Belsize (ward)

Belsize (/ˈbɛlsaɪz/) is a ward in the London Borough of Camden, in the United Kingdom. The ward covers most of Belsize Park, between Haverstock Hill, Swiss Cottage, and Primrose Hill.

Belsize
ward for Camden Council
Boundary of Belsize in Camden.
County	Greater London
Electorate	8,999
Current ward
Created	1965 (1965)
Councillor	Tom Simon (Liberal Democrats)
Councillor	Judy Dixey (Liberal Democrats)
Councillor	Matthew Kirk (Liberal Democrats)
Number of councillors	Three
UK Parliament constituency	Hampstead and Highgate

The ward has existed since the creation of the borough on 1 April 1965 and was first used in the 1964 elections.^[1] The ward was redrawn in May 1978,^[2] May 2002,^[3] and May 2022.^[4][5] From 2010, the ward was in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, having previously been in Hampstead and Highgate from 1983 until 2010, and Hampstead prior to 1983. In 2018, the ward had an electorate of 8,999.^[6] The Boundary Commission projects the electorate to rise to 9,097 by 2025.^[6]

The ward currently returns three councillors to Camden Council, with an election every four years. At the last election in May 2022, all three candidates from the Liberal Democrats were elected to represent the ward.

History

Boundaries of Belsize from 2002 to 2022

The ward underwent boundary changes for the 2022 election. A significant portion of the ward was transferred to the newly created Primrose Hill ward, and significant portions of the existing Hampstead Town and Frognal and Fitzjohns wards were transferred to Belsize.^[4][5]

At the 2022 election, leader of the Conservative group on Camden London Borough Council Oliver Cooper stood as a candidate in Belsize, having previously represented Hampstead Town. Hampstead Town had been a safe Conservative ward, while Belsize had been marginal between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.^[7][8] Leader of the Liberal Democrat group Luisa Porritt, who represented Belsize, stood down at the 2022 election, citing work commitments, while the Camden New Journal suggested that the new ward boundaries would favour the Conservatives.^[9]

Councillors

Notable former councillors include Opposition Leaders Claire-Louise Leyland (2010–18), Piers Wauchope (2002–06), Judith Barnes (1986–98), and Tony Kerpel (1978–86); MEP Luisa Porritt (2018–22); future Council Leader Richard Arthur (1974–78); and former Leader Martin Morton (1976–78).

1978–2022

Three councillors have represented Belsize ward since 1978. Currently, all three councillors from the Liberal Democrats represent the ward.

Term		Councillor	Party
	2018–present	Tom Simon	Liberal Democrats
	2022–present	Judy Dixey	Liberal Democrats
	2022–present	Matthew Kirk	Liberal Democrats

1964–1978

Four councillors represented Belsize ward, from its creation in 1964, until 1978.

Election results

The last election was held in May 2022. Candidates seeking re-election are marked with an asterisk (*). Councillors seeking re-election for a different ward are marked with a cross (†).

2002–2018

2022 election

2022 council election: Belsize^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Simon*	1,494
	Liberal Democrats	Judy Dixey	1,445
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Kirk	1,317
	Conservative	Oliver Cooper†	1,124
	Conservative	Steve Adams*	1,106
	Conservative	Aarti Joshi	953
	Labour	Issy Waite	705
	Labour	Shaheen Ahmed Chowdhury	692
	Labour	Peter Ptashko	644
Turnout				38.4
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

2018 election

2018 council election: Belsize^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Simon	1,250	11.6	0.9
	Conservative	Steve Adams	1,201	11.2	2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Luisa Porritt	1,179	11.0	2.8
	Conservative	Leila Roy*	1,170	10.9	1.6
	Conservative	Kirsty Roberts	1,162	10.8	0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Benjamin Samuel Newman	1,127	10.5	3.2
	Labour	James Jordan Calmus	1,067	10.0	0.2
	Labour	Sucharita Sethi	996	9.3	0.8
	Labour	Momota Khatoon	971	9.1	1.4
	Green	Sara Katchi	238	2.2	0.8
	Green	Phyl Eyres	223	2.1	0.8
	Independent	Nigel Rumble	123	1.1	1.1
Majority			9	0.08
Turnout			10,707	42.5	4.2
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

2014 election

2014 council election: Belsize^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonny Bucknell*	1,219	13.2
	Conservative	Claire-Louise Leyland*	1,157	12.5
	Conservative	Leila Roy	1,016	11.0
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Simon*	992	10.7
	Labour	Madeleine Jennings	939	10.2
	Labour	James McGowan	782	8.5
	Liberal Democrats	Bradley Hillier-Smith	760	8.2
	Labour	Harunur Rashid	709	7.7
	Liberal Democrats	Lawrence Joseph Nicholson	678	7.3
	Green	Rowan St Clair	275	3.0
	Green	Darren Robert Murphy	269	2.9
	Green	Stuart Temple Taylor	243	2.6
	Independent	Nigel Rumble	199	2.2
Majority			24	0.3
Turnout			9,238	38.3
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

2010 election

2010 council election: Belsize^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonny Bucknell	1,969	36.1	−1.0
	Conservative	Claire-Louise Leyland	1,969	36.1	−0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Simon*	1,949	35.7	−5.1
	Conservative	Nigel Rumble	1,897	34.8	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Ward	1,746	32.0	−8.5
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Perkins	1,727	31.7	−6.4
	Labour	Samantha Gunasekera	1,094	20.1	+6.2
	Labour	Sada Deshmukh	1,051	19.3	+5.1
	Labour	Luca Salice	1,027	18.8	+6.5
	Green	Anya Courts	410	7.5	−0.3
	Green	Sophie North	372	6.8	−1.6
	Green	Francesca Richards-Spiller	325	6.0	−0.2
	BNP	Derek Collins	90	1.7	N/A
Turnout			5,454	62.3	+24.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

2009 by-election

Belsize by-election, 2 April 2009^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Simon	1,136	46.0	+5.4
	Conservative	Gary Bernadout	952	38.6	+1.7
	Labour	Sean Birch	270	10.9	−3.2
	Green	Naomi Aptowitzer	109	4.4	−3.9
Majority			184	7.5
Turnout			2,467	29.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr Christopher J. Basson.

2006 election

2006 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alexis Rowell	1,358	40.8	+22.7
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Basson	1,349	40.5	+24.0
	Liberal Democrats	Arthur Graves	1,268	38.1	+21.8
	Conservative	Jonathan Bucknell*	1,233	37.1	−3.0
	Conservative	Piers Wauchope*	1,205	36.2	−2.5
	Conservative	Sheila Gunn*	1,187	35.7	−3.4
	Labour	Sadashivrao Deshmukh	471	14.2	−13.4
	Labour	Matthew McGregor	462	13.9	−15.8
	Labour	Jenny Westaway	410	12.3	−14.3
	Green	Jane Ennis	278	8.4	−2.2
	Green	Anya Courts	260	7.8	−1.3
	Green	Adam Spanier	207	6.2	−2.2
Turnout			9,688	38.3
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

2002 election

2002 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonny Bucknell	1,041	40.1
	Conservative	Sheila Gunn	1,016	39.1
	Conservative	Piers Wauchope	1,005	38.7
	Labour	Aileen Hammond*	770	29.7
	Labour	Sadashivrao Deshmukh	716	27.6
	Labour	Patricia Nightingale	691	26.6
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Marriott	469	18.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ardon Lyon	429	16.5
	Liberal Democrats	Dudley Miles	423	16.3
	Green	Phyllis Eyres	274	10.6
	Green	Jack Price	236	9.1
	Green	Maeve Tornero	219	8.4
Turnout			7,289

1978–2002

The last election on 7 May 1998 was held under the original ward boundaries.

1998 election

1998 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ewan Cameron	760
	Conservative	Huntly Spence	731
	Labour	Aileen Hammond	711
	Conservative	Jonathan Bucknell	705
	Labour	David Taggart	650
	Labour	Jake Sumner	624
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Marriott	587
	Liberal Democrats	Dudley Miles	522
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Watts	455
	Green	Phyllis Eyres	290
Turnout			6,035	35.2
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

1994 election

1994 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Judith Barnes*	920
	Labour	Judith Pattison	884
	Conservative	Joy Silver	859
	Conservative	Huntly Spence*	840
	Labour	Peter Singer	804
	Labour	John Saynor	797
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Marriott	544
	Liberal Democrats	Diana Brown	511
	Liberal Democrats	James Iddon-Bowen	481
	Green	Kamal Al-Moosa	262
Turnout				43.8%
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1990 election

1990 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Judith Barnes*	1,159
	Conservative	Cathleen Mainds	1,124
	Conservative	Huntly Spence*	1,109
	Labour	Judith Pattison	971
	Labour	Michael Rice	952
	Labour	Deborah Sacks	928
	Green	Conchita Vasey	393
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Box	329
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Marriott	324
	Liberal Democrats	Ardon Lyon	310
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1986 election

1986 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Glover	1,055
	Conservative	Huntly Spence*	1,039
	Conservative	Judith Barnes	1,005
	Labour	Margaret McPhee	888
	Labour	Malcolm Bull	875
	Labour	Ramendra Bhattacharyya	841
	Alliance	David Davies	818
	Alliance	Pauline Marriott	788
	Alliance	Dudley Miles	756
	Green	Philippa Draper	236
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1982 election

1982 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Kerpel*	1,411
	Conservative	Huntly Spence	1,381
	Conservative	Gerald Swyer	1,335
	Alliance	Margaret Little	761
	Alliance	Robert Heyland	751
	Alliance	Clive Agran	730
	Labour	Alan Griffiths	703
	Labour	Anthea Muir	678
	Labour	Roy Mathias	670
	Ecology	Lesley Sargent	102
	Ecology	Steven Margolis	85
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1980 by-election

Belsize by-election, 17 April 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cathleen Mainds	1,235
	Labour	Allen Mathias	785
	Liberal	Andrew Bridgwater	288
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr Anthony Beaton.

1978 election

1978 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Beaton	1,712
	Conservative	Tony Kerpel	1,667
	Conservative	Michael Brahams	1,641
	Labour	Roy Mathias	981
	Labour	Arthur Soutter	979
	Labour	Verghese Varkki	924
	Liberal	Anne Box	306
	Liberal	Hilary Hawkins	275
Turnout
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Pre 1978

Before 1978, under different boundaries, the ward was represented by four councillors.

1976 by-election

Belsize by-election, 25 March 1976

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Martin Morton	2,196
	Labour	David F. Walker	1,455
	Liberal	Mary E. De La Mahotiere	251
Turnout				37.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr Richard Arthur.

1974 election

1974 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Arthur	2,010	43.1
	Labour	David Mills	1,951
	Labour	Richard Ford	1,915
	Labour	Bernard Taylor*	1,898
	Conservative	Julian Harrison	1,847	39.6
	Conservative	Arthur Roome	1,815
	Conservative	Timothy Coghlan	1,801
	Conservative	Peter Grosz	1,773
	Liberal	Margaret Darvall	539	11.6
	Liberal	Richard Franklin	465
	Communist	Hubert Bevan	264	5.7
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

1971 election

1971 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jill Gibson	2,225
	Labour	John Lipetz	2,132
	Labour	Bernard Taylor	2,130
	Labour	Irving Kuczynski	2,128
	Conservative	Norman Oatway*	1,955
	Conservative	Irene Burnett*	1,943
	Conservative	Julian Harrison*	1,923
	Conservative	Peter Hilton	1,885
	Liberal	Margaret Darvall	352
	Liberal	Mary De La Mahotiere	313
	Communist	Hubert Bevan	292
	Liberal	John Swain	282
	Association of Independents	John Davies	92
	Association of Independents	Anthony Cunnew	74
	Association of Independents	Mary Davies	60
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

1968 election

1968 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Evans	2,355	56.9
	Conservative	Irene Burnett	2,346
	Conservative	Norman Oatway*	2,345
	Conservative	Julian Harrison	2,328
	Labour	Edwin Lichtenstein	1,330	31.8
	Labour	Joseph Hughes	1,322
	Labour	William Kellock	1,308
	Labour	Arthur Soutter	1,279
	Liberal	Tristram Adams	488	11.3
	Liberal	Margaret Darvall	472
	Liberal	Angela Whitelegge	448
	Liberal	Gerald Dowden	445
Turnout				37.6
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1964 election

1964 council election: Belsize

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman Oatway	2,045
	Conservative	Stanley Duncan	2,028
	Conservative	Alexandrina Burnett	2,015
	Conservative	Leslie Room	2,009
	Labour	Lyndal Evans	1,651
	Labour	Sheila Oakes	1,649
	Labour	Bernard Taylor	1,616
	Labour	Arthur Soutter	1,585
	Liberal	Margaret Darvall	585
	Liberal	Percy Brian Anderson	575
	Liberal	G. H. Willett	571
	Liberal	Doris Watson	564
	Communist	Timothy Webb	146
Turnout			4,311	39.6
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)