2024 Worthing Borough Council election

Local election in Worthing Borough, England

← 2023

2 May 2024 (2024-05-02)

2026 →

13 of 37 Seats to Worthing Borough Council
19 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Beccy Cooper	Kevin Jenkins
Party	Labour	Conservative
Leader's seat	Marine	Goring
Last election	24 seats, 45.7%	11 seats, 31.5%
Seats before	24	11
Seats won	9	3
Seats after	26	9
Seat change	2	2
Popular vote	12,857	9,065
Percentage	45.1%	31.8%
Swing	0.6%	0.3%

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	Clare Hunt	Hazel Thorpe
Party	Green	Liberal Democrats
Leader's seat	Goring	Tarring (Defeated)
Last election	1 seat, 13.3%	1 seat, 6.8%
Seats before	1	1
Seats won	1	0
Seats after	2	0
Seat change	1	1
Popular vote	3,865	2,703
Percentage	13.6%	9.5%
Swing	0.3%	0.6%

Winner of each seat at the 2024 Worthing Borough Council election

Leader before election

Beccy Cooper
Labour

Leader after election

Beccy Cooper
Labour

The 2024 Worthing Borough Council election was held on Thursday 2 May 2024, alongside the other local elections being held in the United Kingdom on the same day.

Labour retained their majority on the council. Three days after the election, three Labour councillors resigned from the party, although the party retained its majority.

By-elections

At the 2024 United Kingdom General Election, Council leader Dr Beccy Cooper was elected as the MP for Worthing West. As a result, she resigned as Leader and as a Councillor on Wednesday July 10th, neccecitating a by-election in Marine Ward. Cllr Sophie Cox replaced Beccy as Leader on Tuesday 23rd July 2024.

Background

Worthing Borough Council elects a third of its councillors 3 out of every 4 years, with elections to West Sussex County Council in the 4th year. 13 seats out of 37 were up for election in 2024.

At the previous election, held in 2023, the Labour Party increased the number of seats they had on the council by 1 to have 24 seats. The Conservative Party lost 2 seats and the Greens gained 1. As a result, the council remained under Labour control.

The Liberal Democrats went into the election defending their last seat on the Council, in Tarring ward, having been in overall control of the Council as recently as 2003.

Pre-Election Composition
241111
Party		Seats
	Labour	24
	Conservative	11
	Green	1
	Lib Dem	1

Ward Results

All 13 wards have a full slate of candidates from Labour, the Conservatives, the Greens and the Lib Dems.

The Candidates nominated for each ward are as follows (* indicates incumbent):

Broadwater

Broadwater
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Catherine Glynn-Davies*	1,218	58.8	+1.7
	Conservative	John Robert Salisbury	515	24.8	−2.7
	Green	Valerie Eileen Daphne Knight	190	9.1	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	John Christopher Apsey	149	7.2	−0.2
Majority			703	34.01
Turnout			2,096	30.61	−3.00
Registered electors			6,847
	Labour hold		Swing

Castle

Castle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	*Sam Theodoridi()**	895	47.0	−3.3
	Conservative	Tom Taylor	591	31.0	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Wiltshire	253	13.3	+2.8
	Green	Nellie De Goguel	166	8.7	+1.4
Majority			304	16.0
Turnout			1,921	27.69	−3.16
Registered electors			6,937
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing

Central

Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rosey Whorlow*	1,372	59.2	−0.6
	Conservative	Diane Guest	519	22.4	−1.4
	Green	Jo Paul	272	11.7	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats	David Kingston	156	6.7	−2.9
Majority			860	36.8
Turnout			2,346	30.55	−1.08
Registered electors			7,679
	Labour hold		Swing

Durrington

Durrington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josh Harris	583	42.7	−5.1
	Labour	Mary Bridget Mernagh	538	39.4	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Donin	168	12.3	−3.5
	Green	Jimi Taylor	77	5.6	N/A
Majority			45	3.3
Turnout			1,383	30.76
Registered electors			4,496
	Conservative hold		Swing

Gaisford

Gaisford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Turley*	1,364	55.9	−0.5
	Conservative	Bryan Turner	669	27.4	+0.5
	Green	Stephen Wardle Carlysmith	249	10.2	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Etchells	158	6.5	+0.7
Majority			695	28.5
Turnout			2,455	35.15	−3.37
Registered electors			6,984
	Labour hold		Swing

Goring

Goring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Ian Arthur Davey	1,696	55.8	+5.3
	Conservative	Paisley Thompson	982	32.3	−2.6
	Labour	Tshepo Ronald Skwambane	271	8.2	−3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Merlin Jones	89	2.9	−0.1
Majority			714	23.5
Turnout			3,066	44.51	−1.76
Registered electors			6,888
	Green gain from Conservative		Swing

Heene

Heene
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Ellum	1,245	56.3	−0.2
	Conservative	Roy Barraclough	580	26.2	−1.3
	Green	Constantine De Goguel	232	10.5	+2.1
	Liberal Democrats	Matt Hoyland	153	6.9	−0.7
Majority			665	30.1
Turnout			2,228	33.81	−0.68
Registered electors			6,589
	Labour hold		Swing

Marine

Marine
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rebecca Cooper*	1,501	56.0	+3.2
	Conservative	Oliver Jones	833	31.1	−1.7
	Green	Julie Dawe	198	7.4	−1.8
	Liberal Democrats	Trudi Ann Starling	149	5.6	+0.4
Majority			668	24.9
Turnout			2,699	40.40	−1.26
Registered electors			6,680
	Labour hold		Swing

Northbrook

Northbrook
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dom Ford	647	47.9	+3.3
	Conservative	Russ Cochran*	517	38.2	−5.3
	Liberal Democrats	Robin Thurston Rodgers	103	7.6	−4.3
	Green	James Edmund Raymond Darrall	85	6.3	N/A
Majority			130	9.7
Turnout			1,358	24.98
Registered electors			5,436
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Offington

Offington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Sparkes*	1,256	52.7	−1.2
	Labour	Liz Nicholson	782	32.8	+4.5
	Green	Steve Rhodes	186	7.8	−1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Iona Harte	161	6.8	−1.4
Majority			474	19.9
Turnout			2,402	36.81	−0.47
Registered electors			6,525
	Conservative hold		Swing

Salvington

Salvington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Nowak*	1,154	47.8	+0.9
	Labour	Anthony Paul Squires	847	35.1	±0.0
	Liberal Democrats	Emma Kate Norton	242	10.0	−0.6
	Green	Sonya Lynne Mallin	170	7.1	−0.2
Majority			307	12.7
Turnout			2,435	34.12	−0.61
Registered electors			7,136
	Conservative hold		Swing

Selden

Selden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Roser*	1,168	57.1	−5.4
	Conservative	Sarah Louise Blake	529	25.8	+2.8
	Green	Clare Ann Marshall	193	9.4	+1.6
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Beryl Brown	157	7.7	+1.0
Majority			639	31.3
Turnout			2,061	33.50	−2.45
Registered electors			6,152
	Labour hold		Swing

Tarring

Tarring
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lysanne Charlotte Skinner	1,009	44.6	−3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Hazel Thorpe*	765	33.8	+7.5
	Conservative	Christina Shane-Chan	337	14.9	−1.0
	Green	Karen Elizabeth Brooks	151	6.7	+0.7
Majority			234	10.8
Turnout			2,292	35.96	−2.13
Registered electors			6,373
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

By-elections

Marine

Marine by-election: 20 September 2024
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Taylor	885	41.3	+10.2
	Labour	Mary Mernagh	781	36.4	–19.6
	Reform UK	Lionel Harman	228	10.6	N/A
	Green	Jimi Taylor	138	6.4	–1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas Wiltshire	113	5.3	–0.3
Majority			104	4.9	N/A
Turnout			2,146	32.0	–8.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	14.9

Heene

Heene by-election: 10 October 2024
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Luke Houghton	742	42.0	+15.8
	Labour	Anthony Squires	704	39.9	–16.4
	Green	Kate Thornton	186	10.5	±0.0
	Liberal Democrats	Trudi Starling	133	7.5	+0.6
Majority			38	2.1	N/A
Turnout			1,776	27.0	–6.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	16.1

References

Courea, Eleni (2024-04-05). "England local elections: what's up for grabs on 2 May and how do predictions look?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
Morton, Sam (3 May 2024). "Local elections 2024: Labour take control of Adur council for first time ever; Worthing retained". Sussex World. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
Green, Daniel (5 May 2024). "Momentum co-chair and deputy council chief quit Labour over party direction". Labour List. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
"Worthing West - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
"News | PR24-055 | Dr Beccy Cooper stands down as Worthing Borough Council leader and councillor - Adur & Worthing Councils". www.adur-worthing.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
"News | PR24-055 | Dr Beccy Cooper stands down as Worthing Borough Council leader and councillor - Adur & Worthing Councils". www.adur-worthing.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
"Upcoming elections - Adur & Worthing Councils". www.adur-worthing.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
^ "Worthing result - Local Elections 2023". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
"2023 Election results - Adur & Worthing Councils". www.adur-worthing.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
"Worthing Borough Council: No overall control". The Argus. 2003-05-02. Retrieved 2024-04-11.

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Other elections	London Assembly Police and crime commissioners Blackpool South by-election

v t e Council elections in West Sussex
West Sussex 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 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
Adur	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2021 2022 2024
Arun	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Chichester	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Crawley	1973 1976 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
Horsham	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Mid Sussex	1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Worthing	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
See also: Wards Boundary changes

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