelection Results. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

[tributes-8] "Tributes as leading Tory dies". Birmingham Mail. NewsBank. 11 December 1998. p. 4.

[chaddesley-9] "Local Authority Byelection Results - February 1999". Local Authority Byelection Results. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

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v t e Council elections in Worcestershire
Worcestershire CC	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021
Bromsgrove	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Malvern Hills	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Redditch	1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Worcester	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Wychavon	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Wyre Forest	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2023
Hereford & Worcester CC	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 Abolished
See also: Wards Boundary changes

v t e (1997 ←) 1998 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1999)
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