2023 Forest of Dean District Council election

2023 Forest of Dean District Council election
All 38 seats to Forest of Dean District Council; 20 seats needed for a majority
	Winner of each seat at the 2023 Forest of Dean District Council election
Leader before election; Tim Gwilliam; Independent; No overall control	Leader after election ; Mark Topping; Green; No overall control

2023 English local election

The 2023 Forest of Dean District Council election was held on 4 May 2023 to elect members to the Forest of Dean District Council in Gloucestershire, England. This was part of the 2023 United Kingdom local elections.

Following publication of the English devolution white paper on 16th December 2024, the Forest of Dean District Council will be required to merge with neighbouring authorities in Gloucestershire.^[1] No further elections are expected beyond 2023.

Overview

Prior to the election the majority of the seats on the council were held by independent councillors, with 20 of the 38 councillors not representing a political party. The independents did not act as one political group, instead sitting as four different groups.^[2] Since 2017 the council had been led by Tim Gwilliam of the "Progressive Independents" group.

Following the election, the council consisted of fifteen Green, eleven Independent, five Labour, four Conservative and three Liberal Democrat councillors. Of the wards where more than 3 candidates stood, Labour councillor Di Martin and newly elected Labour councillor Matt Bishop achieved the highest share individually where they received 34% and 32% of the vote respectively in Cinderford East.^[3]^[4] At the subsequent annual council meeting on 25 May 2023, Green councillor Mark Topping was appointed Leader of the Council with support from Labour on a confidence and supply basis. Former Labour group leader Di Martin was appointed as chair of the council at the same meeting.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Election result

2019 Forest of Dean District Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Green	21	15	9	0	9	39.5	28.8	11,621	+7.2
	Independent	27	11	2	6	4	28.9	24.7	9,960	–0.9
	Labour	7	5	1	1		13.2	8.0	3,244	–8.4
	Conservative	38	4	0	6	6	10.5	27.9	11,258	–2.1
	Liberal Democrats	8	3	1	0	1	7.9	10.5	4,242	+5.3

Ward results

The results for each ward were as follows, with an asterisk (*) indicating a sitting councillor standing for re-election.^[8]

Berry Hill

Berry Hill (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Tim Gwilliam*	571	44.2	−16.0
	Independent	Jamie Elsmore*	560	43.4	*N/A*
	Green	Stephen Yeates	391	30.3	+16.8
	Green	Richard Henson	282	21.8	+1.0
	Independent	Nigel Bluett	209	16.2	−10.2
	Conservative	Clive Dunning	202	15.6	−10.8
	Conservative	Valerie Nurden	140	10.8	−10.7
	Independent	Scott Baine	58	4.5	N/A
Turnout			1,291	34.55
	Independent hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Bream

Bream (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Alison Bruce	537	44.5	+25.1
	Green	Beth Llewellyn	377	31.3	+13.6
	Labour	Barry Faulkner	288	23.9	−1.1
	Independent	Alan Grant	283	23.5	N/A
	Independent	Paul Hiett *	283	23.5	−9.4
	Conservative	Rob Whittaker	213	17.7	+2.9
	Conservative	Sarah Price	149	12.4	+0.6
	Independent	Emma Gleave	81	6.7	N/A
Turnout			1,206	32.61
	Green gain from Independent		Swing
	Green hold		Swing

Cinderford East

Cinderford East (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Di Martin*	458	60.5	+6.1
	Labour	Matt Bishop	421	55.6	+0.2
	Conservative	Alan Bensted	163	21.5	+0.7
	Independent	Jeremy Charlton-Wright	157	20.7	−8.5
	Conservative	Freda Gittos	137	18.1	+2.0
Turnout			757	22.47
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Cinderford West

Cinderford West (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jacob Sanders	367	49.8	+12.1
	Independent	Mark Turner*	359	48.7	+7.2
	Independent	Lynn Sterry*	299	40.6	+2.9
	Conservative	Andrew Plummer	131	17.8	−0.7
	Conservative	John Clissold	104	14.1	−0.7
Turnout			737	23.73
	Labour hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Coleford

Coleford (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Clive Elsmore*	643	40.2	−6.1
	Labour	Patrick Kyne	619	38.7	+17.6
	Independent	Ian Whitburn*	577	36.1	+4.5
	Conservative	Carole Allaway-Martin *	530	33.1	+3.3
	Green	Rachel Lane	526	32.9	+5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Taylor	364	22.8	+5.4
	Conservative	Denis Riley	288	18.0	−2.5
	Conservative	Joseph Price	226	14.1	−10.6
Turnout			1,599	26.44
	Independent hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing

Dymock

Dymock (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Gill Kilmurray	431	62.5	*N/A*
	Conservative	Eli Heathfield	259	37.5	−27.8
Turnout			690	42.41
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

Hartpury & Redmarley

Hartpury & Redmarley (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Philip Burford*	759	52.6	−6.8
	Conservative	Clayton Williams	658	45.6	+9.3
	Green	John Turvill	424	29.4	±0.0
	Green	David Gregory	337	23.4	N/A
	Conservative	Geoff Woodyatt	287	19.9	−18.3
Turnout			1,443	40.49
	Independent hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Longhope & Huntley

Longhope & Huntley (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Francis	465	35.2	*N/A*
	Green	David Tradgett	449	34.0	−9.0
	Independent	Alan Wood	387	29.3	N/A
	Independent	Jeremy Rebbeck	340	25.7	N/A
	Conservative	Gary Nicholas	316	23.9	−27.4
	Conservative	Venk Shenoi	259	19.6	−26.5
Turnout			1,322	40.68
	Independent gain from Conservative		Swing
	Green gain from Conservative		Swing

Lydbrook

Lydbrook (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Sid Phelps*	502	85.5	+18.1
	Conservative	Rosie Ker	85	14.5	+10.6
Turnout			587	32.96
	Green hold		Swing

Lydney East

Lydney East (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Preest*	448	38.1	−1.4
	Independent	James Bevan*	441	37.5	+1.7
	Green	Andrew McDermid	440	37.4	+19.1
	Independent	Claire Vaughan *	439	37.4	+7.5
	Labour	Andy Hewlett	390	33.2	+10.5
	Conservative	Julie Kirkham	344	29.3	−0.6
	Conservative	Elliott James	314	26.7	+10.6
Turnout			1,175	23.15
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing
	Green gain from Conservative		Swing

Lydney North

Lydney North (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harry Ives*	483	76.3	+32.6
	Green	Jane Carr	150	23.7	+8.8
Turnout			633	37.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

Lydney West & Aylburton

Lydney West & Aylburton (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Mark Topping*	512	77.6	+36.7
	Conservative	Will Windsor-Clive	148	22.4	−16.8
Turnout			660	34.17
	Green hold		Swing

Mitcheldean Ruardean & Drybrook

Mitcheldean Ruardean & Drybrook (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Jackie Fraser*	958	49.0	+16.6
	Green	Trevor Roach	816	41.7	+19.3
	Labour	Shaun Stammers	701	35.9	+13.0
	Independent	Thom Forester *	673	34.4	+4.6
	Independent	Andrew Gardiner *	542	27.7	−7.9
	Conservative	Guy Hollier	461	23.6	+2.0
	Conservative	Tracy Heathfield	275	14.1	−5.0
	Conservative	Pam Plummer	256	13.1	−3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Stewart Bean	200	10.2	−8.0
Turnout			1,955	33.93
	Green gain from Independent		Swing
	Green gain from Independent		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Newent & Taynton

Newent & Taynton (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Gill Moseley*	1,044	64.0
	Independent	Julia Gooch*	894	54.8
	Liberal Democrats	Julie Hudson	865	53.1
	Conservative	Jonathon Beeston	498	30.6
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Roper	366	22.5
	Conservative	Nick Winter	273	16.7
	Conservative	Maria Edey	258	15.8
Turnout			1,630	30.46
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Independent hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Newland & Sling

Newland & Sling (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	David Wheeler*	409	69.4	+26.6
	Conservative	Pam Woodyatt	180	30.6	+6.2
Turnout			589	30.45
	Green hold		Swing

Newnham

Newnham (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Richard Burton	763	56.7	−0.8
	Green	Andy Moore	744	55.3	*N/A*
	Conservative	Carol Thomas	411	30.5	−9.9
	Conservative	Kevin Oversby	299	22.2	−12.9
	Independent	Richard Ashton	247	18.4	N/A
Turnout			1,346	34.63
	Green hold		Swing
	Green gain from Conservative		Swing

Pillowell

Pillowell (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Jackie Dale	493	77.3	+39.0
	Conservative	Alison Taylor	145	22.7	+3.4
Turnout			638	37.16
	Green hold		Swing

Ruspidge

Ruspidge (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Bernie O'Neill*	230	50.9	−8.5
	Liberal Democrats	James Green	126	27.9	N/A
	Conservative	Judy Parsons	96	21.2	−19.4
Turnout			452	25.10
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

St Briavels

St Briavels (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Chris McFarling*	650	74.5	−6.4
	Conservative	Roger Stuart	188	21.6	+2.5
	Independent	Rose Collins	34	3.9	N/A
Turnout			872	45.61
	Green hold		Swing

Tidenham

Tidenham (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Johnathan Lane	1,034	48.3	+29.2
	Green	Adrian Birch	977	45.6	+19.6
	Conservative	Nick Evans*	884	41.3	+6.0
	Liberal Democrats	Jan Koning	846	39.5	+20.9
	Conservative	Julian McGhee-Sumner	661	30.9	+8.6
	Conservative	Gareth Hughes	557	26.0	+4.4
	Independent	Maria Edwards *	381	17.8	−16.5
	Independent	Gethyn Davies	371	17.3	−3.0
Turnout			2,141	38.74
	Green gain from Independent		Swing
	Green gain from Independent		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Westbury-on-Severn

Westbury-on-Severn (1 seat)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Simon Phelps*	557	87.4	+25.5
	Conservative	Suzanne Bowen	80	12.6	−6.8
Turnout			637	39.29
	Independent hold		Swing

References

^ Of the 20 independent councillors prior to the election, seven formed the "Progressive Independents Group" (which included council leader Tim Gwilliam), six formed the "Independent Group", four formed the "Independent Alliance Group", and three formed "Independent Group 2".

^ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-devolution-white-paper-power-and-partnership-foundations-for-growth
^ "Find a district councillor". Forest of Dean District Council. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ "Green Party makes huge gains and is set to lead a coalition at Forest of Dean District Council". Gloucestershire Live. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ Elson, Mark (11 May 2023). "Greens become largest single group on Forest of Dean District Council following local elections". The Forester. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ ""Leader announces new cabinet members for Forest of Dean District Council"". Forest of Dean District Council. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
^ Garcia, Carmelo (19 May 2023). "Labour to vote for Green council leader but rules out Forest of Dean coalition administration". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ "Green Party form administration to run Forest Council for the next four years". The Forester. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ Norris, Phil (5 May 2023). "Forest of Dean local elections 2023 results". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[1] Of the 20 independent councillors prior to the election, seven formed the "Progressive Independents Group" (which included council leader Tim Gwilliam), six formed the "Independent Group", four formed the "Independent Alliance Group", and three formed "Independent Group 2".

[2] ttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-devolution-white-paper-power-and-partnership-foundations-for-growth

[3] "Find a district councillor". Forest of Dean District Council. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[4] "Green Party makes huge gains and is set to lead a coalition at Forest of Dean District Council". Gloucestershire Live. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

[5] Elson, Mark (11 May 2023). "Greens become largest single group on Forest of Dean District Council following local elections". The Forester. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[6] ""Leader announces new cabinet members for Forest of Dean District Council"". Forest of Dean District Council. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.

[7] Garcia, Carmelo (19 May 2023). "Labour to vote for Green council leader but rules out Forest of Dean coalition administration". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[8] "Green Party form administration to run Forest Council for the next four years". The Forester. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[9] Norris, Phil (5 May 2023). "Forest of Dean local elections 2023 results". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 25 June 2023.