2023 Dover District Council election

The council was under Conservative majority control prior to the election. Labour won a majority of the seats at the election, giving them control of the council for the first time in twenty years.^[2][3] The Labour group leader, Kevin Mills, was appointed leader of the council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 17 May 2023.^[4]

^[5]

2023 Dover District Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	31	17	5	0	5	53.1	40.7	22,011	+11.7
	Conservative	32	14	1	6	5	43.8	37.8	20,449	–5.9
	Independent	8	1	1	1		3.1	5.1	2,749	–0.5
	Liberal Democrats	12	0	0	0		0.0	6.4	3,474	–1.6
	Green	11	0	0	0		0.0	9.1	4,929	–2.4
	Heritage	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.4	230	N/A
	Reform UK	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.4	205	N/A

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Dover District Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.^[6] The results for each ward were as follows:^[7]

Alkham and Capel-le-Ferne

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Hibbert*	428	49.7	–2.4
	Labour	Bettine Walters	274	31.8	+20.2
	Liberal Democrats	Howard Evans	160	18.6	–17.7
Majority			154	17.9
Turnout			879	33.1	–0.6
Registered electors			2,659
	Conservative hold		Swing	11.3

Buckland (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kevin Mills*	692	61.7	+20.6
	Labour	Charlotte Zosseder*	615	54.8	+17.0
	Conservative	Jane Carrole	373	33.2	+1.6
	Conservative	Paul Reynolds	350	31.2	+3.9
Turnout			1,122	21.2	–2.1
Registered electors			5,288
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Aylesham, Eyethorne and Shepherdswell (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Woodgate*	1,423	54.1	+17.5
	Labour	Jamie Pout	1,410	53.6	+13.7
	Labour	Maria Mamjan	1,260	47.9	+13.0
	Conservative	Mary Ann Richardson	630	23.9	–12.4
	Conservative	Roger Livesey	599	22.8	–8.6
	Conservative	Arun Matthew	593	22.5	N/A
	Independent	Derek Garrity	531	20.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Barbara Sim	319	12.1	N/A
	Independent	Graham Armstrong	288	10.9	N/A
Turnout			2,631	30.4	–0.7
Registered electors			8,669
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour gain from Independent

Dover Downs and River (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Beaney*	845	40.6	–9.4
	Conservative	Mark Rose*	761	36.6	–10.5
	Labour	Ben Cosin	680	32.7	+6.3
	Green	Ashley Tanton	526	25.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Penelope James	525	25.2	–2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Adrian Walker-Smith	383	18.4	–4.4
Turnout			2,080	39.1	+4.0
Registered electors			5,323
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Eastry Rural (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nick Kenton*	776	41.4	–6.1
	Conservative	Steve Manion*	698	37.2	–8.2
	Green	Peter Findley	645	34.4	–10.7
	Green	Sarah Gleave	615	32.8	N/A
	Labour	David Pestell	380	20.3	–10.5
	Labour	Geoff Hack	369	19.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Cheri Pennington	103	5.5	N/A
Turnout			1,875	39.1	+4.2
Registered electors			4,792
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Guston, Kingsdown and St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Bates*	960	40.1	–12.0
	Conservative	Oliver Richardson*	941	39.3	–2.8
	Green	John Lonsdale	758	31.7	+7.8
	Labour	Maggie Cosin	690	28.8	+9.4
	Labour	Brynley Hawkins	604	25.3	+10.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Gosling	262	11.0	N/A
	Heritage	Sylvia Laidlow-Petersen	230	9.6	N/A
Turnout			2,392	41.3	+2.2
Registered electors			5,788
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Little Stour and Ashstone (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Trevor Bartlett*	1,103	54.4	–3.5
	Conservative	Martin Porter	864	42.6	–11.3
	Labour	John Featherstone	428	21.1	+7.5
	Liberal Democrats	Russell Timpson	401	19.8	+3.9
	Labour	Gillian Weaver	360	17.8	N/A
	Green	Jenny Mathlin	353	17.4	–8.9
	Green	June Sharpe	289	14.3	N/A
Turnout			2,027	35.5	–2.0
Registered electors			5,717
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Maxton and Elms Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Nee	398	40.7	+0.1
	Independent	Graham Wanstall	288	29.4	N/A
	Conservative	Callum Warriner	193	19.7	–25.0
	Green	Nick Shread	100	10.2	N/A
Majority			110	11.3
Turnout			994	33.7	+4.6
Registered electors			2,948
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Middle Deal (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stacey Blair	1,128	56.8	+24.9
	Labour	David Cronk*	1,035	52.1	+15.2
	Conservative	Trevor Bond*	710	35.8	–3.4
	Conservative	Susan Davenport	563	28.3	–4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Headley	252	12.7	+1.9
Turnout			1,986	35.5	+5.0
Registered electors			5,593
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour hold

Mill Hill (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Williams*	1,074	55.6	+15.5
	Labour	Jeff Loffman	1,018	52.7	+15.2
	Conservative	David Hawkes*	519	26.8	–3.2
	Green	Christine Oliver	496	25.7	–3.1
	Conservative	Chris Burwash	472	24.4	–1.9
Turnout			1,933	32.8	+2.7
Registered electors			5,890
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

North Deal (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Parks	1,359	58.3	+20.7
	Labour	Sue Beer*	1,357	58.2	+15.8
	Conservative	Peter Jull*	896	38.5	–0.7
	Conservative	John Morgan	729	31.3	–6.9
Turnout			2,330	40.8	+3.6
Registered electors			5,705
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour hold

Sandwich (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Mark Moorhouse	945	45.9	N/A
	Conservative	Daniel Friend*	823	40.0	–2.8
	Conservative	Harry Sampson	701	34.1	–8.2
	Liberal Democrats	Martyn Pennington	442	21.5	+3.5
	Labour	Paul Louis	336	16.3	–0.7
	Labour	Martin Garside	333	16.2	+1.0
Turnout			2,058	39.1	–1.2
Registered electors			5,263
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Conservative hold

St. Radigund's (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lynne Wright	464	46.5	+3.7
	Labour	Gordon Cowan	433	43.4	+11.2
	Independent	James Defriend	339	34.0	N/A
	Conservative	Andy Calder	234	23.5	–3.8
	Conservative	Brenda Collins	233	23.4	–1.0
Turnout			997	21.8	–0.6
Registered electors			4,578
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Tower Hamlets

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Pamela Brivio*	465	75.1	+27.9
	Conservative	Ann Jenner	154	24.9	+4.4
Majority			311	50.2
Turnout			634	22.3	–1.6
Registered electors			2,847
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	11.8

Town and Castle (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Hill	616	42.5	+14.4
	Labour	Edward Biggs*	600	41.4	+18.5
	Conservative	Richard Jeacock	423	29.2	–1.1
	Conservative	Samantha Reynolds	390	26.9	±0.0
	Green	Beccy Sawbridge	238	16.4	–4.2
	Independent	Kay Marsh	207	14.3	N/A
	Independent	Ashley Payne	122	8.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Lynne O'Donoghue	83	5.7	N/A
	Independent	Brian Philp	26	1.8	N/A
Turnout			1,451	25.4	–1.5
Registered electors			5,713
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour hold

Walmer (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Vinson*	1,023	41.7	–4.3
	Conservative	Derek Murphy*	999	40.7	–0.8
	Green	Mike Eddy	726	29.6	+2.6
	Labour	Amanda Holloway	685	27.9	+8.6
	Labour	Ben Bano	656	26.7	+9.0
	Liberal Democrats	Rick Blackwell	406	16.5	+6.3
Turnout			2,454	42.7	+2.3
Registered electors			5,742
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Whitfield (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Knight	748	47.9	–8.5
	Conservative	Jim Back*	718	46.0	–5.2
	Labour	Claire Hill	462	29.6	+7.9
	Labour	Ruth Harris-Small	407	26.1	+7.5
	Reform UK	Max McGillivray	205	13.1	N/A
	Green	Steph O'Connor	183	11.7	–4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Bob Hope	138	8.8	–7.5
Turnout			1,560	30.0	+0.6
Registered electors			5,209
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold