Labour has won overall control of South Derbyshire District Council for the first time in 16 years
and live on Freeview channel 276
Up until today’s results (May 5) the authority, while being led by Labour as of 2021 for the first time since 2007, had been in a position of “no overall control” with Labour and the Conservatives having 16 seats apiece.
This had left the parties relying on the support of independents for the appointment of leadership to govern the authority and to make decisions on key policies like council tax, with Labour managing to tip the scales.
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Hide AdHowever, now all the votes are in, this is the final makeup of the district council: 29 seats for Labour, just nine for the Conservatives and one Independent.
Gains for Labour in Church Gresley, Hatton, Linton, Melbourne, Seales, Willington & Findern and Woodville paved the party’s way to election victory.
Before the election the makeup of the council was 16 seats each for Labour and the Tories, along with two Independent Group councillors and two Independent councillors.
All of this leaves Labour with a significant majority and in full control of the authority for the next four years.
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Hide AdLabour had gained the leadership roles on the council for the past two years after a series of resignations from the Conservative Party stemming from a bout of infighting, seeing the Tories reduce themselves to fewer councillors than Labour and ceding control.
However, this solidifies Labour’s position and gives the party its first overall election victory since 2007 and gives it a mandate for policies it seeks to roll out over the next four years.
This election had already represented a major transition for the authority, with Labour leader and councillor of 26 years, Kevin Richards, stepping down; the authority’s chief executive for 23 years Frank McArdle retiring after 47 years at the council; and the council’s finance chief Kevin Stackhouse for 23 years also retiring.
This year’s elections saw some dire turnout figures in several wards, with just 20.57 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots in Woodville; 21,32 per cent in Swadlincote; 22.87 per cent in Church Gresley; 23.61 per cent in Midway.
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Hide AdThe Hatton election contest between the Conservative’s Oliver Clark and Labour’s Julie Jackson saw a dead heat with both securing 270 votes each, resulting in lots being drawn from a box to decide the winner.
Labour’s Julie Jackson was victorious in her absence over a visibly distraught Mr Clark.
Cllr Jackson’s agent, fellow Labour candidate David Peacock, drew a lot on her behalf because she is currently away on holiday, with the party not expecting a win.
Mr Peacock said: “We are really very pleased and surprised, the demographic has changed a lot and we felt it was moving away from us in recent years, with new housing developments.
“I’m ridiculously thrilled on behalf of someone else.
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Hide Ad“It felt like a significant amount of pressure for it to all be down to drawing lots at the end. I’m a bit dazed still, it was a lot of responsibility on behalf of someone else. It’s not something I’ve experienced before, I’ve just seen people flip coins on TV.”
Cllr David Muller, who retained his Etwall seat for the Conservatives, spoke on behalf of Mr Clark to say: “We had high hopes for Hatton and Oliver Clark, he has a lot of experience working for MPs and obviously we are disappointed at the result, especially when it came down to drawing lots.”
Independent councillor Amy Wheelton is the only member of the council who does not represent the Conservatives or Labour and won her re-election with double the number of votes of her closest competitor.
She said: “I am humbled that all those people went out to vote for me. It is a wonderful turnout, u had people coming up to me in the street and honking their horns, and people know to keep it local with Amy.
“As my old man used to say, hard work pays off and it has.”
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Hide AdFollowing the final results, successful Church Gresley candidate for Labour, Gordon Rhind, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “On behalf of the Church Gresley candidates we thank everyone for their support and from the Labour Party I think for the electorate this is best thing that could happen for South Derbyshire.
“We can now for the next four years push ahead and with a new chief executive we can push change forward and improve things for the better.
“National issues made a big difference but a lot of it was about local issues, we have put a lot of work in and a lot of miles in, and we have a lot of local candidates who live in the wards they were standing in, which made all the difference.”
Peter Smith, group leader for the South Derbyshire Conservatives, said: “I am devastated and I think it is such a shame that we have been judged on national issues, not what we have done in the past locally for the residents and those who live and work in South Derbyshire.
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Hide Ad“What we have to do is rebuild the trust from the electorate and work hard to ensure we are listening to their concerns and listening to their problems and acting upon them appropriately.”
Heather Wheeler, Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, said: “I am unbelievably sad for the Conservative councillors who are no longer with us, we have lost fantastic councillors.
“It is a tragic day with the loss of Gillian Lemmon and when those three by-election seats come back around we will absolutely fight it in her honour.”
Gillian Lemmon, Conservative Party candidate in Hilton died during the afternoon of the election count, with the three seats in Hilton yet to be declared.
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Hide AdThat count was abandoned and will now be re-run, in full, at a later date, with three seats remaining
Here are the full South Derbyshire District Council election results:
Aston Ward – three councillors
Neil Atkin – Conservative Party – 1,156
Paul Bickerton – Labour Party – 995
Daniel Corbin – Conservative Party – 1,086
Ed Green – Labour Party – 1,080
Rodney Sturges – Labour Party – 876
Peter Watson – Conservative Party – 1,124
Church Gresley – three councillors
Jacqueline Geddes – Conservative Party – 454
Alan Haynes – Labour Party – 830
Jim Hewlett – Conservative Party – 435
Roger Redfern – Conservative Party – 545
Gordon Rhind – Labour Party – 776
Ben Stuart – Labour Party – 799
Etwall – two councillors
Robert Beginn – Labour Party – 669
Damien Belshaw – Labour Party – 664
Andrew Kirke – Conservative Party – 1,122
David Muller – Conservative Party – 1,141
Hatton – one councillor
Oliver Clark – Conservative Party – 270
Julie Jackson – Labour Party – 271 (after extra lot drawn)
Hilton – three councillors
Count abandoned
Linton – two councillors
Melanie Bridgen – Conservative Party – 585
Dan Pegg – Labour Party – 722
Stuart Swann – Conservative Party – 527
Alistair Tilley – Labour Party – 630
Melbourne – two councillors
Jane Carroll – Labour Party – 708
Andrew Clifton – Labour Party – 450
Andy Dawson – Independent – 342
Martin Fitzpatrick – Conservative Party – 741
Jonathan Panes – Liberal Democrat – 131
David Smith – Conservative Party – 663
Jonathan Wood – Green Party – 302
Midway – three councillors
Barry Appleby – Conservative Party – 590
Margaret Appleby – Conservative Party – 586
Sheila Hicklin – Conservative Party – 560
Alan Jones – Labour Party – 795
Louise Mulgrew – Labour Party – 782
Robert Pearson – Labour Party – 789
Newhall and Stanton – three councillors
Adrian Argyle – Conservative Party – 406
Sean Bambrick – Labour Party – 908
Sarah Harrison – Labour Party – 806
Harriet Manning – Conservative Party – 377
Christopher Pratt – Conservative Party – 377
Kalila Storey – Labour Party – 807
Repton – two councillors
Zoe Gillbe – Labour Party – 521
Kerry Haines – Conservative Party – 1,060
Stephen Hardwick – Liberal Democrat – 337
James Lowe – Conservative Party – 855
Margaret Mythen – Labour Party – 424
Seales – two councillors
Holly Hawley – Conservative Party – 460
Gareth Jones – Labour Party – 545
Umesh Kotecha – Conservative Party – 207
Amy Wheelton – Independent – 1,059
Stenson – two councillors
Jill Fitzpatrick – Conservative Party – 291
Matthew Gotheridge – Conservative Party – 266
David Shepherd – Labour Party – 892
Lakhvinder Singh – Labour Party – 898
Swadlincote – three councillors
Kara Davies – Conservative Party – 486
Vonnie Heath – Labour Party – 783
Michael Johnson – Conservative Party – 438
Rachel Mould – Conservative Party – 462
Mick Mulgrew – Labour Party – 732
Neil Tilley – Labour Party – 773
Willington and Findern – two councillors
Liam Booth-Isherwood – Conservative Party – 747
Ellie Cole – Labour Party – 822
Martyn Ford – Conservative Party – 917
Ian Hudson – Labour Party – 936
Woodville – three councillors
Angela Archer – Labour Party – 725
Kim Coe – Conservative Party – 544
Sebastian Coe – Conservative Party – 507
Malc Gee – Labour Party – 729
Eric Parker – Conservative Party – 568
Steve Taylor – Labour Party – 786