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Election result
(November 24, 2011)RESULT Warminster East
FRYER (CONS) 790
MACDONALD (IND) 558
Turnout 19.97 per cent
(4.2 per cent Swing from Conservative to Independent)
MANY thanks to all those who turned out and supported Paul Macdonald in his battle against the might of the Conservative Party. Contratulations are also due to the winning candidate Kate Fryer, who at 29, must bring in some new ideas and won't be tarred by the poor decisions taken in the recent past.
Vision for Warminster was started in 2008, not as a means for promoting or opposing any political party, but to stimulate the debate about the future of the town and increase public involvement.
This we have achieved in spades and the 20 per cent turnout in Thursday's town council by-election is actually extremely high in a historical and geographical context and it is easily the highest turnout ever recorded in a town council by-election in Warminster
There have been town council by-elections in Warminster that have attracted as little as a four per cent turnout within the past 30 years.
The result delivered a great boost to our campaign with 558 people backing Paul.
Although this was not sufficient to force a win it represented a 4.2 per cent swing to Paul in comparison to the 2009 election.
At the unitary council vote in 2009 (in which the Warminster east seat had a different boundary) Paul achieved 19.1 per cent of the vote and was in second place to Conservative Andrew Davis who took 44.9 per cent.
In this election both candidates achieved a higher share (Cons + 13.9 per cent IND + 22.3 per cent) but because Paul's increase was higher (by 8.4 per cent) statistically he received a 4.2 per cent swing.
The 2009 election also saw UKIP and the English Democrats field candidates who would most likely have sapped the Conservative vote while the Liberal Democrat candidate would have probably dented Paul's vote more than the Conservatives.
"This was a very encouraging result as it showed, that despite the Conservative's inbuilt advantage of having a large and popular Conservative club with a wide membership slap in the middle of the ward, it is possible to get close to beating them," said Vision for Warminster's Steve Dancey.
"We may not have the resources but we do have the passion and will be back to contest many Warminster seats at the town council elections in 2013."
Vision for Warminster was started in 2008, not as a means for promoting or opposing any political party, but to stimulate the debate about the future of the town and increase public involvement.
This we have achieved in spades and the 20 per cent turnout in Thursday's town council by-election is actually extremely high in a historical and geographical context and it is easily the highest turnout ever recorded in a town council by-election in Warminster
There have been town council by-elections in Warminster that have attracted as little as a four per cent turnout within the past 30 years.
The result delivered a great boost to our campaign with 558 people backing Paul.
Although this was not sufficient to force a win it represented a 4.2 per cent swing to Paul in comparison to the 2009 election.
At the unitary council vote in 2009 (in which the Warminster east seat had a different boundary) Paul achieved 19.1 per cent of the vote and was in second place to Conservative Andrew Davis who took 44.9 per cent.
In this election both candidates achieved a higher share (Cons + 13.9 per cent IND + 22.3 per cent) but because Paul's increase was higher (by 8.4 per cent) statistically he received a 4.2 per cent swing.
The 2009 election also saw UKIP and the English Democrats field candidates who would most likely have sapped the Conservative vote while the Liberal Democrat candidate would have probably dented Paul's vote more than the Conservatives.
"This was a very encouraging result as it showed, that despite the Conservative's inbuilt advantage of having a large and popular Conservative club with a wide membership slap in the middle of the ward, it is possible to get close to beating them," said Vision for Warminster's Steve Dancey.
"We may not have the resources but we do have the passion and will be back to contest many Warminster seats at the town council elections in 2013."