Today's most viewed
Updated: Conservatives hold their own in Brentwood
THE Conservative party refused to loosen their grip on Brentwood Council during a night of few surprises at the local elections.
The Tories won nine of the 12 available seats, taking Brentwood South from Labour and Brizes and Doddinghurst from the Liberal Democrats.
In a victorious address, mayor of Brentwood Frank Kenny, re-elected emphatically in Hutton South, said: "The people of Brentwood have made a statement tonight, the administration that is looking after their well-being in this town is here to stay for the next four years."
The Lib Dems took Brentwood North from the Conservatives, and the party also held Pilgrims Hatch.
Leader David Kendall was satisfied with the result: "The important thing is the administration needs to keep listening.
"These elections were always going to be difficult against the backdrop of a very strong Conservative surge nationally and I am pleased with what we have been able to achieve."
But the biggest surprise of the night came in Tipps Cross ward where the independent candidate Roger Keeble beat his Conservative opponent Owen Rosindell by 20 votes to become the only independent member of the council.
As was the case all over the country, it proved to be a bad night for the Labour party as they lost a seat in Brentwood South to the Tories, with Michael Golding seeing off the challenge of Julie Morrissey by 832 votes to 627.
Party leader David Minns could not hide his frustration following the count.
He said: "It is disappointing. Our vote didn't go down on last year but it is a national swing and people now think it is respectable to vote Tory.
"We had a very strong candidate in Brentwood South but that doesn't always count for anything."
The UK Independence Party, like Labour, failed to win a seat but did gain more votes than Labour in the two wards they stood for, Brizes and Doddinghurst and Ingatestone, Fryerning and Mountnessing.
Turnout for each ward was fairly high, with the lowest being 37 per cent in Hutton North and the highest in Tipps Cross at 47.8 per cent.
10:41am Monday 5th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: john, brentwood on 11:42am Mon 5 May 08
Whilst Councillor Minns is entitled to express his disappointment, as a resident of Brentwood South the only candidate of the three who actually came to my house was Michael Golding, not once, nor twice, but on three separate occasions. On the first of which he must have spent almost half an hour on the doorstep enquiring and listening about local issues.
The problem with Labour in this ward is that they concentrate solely on issues relating to the two estates; the consistent failure to recognize the residents of the Ingrave Road in their literature which arrives through the letterbox does them no good at all. I’m afraid the issues of a crossing on Pondfield Lane or the persistent vandalism of a bus stop on the estate for example, simply do not resonate.
Congratulations Michael Golding.
Whilst Councillor Minns is entitled to express his disappointment, as a resident of Brentwood South the only candidate of the three who actually came to my house was Michael Golding, not once, nor twice, but on three separate occasions. On the first of which he must have spent almost half an hour on the doorstep enquiring and listening about local issues.
The problem with Labour in this ward is that they concentrate solely on issues relating to the two estates; the consistent failure to recognize the residents of the Ingrave Road in their literature which arrives through the letterbox does them no good at all. I’m afraid the issues of a crossing on Pondfield Lane or the persistent vandalism of a bus stop on the estate for example, simply do not resonate.
Congratulations Michael Golding.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
