2024 Runnymede Borough Council election

2024 Runnymede Borough Council election
2 May 2024 (2024-05-02)
14 out of 41 seats to Runnymede Borough Council
21 seats needed for a majority
Registered57,518
Turnout18,320 (31.9%, 0.8 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Robert King Tom Gracey Don Whyte
Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats
Leader since 2021 2022 2019
Leader's seat Egham Hythe Egham Hythe Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South
Last election 2 seats, 21.7% 5 seats, 36.9% 2 seats, 19.2%
Seats before 4 19 4
Seats won 4 3 3
Seats after 8 13 6
Seat change 4 7 2
Popular vote 4,298 7,173 3,962
Percentage 21.7% 36.3% 20.0%
Swing 0.0 pp 0.6 pp 0.8 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Linda Gillham Steve Ringham Bob Bromley
Party RIRG Green Reform UK
Leader since 2023 2022 2024
Leader's seat Thorpe Addlestone North Addlestone North (Defeated standing in Englefield Green West)
Last election 2 seats, 8.5% 1 seat, 6.5% 0 seats, 0.4%
Seats before 6 2 1
Seats won 2 1 0
Seats after 6 3 0
Seat change 0 1 0
Popular vote 1,400 1,438 252
Percentage 7.1% 7.3% 1.3
Swing 1.4 pp 0.8 pp 0.9 pp
A map presenting the results of the election, by party of the councillor elected from each ward.
Leader before election

Tom Gracey
Conservative
No overall control

Co-leaders after election

Robert King (Lab Co-op)
Don Whyte (Lib Dem)
Linda Gillham (RIRG)
Steve Ringham (Green)
No overall control

The 2024 Runnymede Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2024 to elect one-third of members of the Runnymede Borough Council in Surrey, England. This was on the same day as other local elections in England and police and crime commissioner elections.[1]

The election saw the Conservatives lose all but three of the ten seats they were defending. Notable losses include Chertsey St. Ann's, where the incumbent council deputy leader lost his seat to Labour, and New Haw where the Liberal Democrats saw the largest majority in the borough, gaining from the Conservatives.

Following the resignation of the Conservative Party Councillor Max Darby, who represented the Ward of Woodham and Rowtown, there was a by-election to fill the vacancy held on the same day. [2]

Former Egham Hythe Councillor, Alex Balkan, had to withdraw his nomination at the election for the Conservative Party and was replaced by Tanya Solomon who stood for the Conservative Party unsuccessfully in Englefield Green West Ward in 2022 and 2023. [3]

The council remained under no overall control.[4] Following the election a coalition of Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Runnymede Independent Residents' Group, the Green Party and three of the independent councillors formed to run the council, calling themselves the Runnymede Council Alliance group. At the subsequent annual council meeting on 15 May 2024 the four party leaders within the alliance were jointly appointed as co-leaders of the council.[5][6]

Results

2024 Runnymede Borough Council election
Party This election Full council This election
Seats Net Seats % Other Total Total % Votes Votes % +/−
  Labour Co-op 4 4 28.6 4 8 19.5 4,298 21.7 +0.0%
  Conservative 3 7 21.4 10 13 31.7 7,173 36.3 −0.6%
  Liberal Democrats 3 2 21.4 3 6 14.6 3,962 20.0 +0.8%
  RIRG 2 0 14.3 4 6 14.6 1,400 7.1 −1.4%
  Green 1 1 7.1 2 3 7.3 1,438 7.3 +0.8%
  Independent 1 0 7.1 4 5 12.2 1,166 5.9 −0.4%
  Reform UK 0 0 0 0 0 0 252 1.3 +0.9%
  Heritage 0 0 0 0 0 0 95 0.5 +0.4%

Ward Candidates

Addlestone North

Addlestone North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Green Priya Mehta 496 40.0 +0.3
Conservative Tommy Traylen 321 25.8 −11.7
Labour Co-op June Tilbury 188 15.1 −1.5
Reform UK Stewart Mackay 151 12.1 New
Liberal Democrats Stuart Lawrence 89 7.1 +0.8
Majority 175 14.1
Rejected ballots 7
Turnout 1245 28.2 −3.3
Green gain from Conservative Swing +6.0

Addlestone South

Addlestone South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Furey 605 42.0 +0.3
Labour Co-op Elaine Percival 596 41.4 +5.1
Liberal Democrats Theresa Burton 240 16.7 +4.5
Majority 9 0.6
Rejected ballots 27
Turnout 1441 30.0 −0.3
Conservative hold Swing −2.4

Chertsey Riverside

Chertsey Riverside
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Cai Parry 653 45.9 +7.4
Conservative John Osborn 538 37.8 −4.1
Green Elaine Brindley 122 8.6 +0.7
Liberal Democrats Liam Elvish 110 7.7 −4.0
Majority 115 8.1
Rejected ballots 12
Turnout 1423 31.2 +1.2
Labour Co-op gain from Conservative Swing +5.8

Chertsey St. Ann's

Chertsey St. Ann's
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Mark Williams 654 47.2 +10.7
Conservative Myles Willingale 480 34.7 −10.4
Liberal Democrats Annabel Jones 150 10.8 −0.8
Green Vicky Flynn 101 7.3 +0.6
Majority 174 12.6
Rejected ballots 19
Turnout 1385 29.5 −0.6
Labour Co-op gain from Conservative Swing +10.6

Egham Hythe

Egham Hythe
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Ricky Milstead 758 53.8 +4.0
Conservative Tanya Solomon 624 44.3 +2.8
Independent Deshveen Mangat 117 8.3 New
Majority 134 9.5
Rejected ballots 11
Turnout 1410 29.0 −1.8
Labour Co-op gain from Conservative Swing +0.6

Egham Town

Egham Town
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
RIRG Geeta Moudgil 735 50.6 −14.0
Conservative Mark Adams 303 20.9 +6.1
Labour Jocelyn Boxall 251 17.3 +1.4
Liberal Democrats Ian Heath 112 7.7 +2.0
Green Timothy Hayes 52 3.6 New
Majority 432 29.7
Rejected ballots 3
Turnout 1453 31.6 −1.2
RIRG hold Swing −10.1

Englefield Green West

Englefield Green West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Paul Gahir 370 32.9 −21.0
Conservative Wendy Locker 332 29.5 −16.6
Independent Amanda Willis 322 28.6 New
Reform UK Bob Bromley 101 9.0 New
Majority 38 3.4
Rejected ballots 4
Turnout 1125 30.4 +0.4
Labour gain from Conservative Swing −2.2

Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South

Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Kevin Lee 645 70.0 −3.2
Conservative Steve Vise 276 30.0 +3.2
Majority 369 40.0
Rejected ballots 21
Turnout 921 31.6 −2.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing −3.2

New Haw

New Haw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Ken Graham 1,223 72.7 +8.0
Conservative Howard Freeman 347 20.6 −10.0
Green Martin Robson 85 5.1 +1.2
Heritage Gian Palermiti 28 1.7 +0.8
Majority 876 52.0
Rejected ballots 16
Turnout 1683 35.6 −1.4
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing +9.0

Ottershaw

Ottershaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Carl Mann 727 46.1 +0.7
Conservative George Callaghan 384 24.4 −1.8
Labour Co-op Anne Emerson-Miller 274 17.4 +4.3
Green Peter Chiverton 99 6.3 −0.9
Liberal Democrats David Charlton 92 5.8 −2.3
Majority 343 21.8
Rejected ballots 10
Turnout 1576 32.4 −1.6
Independent hold Swing +1.3

Thorpe

Thorpe
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
RIRG Margaret Harnden 665 47.4 −6.1
Conservative Roberto Bueno 491 35.0 +6.4
Labour Co-op Benjamin Niblett 189 13.5 +0.6
Liberal Democrats Cheryl Smith-Wright 58 4.1 −1.0
Majority 174 12.4
Rejected ballots 4
Turnout 1403 33.3
RIRG hold Swing −6.3

Virginia Water

Virginia Water
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Karin Rowsell 808 50.8 +11.9
Conservative Lewis Virgo 699 43.9 −3.6
Green Maciej Pawlik 84 5.3 +2.4
Majority 109 6.7
Rejected ballots 18
Turnout 1591 37.4 −1.3
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing +7.8

Woodham and Rowtown (2 seats)

Two seats are up for election due to the resignation of Councillor Max Darby, elected in 2022.

Woodham and Rowtown
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Scott Lewis 919 45.1 −10.4
Conservative Pippa Tucker-Brown 854
Liberal Democrats Jennifer Coulon 435 21.3 +0.9
Labour Co-op Harry Hurst 365 17.9 +3.0
Green Deborah Hepburn 253 12.4 +3.2
Green Richard Miller 146
Heritage Rachel Bear 67 3.3 New
Rejected ballots 5
Turnout 1664 34.3 −0.1
Conservative hold Swing −5.7
Conservative hold Swing

Committee Chairs Following Election

Party key Conservative
Green
Labour
Liberal Democrat
RIRG
Chairs of Committees[7]
Committee Councillor Term
The Worshipful
Mayor of Runnymede 		Cllr Elaine Gill 2024-25
Cllr Margaret Harnden 2025-26
Co-leader of the Council
Chair of Corporate Management Committee 		Cllr Robert King 2024-
Co-leader of the Council
Chair of Environment & Sustainability Committee 		Cllr Don Whyte 2024-
Chair of Housing Committee Cllr Mike Smith 2024-
Chair of Community Services Committee Cllr Abby King 2024-
Chair of Planning Committee Cllr Sylvia Whyte 2024-
Chair of Licensing Committee Cllr Eliza Kettle 2024-
Chair of Regulatory Committee 2025-
Cllr Margaret Harnden 2024-25
Chair of Standards & Audit Committee Cllr Sam Jenkins 2024-25
Cllr Manu Singh 2025-
Chair of Englefield Green Committee Cllr Paul Gahir 2024-
Chair of Overview & Scrutiny Select Committee
Chair of Crime & Disorder Committee 		Cllr Shannon Saise-Marshall 2024-
Co-leaders not chairs of committees
Co-leader of the Council
Vice-Chair of Corporate Management Committee 		Cllr Linda Gillham 2024-
Co-leader of the Council
Vice-Chair of Environment & Sustainability Committee 		Cllr Steve Ringham 2024-

By-elections

Addlestone South, 10 October 2024

A by-election took place on 10 October 2024 for Addlestone South ward following the death of Councillor Jonathan Wilson.

Stewart Mackay, a Reform UK candidate, announced his intention to stand in the by-election, however, he had failed to submit his nomination papers following allegations of promoting far-right content and transphobic conspiracy theories on X.[8]

Addlestone South by-election, 10 October 2024
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Steve Eldridge 520 55.9 +13.9
Labour Co-op Elaine Percival 262 28.2 −13.2
Liberal Democrats Jenny Coulon 85 9.1 −7.6
Green Jess Ward 63 6.8 New
Majority 258 27.7
Rejected ballots 8
Turnout 930 19.0 −11.0
Conservative hold Swing +13.6

Ottershaw, 12 December 2024

A by-election will take place in Ottershaw on the 12th of December 2024 following the death of Councillor Malcolm Cressey.

Ottershaw by-election, 12 December 2024
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Robert Day 440 41.6 −4.5
Conservative Mike Kusneraitis 221 20.9 −3.5
Liberal Democrats Ronan McCaughey 190 18.0 +12.2
Reform UK Mayuran Senthilnathan 113 10.7 New
Labour Co-op Anne Emerson-Miller 52 4.9 −12.5
Green Peter Chiverton 42 4.0 −2.3
Majority 219 20.7
Rejected ballots 1
Turnout 1058 21.5 −10.9
Independent hold Swing -0.5

Progression of administration majority and party totals

Date Event Working majority Lab LD RIRG Grn Admin. Ind. Con Opp. Ind. Vacant
6 May 2024 Election 9 8 6 6 3 2 13 3 0
4 August 2024 Wilson (Con) dies 10 12 1
30 September 2024 MC Cressey (Ind) dies 11 2 2
10 October 2024 Eldridge (Con) elected in Addlestone South 10 13 1
12 December 2024 Day (Ind) elected in Ottershaw 9 3 0
15 February 2025 Jenkins leaves RIRG 7 5 4
23 February 2025 Jenkins (Ind) joins the Conservatives 14 3
10 June 2025 Furey (Con) dies 8 13 1

References

  1. ^ "Local election 2024". Runnymede Borough Council. 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Notice of Casual Vacancy". Runnymede Borough Council. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Statement of Persons nominated". Runnymede Borough Council. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  4. ^ Van Klaveren, Tom (3 May 2024). "Runnymede Local Election results 2024 in full as Conservatives lose a number of seats". Surrey Live. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  5. ^ Lee, Shola (24 May 2024). "Runnymede gets innovative political co-leadership". BBC News. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Runnymede". Local Councils. Thorncliffe. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Supplementary Summons" (PDF). Runnymede Borough Council. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  8. ^ "Meet Stewart Mackay Reform UK Runnymede & Weybridge Constituency Spokesperson & Chairman, one of the new branch chairs they've just announced". Twitter. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
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