1998 Burnley Borough Council election

Main article: Burnley Borough Council elections

The 1998 Burnley Borough Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.

An issue in the election were allegations that there had been misuse of the procedure for allocating council housing. This saw 3 Labour councillors face disciplinary action, with the issue being described as "Burnleygate".

The results saw three seats change hands with each of the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Independents gaining one seat from Labour. The result in Lowerhouse ward saw former Labour councillor, Eddie Fisk, hold the seat as an independent. Fisk defeated his nephew Sam Holgate who was the Labour candidate but stopped campaigning due to ill health and then resigned from the party as well.

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Labour 31
• Liberal Democrat 9
• Independent 6
• Conservative 2

Election result

Burnley Local Election Result 1998

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	11	0	3	-3	61.1	49.9	8,834
	Liberal Democrats	4	1	0	+1	22.2	29.5	5,228
	Independent	2	1	0	+1	11.1	8.9	1,570
	Conservative	1	1	0	+1	5.6	11.7	2,065

Ward results

Bank Hall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	R Chadwick	501	54.9
	Labour	A Aziz	412	45.1
Majority			89	9.8
Turnout			913	22.4
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Barclay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S Wolski	333	55.1
	Liberal Democrats	M Brown	271	44.9
Majority			62	10.2
Turnout			604	18.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Briercliffe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	MA Lishman	683	67.8
	Labour	SR Dumon	325	32.2
Majority			358	35.6
Turnout			1,008	22.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Brunshaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	AJ Rae	551	66.3
	Liberal Democrats	LK Whittaker	280	33.7
Majority			271	32.6
Turnout			831	22.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Brunshaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	P Walsh	618	52.2
	Conservative	D Heginbotham	567	47.8
Majority			51	4.4
Turnout			1,185	27.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Coalclough with Deerplay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	P McCann	662	67.3
	Labour	J Ormerod	322	32.7
Majority			340	34.6
Turnout			984	23.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Daneshouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	RMA Khan	1,255	50.5
	Labour	SA Chaudhary	1,231	49.5
Majority			24	1.0
Turnout			2,486	61.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Fulledge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	DS Halsall	626	75.2
	Liberal Democrats	CJ Thompson	128	15.4
	Conservative	DJ Tierney	79	9.5
Majority			498	59.8
Turnout			833	22.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Gawthorpe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A Hudson	546	62.4
	Conservative	LA Dowding	189	21.6
	Liberal Democrats	M McHugh	140	16.0
Majority			367	40.8
Turnout			875	19.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Hapton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J Harbour	532	58.1
	Liberal Democrats	C Howarth	383	41.9
Majority			149	16.2
Turnout			915	19.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Lanehead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J Cavanagh	559	65.5
	Liberal Democrats	MJ McCann	294	34.5
Majority			265	31.0
Turnout			853	19.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Lowerhouse

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	E Fisk	556	52.5
	Labour	SK Holgate	311	29.3
	Conservative	B Robinson	193	18.2
Majority			245	23.2
Turnout			1,060	24.7
	Independent hold		Swing

Queensgate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	PJ Kenyon	497	54.3
	Independent	AR Holder	306	33.4
	Liberal Democrats	MN Islam	113	12.3
Majority			191	20.9
Turnout			916	21.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Rosehill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	B Hill	368	37.3
	Conservative	P Jones	327	33.1
	Labour	N Miah	292	29.6
Majority			41	4.2
Turnout			987	23.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing

Trinity (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A Lambert	437
	Labour	M Winder	419
	Liberal Democrats	DR Embra	218
	Conservative	E Parker	183
Turnout			1,257	23.8
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Whittlefield with Ightenhill (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	I Fowler	527
	Labour	C Barber	441
	Liberal Democrats	PR Wright	433
	Labour	M Martin	382
	Independent	JA Holder	207
Turnout			1,990	21.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing