2021 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

2021 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election

6 May 2021 (2021-05-06)
17 out of 48 seats to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Kingsbury Paul Zukowskyj Malcolm Cowan Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour Last election 23 12 13 Seats before 23 12 13 Seats won 8 2 0 Seats after 28 11 9 Seat change 5 1 4 Popular vote 14,916 6,576 6,576 Percentage 48.7% 21.5% 24.0% Swing 9.9 10.7 1.4
Map showing the results of the 2021 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Leader before election No overall control Leader after election Tony Kingsbury Conservative

Elections to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council took place on 6 May 2021. This was on the same day as other local elections across the United Kingdom.

At the previous election the Liberal Democrats managed to gain enough of the popular vote to end the Conservatives's majority of the council for the first time since 2002. However, the results saw the Conservatives regaining much of the popular vote at the cost of the Liberal Democrats, with a swing of nearly 10 points. The Conservatives gained five seats, resulting in them once again gaining majority control of the council, with a working majority of eight. The leader of the Conservatives on the council, Tony Kingsbury, assumed the position of leader of the council, and swiftly confirmed a new cabinet portfolio consisting of his fellow Conservative councillors.

Despite a relatively minor drop in the vote share, Labour lost four of their seats. This marked the first time Labour failed to win a seat in a set of Welwyn Hatfield's local elections in the council's history. These loses were also enough for them to have less seats on the council than the Liberal Democrats, meaning for the first time the Liberal Democrats were the official opposition on the council. The Green Party also nearly doubled their share of the vote, although they still finished last in all their contested seats.

Results summary

2021 Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	15	5	88.2	13	28	58.3	14,916	48.7	+9.9
	Liberal Democrats	2	1	11.8	9	11	22.9	6,576	21.5	-10.7
	Labour	0	4	0.0	9	9	18.8	7,370	24.0	-1.4
	Green	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	1,655	5.4	+2.9
	Abolish the Town Council	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	86	0.3	New
	For Britain	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	42	0.1	New

Ward results

Brookmans Park and Little Heath

Brookmans Park and Little Heath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Boulton	1,559	73.2	+5.4
	Labour	Graham Beevers	339	15.9	+4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Basford	232	10.9	−9.5
Majority			1,220	57.3	+9.9
Turnout			2,130	42.3	+4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.7

Haldens

Haldens

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alastair Hellyer	766	43.7	+7.9
	Labour	Mike Larkins	589	33.6	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Rhiannon Richardson	245	14.0	−7.5
	Green	Sarah Butcher	153	8.7	−1.6
Majority			177	10.1	+6.9
Turnout			1,753	36.0	+3.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	3.4

Handside

Handside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Fiona Thomson	1,317	46.3	+20.0
	Liberal Democrats	Gemma Moore	1,003	35.3	−23.4
	Labour	Helen Beckett	316	11.1	+3.1
	Green	Ian Nendick	208	7.3	+0.3
Majority			314	11.0	—
Turnout			2,844	52.2	+5.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	21.7

Hatfield Central

Hatfield Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Bond	580	42.7	+9.0
	Labour	Maureen Cook	571	42.0	−3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Michelle Kirk	122	9.0	−12.2
	Abolish the Town Council	Melvyn Jones	86	6.3	N/A
Majority			9	0.7	—
Turnout			2,844	25.1	+0.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	6.1

Hatfield East

Hatfield East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Lake	810	44.6	+9.2
	Labour	Cathy Watson	552	30.4	+4.8
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Snowdon	289	15.9	−15.5
	Green	Ian Gregory	165	9.1	+0.2
Majority			258	14.2	—
Turnout			1,816	32.5	−0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.5

Hatfield South West

Hatfield South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Craig Stanbury	526	33.9	+9.1
	Labour	James Broach	515	33.2	−6.4
	Liberal Democrats	Timothy Rowse	510	32.9	+6.0
Majority			11	0.7	—
Turnout			1,551	28.7	+0.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	11.1

Hatfield Villages

Hatfield Villages

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Kasumu	774	45.6	+0.3
	Labour	Margaret Eames-Petersen	585	34.4	−5.3
	Liberal Democrats	Adam Edwards	190	11.2	−3.9
	Green	Andreas Kukol	150	8.8	N/A
Majority			189	11.2	+5.6
Turnout			1,699	31.4	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.8

Hollybush

Hollybush

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nick Pace	653	42.9	+4.9
	Labour	Mbizo Mpofu	583	38.3	−9.6
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Corbey-West	148	9.7	−4.4
	Green	Claudia Ferlisi	139	9.1	N/A
Majority			70	4.6	—
Turnout			1,523	30.6	+3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.3

Howlands

Howlands

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steve McNamara	962	52.5	+19.9
	Labour	Alan Chesterman	680	37.1	−6.3
	Liberal Democrats	Konrad Basch	190	10.4	−1.5
Majority			282	15.4	—
Turnout			1,832	34.3	+3.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	13.1

Northaw and Cuffley

Northaw and Cuffley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gail Ganney	1,328	75.2	+6.7
	Labour	Sheila Barrett	223	12.6	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Johnson	215	12.2	−10.5
Majority			1,105	62.6	+16.8
Turnout			1,766	37.2	+5.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.0

Panshanger

Panshanger

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stan Tunstall	819	49.5	+13.0
	Liberal Democrats	Darrell Panter	491	29.7	−19.1
	Labour	Joshua Chigwangwa	343	20.8	+6.1
Majority			328	19.8	—
Turnout			1,653	36.9	+0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	16.1

Peartree

Peartree

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Russ Platt	578	40.4	−10.0
	Labour	Steve Iwasyk	408	28.5	−4.1
	Conservative	Hamish Haddow	336	23.5	+6.5
	Green	Nicola Chapman	109	7.6	N/A
Majority			170	11.9	−5.9
Turnout			1,431	27.3	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	3.0

Sherrards

Sherrards

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Flavia Wachuku	767	37.5	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Arvindkumar Thakkar	575	28.1	−18.4
	Labour	Hilary Carlen	477	23.3	+10.9
	Green	Lesley Smith	228	11.1	+5.6
Majority			192	9.4	—
Turnout			2,047	46.0	+1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	12.9

Welham Green and Hatfield South

Welham Green and Hatfield South (2 seats due to by-election)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Zukowskyj	791	50.5	+3.5
	Conservative	Teresa Travell	727	46.4	+14.5
	Conservative	Paul Lowe	543	34.7	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Griffiths	525	33.5	−13.5
	Labour	Gareth Aicken	258	16.5	−4.5
	Labour	John Eames-Petersen	245	15.6	−5.4
	For Britain	Mia Americanos-Molinaro	42	2.7	N/A
Turnout			—	34.2
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Welwyn East

Welwyn East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julie Cragg	1,218	56.3	+4.9
	Labour	Martine Davis	425	19.7	+0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Harrington	278	12.9	−16.1
	Green	William Berrington	241	11.1	N/A
Majority			793	36.6	+14.2
Turnout			2,162	42.2	+6.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.4

Welwyn West

Welwyn West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Smith	1,231	63.5	+8.0
	Green	Penny Berrington	262	13.5	+6.5
	Labour	Daniel Carlen	251	13.0	+6.5
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Reimer	194	10.0	−21.0
Majority			969	50.0	+25.5
Turnout			1,938	39.8	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.8