Results of the Local Elections held on May 2nd, 2024
Conservatives lose control of Basildon Council!
There is no way of disguising the fact that these Local Elections were disastrous for Basildon Conservatives. Although the result was well forecast by the dismal national polling and challenging headwinds locally, it was nevertheless spirit-crushing to see my party lose power and Basildon Borough Council fall nominally into No Overall Control, with the Tories emerging as only the second largest group, behind Labour.
Whilst we retained all 12 seats across the three Billericay wards and the new Castledon & Crouch Ward, we retained only one seat in Wickford and lost all our other seats to Labour and Independents, being completely wiped out in the New Town. This has left us on just 13 seats, down from 26. Labour finished on 18 (up from 10), the Smithites on 6 (up from 5) and the Wickford Independents on 5 (up from 1). The magic number for an overall majority is 22 and all the parties fell far short of that, so the Council is notionally hung but, given that the Opposition parties combined now have 29 seats between them, and the three group leaders are all former coalition partners (once Gavin Callaghan inevitably took over the Labour Group, as he now has), it is more or less a foregone conclusion that the former Labour-led Alliance will resume their administration and the Conservatives will go back into opposition.
For the first time in 14 years, I was absent from the Count, so did not see the horror unfold at close quarters. This was because at 8:57 p.m. on Polling Day itself, my wife gave birth to our son - a bouncing baby boy, weighing in at 7 Ibs 5 oz, whom we have named William (after my father). So, whilst disappointing, the day was not without its consolations!
As this was an All-In/All-Out election, following the recent boundary changes, each of the 14 wards was electing three candidates each. As we will then be resuming the practice of electing the Council by thirds, only the first-placed candidate in each ward will enjoy the full customary 4-year term, running until 2028. The last-placed candidate will need to seek re-election at the next set of borough elections in 2026, while the second-placed candidate will sit until 2027.
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The detailed breakdown of results is as follows:
BILLERICAY EAST – Con HOLD
SCHRADER, Andrew (Con) – 1,713 (20%) *Elected
BARNES, Andy (Con) – 1,680 (20%) *Elected
MORDECAI, Martyn (Con) – 1,523 (18%) *Elected
BRENNAN, Andrew (Grn) - 922 (11%)
GOSHAWK, Stewart (Grn) - 784 (9%)
TATMAN, Andy (Grn) - 737 (9%)
CLARK, Laura (Lib) – 447 (5%)
BUNYAN, Sally (Lab) – 424 (5%)
SMITH, Peter (Lib) – 333 (4%)
Turnout: 33.2% (+3.2)
I was, of course, completely elated to be re-elected for a fourth term with a majority of 791 over the nearest-placed Green. There is a truism in politics that in elections where electors have multiple votes, the candidates at the bottom of the ballot usually fare worst, as those voters who split their votes between different parties will tend to pick the first candidate for each party going down the ballot paper. Being a Schrader meant I was at the bottom of the ballot, so to have topped the poll was quite heartwarming. Right behind me were my two new ward colleagues, Andy Barnes and Martyn Mordecai. This means that I get the full 4-year term, running until 2028, and Martyn will be up for re-election in 2026, as we resume triennial elections. Andy and Martyn are both experienced representatives, who have a lot to offer Billericay East and I am looking forward to working with them on ward matters. Following a highly spirited campaign, the three Greens came were the runners-up, whilst the Liberals and Labour, who did not field three candidates each and appeared to do little campaigning locally, brought up the rear. There was more than 600 votes between Martyn and the first-placed Green, so this was a very comfortable win for us. In total, the Conservative vote share here was 58%, only 2 points down on last year when David Dadds was re-elected with 60% of the vote. The Greens did not field a candidate last year and appear mostly to have siphoned votes away from the Liberals and Labour, whose vote shares were down 12 and 14 points respectively.
HEDLEY, Anthony (Con) - 1,712 (21%) *Elected
TURNER, Philip (Con) - 1,667 (21%) *Elected
LAWRENCE, Daniel (Con) - 1,609 (20%) *Elected
MAY, Chris (Lib) - 964 (12%)
LANCASTER, Peter (Lib) - 691 (9%)
NICKLIN, Tim (Lib) - 627 (8%)
BUTTON, Brian (Lab) – 420 (5%)
BUTLER, Scion (Grn) - 412 (5%)
Turnout: 31.9% (-0.1)
My Conservative colleagues in Billericay West secured all three seats here, with my friend and mentor Tony Hedley (also the local Essex county councillor) topping the poll, with a majority of 748 over the next-placed Liberal. Tony has represented the seat for 24 years and is one of the longest-serving councillors in Basildon. Former leader Phil Turner, who has represented the seat since 2001, came second, whilst Danny Lawrence came third, still a good 645 votes ahead of Chris May. Our total vote share was 62%, which is actually 11 points up on what Danny secured last year. The Lib-Dem vote share is down 7 points. Labour and the Greens also saw their vote share decrease, indicating that the previous vulnerability that had existed for us in West may have dissipated. Indeed, in this election it proved to be our safest seat.
BURSTEAD – Con HOLD* (new boundaries)
BAGGOTT, Andrew (Con) – 1,785 (22%) *Elected
MOORE, Richard (Con) – 1,716 (21%) *Elected
BLAKE, Kevin (Con) – 1,515 (19%) *Elected
BANKS, Leslie (Lab) – 933 (11%)
DAFFIN, Chris (Lib) – 786 (10%)
CHRAIBI, Idriss (Grn) - 485 (6%)
McGARRY, Daniel (Grn) - 485 (6%)
FRYD, Andy (Lib) – 481 (6%)
Turnout: 29.5% (-2.4)
My
Conservative colleagues in Burstead also secured all three seats, with Basildon Conservatives Leader Andy Baggott topping the poll, with a majority of 852 over the Labour candidate. Richard Moore (also a local county councillor) came second, whilst Andy's able deputy, Kevin Blake,
came third. Kevin has also been a councillor since 1992, with only a small gap, so is also one of our longest-serving councillors. Les Banks fought a plucky campaign for Labour, which saw him displace the Liberals and steal second place, although Labour's total vote share was actually a point down on 2023. Still, in 2023, Malcolm Reid only secured 318 votes and Les got 933. Unfortunately for him, that was still 582 votes behind Blakey. As I mentioned in my 'Runners & Riders' blog, Les is actually my best mate's dad. I've known him since I was a kid. He's a great guy and he and his lovely wife, Kath, fought a plucky campaign, taking a leaf out of the Schrader campaign guidebook by delivering leaflets with a wooden spoon - a shrewd move, as elsewhere in the campaign, Stuart Allen (Con, Castledon & Crouch) suffered a serious dog bite. I won't deliver a leaflet without one! Meanwhile, the two Greens were sandwiched between the Liberals and made little impact.
CASTLEDON & CROUCH – Con HOLD* (new boundaries)
MYERS, Alex (Con) – 1,084 (16%) *Elected
SARGENT, Terri (Con) – 992 (15%) *Elected
ALLEN, Stuart (Con) – 987 (15%) *Elected
MOTT, Stewart (Lib) – 869 (13%)
HOAD, Nicola (Lib) – 793 (12%)
STANBROOK, Angela (Lab) – 498 (8%)
WOODS, Michael (Lib) – 477 (7%)
BATEMAN, Christopher (BDem) – 475 (7%)
GUERNEY, Gillian (Grn) - 399 (6%)
Turnout: 28.1% (+7.1)
My colleagues Alex Myers, Terri Sargent and Stuart Allen held all three seats in the newly constituted Castledon & Crouch Ward, an amalgam of the old Crouch and Wickford Castledon wards. Alex, who had previously represented Castledon since 2022, topped the poll here with a majority of 215 over nearest-placed Lib-Dem rival Stewart Mott. All told, the Conservative vote share in the new ward was 46%, making the ward safer than the old Castledon seat (where Don Morris was re-elected last year with 38% of the vote) but substantially less safe than the old Crouch seat, where Terri was last re-elected in 2022 with a whopping 76% of the vote. Mr. Mott was 118 votes behind Stuart, so the Liberals gave us a run for our money here. The other parties were all miles behind. With the retirement of David Dadds and Stuart Sullivan, Terri is now the last remaining councillor from the 2002-intake. As I mentioned above, party stalwart Stuart Allen suffered a fairly horrific dog-bite during the campaign, so certainly earned his stripes. He has also been a councillor, with a small break, since 1992.
FRYERNS – Lab HOLD
BROWN, Adele (Lab) – 1,160 (26%) *Elected
ANSELL, Andrew (Lab) – 1,142 (26%) *Elected
DAVIES, Allan (Lab) – 1,053 (24%) *Elected
DAWODU, Ola (Con) – 529 (12%)
HOWARD, Vivien (Lib) – 329 (7%)
DONNE, Eleanor (TUSC) - 218 (5%)
Turnout: 18.7 17% (+1.7)
Labour comfortably held this traditionally safe seat, being the only party to field three candidates. Adele Brown, who has represented the seat since 2012, topped the poll with a majority of 631 over Conservative candidate Ola Dawodu. Former Pitsea councillor Andy Ansell returns to the Council, after losing his Pitsea seat in 2021. He took the second spot in Fryerns. Somewhat surprisingly, Allan Davies came third, despite having represented the seat since 2007, making him Labour's longest-serving councillor. Still, he was 524 ahead of us, so I doubt he shall lose much sleep over it. All told, Labour's vote share here was a whopping 76%. Safe as houses and Labour's safest seat by far. Despite fighting a vigorous campaign as the lone Tory candidate in the ward, Ola came a distant second behind the Labour candidates and the Tory vote has collapsed by a dispiriting 16 points since last year. The Liberal and TUSC candidates barely got a look in.
LAINDON PARK – 1 Lab HOLD and 2 Lab GAINS from Con
JOSEPH, Victoria (Lab) – 1,013 (16%) *Elected
POWER, Jessica (Lab) – 972 (15%) *Elected
WEBB, Terry (Lab) – 880 (14%) *Elected
HENRY, Jeff (Con) – 863 (14%)
WINGFIELD, Kevin (Con) – 845 (13%)
GASCOYNE, Samuel (Con) – 761 (12%)
COJOCARU, Iurie (Ind) - 358 (6%)
McCARTHY, Eugene (Grn) - 312 (5%)
McCARTHY, Stephen (Lib) – 218 (3%)
MURRAY, David (TUSC) - 137 (2%)
As I feared, there is little justice in politics and the hard work of our two sitting Laindon councillors, Jeff Henry and Kevin Wingfield, simply was not sufficient to save them. Both lost their seats and Sam Gascoyne, who switched seats from Pitsea North-West to Laindon Park, also failed to get elected. Labour's Victoria Joseph was re-elected with a majority of 150 over Jeff, which is pretty amazing from a councillor who seems nice enough but has been pretty invisible since she won the third seat last year, only making her maiden speech in the chamber at the last meeting before the election. But there is not much point in being churlish. Labour's vote share here was 45%, which is a massive 10-point leap from last year. Councillor Joseph is joined by newcomer Jessica Power (formerly a council officer) and sitting councillor Terry Webb, who clearly had less reason to fear from being shunted out of his safe Lee Chapel North seat than I thought - although he was only 17 votes ahead of Jeff, so it was very tight for him! But the overall Tory vote share was 39%, which is a far cry from when Jeff was re-elected in 2022 with 52% of the vote. We can't even blame the Smithite Independent for nicking our votes, as Iurie Cojocaru came a distant third, 8 points down on what Tina Arnold scored last year. It is a depressing loss and Jeff, Kev and Sam will be sorely missed within the Conservative Group, albeit Jeff remains an Essex county councillor for the Laindon Park & Fryerns Division. The lone Green, Liberal and TUSC candidates were all trailing far behind. We are back to square one in Laindon but will rebuild.
GREEN, Hazel (Ind) - 1,855 (22%) *Elected
ROBBINS, Valerie (Ind) - 1,850 (22%) *Elected
BROWN, Walter (Ind) - 1,842 (22%) *Elected
ALLEN, Chris (Con) – 718 (8%)
SHARPE, Dean (Lab) – 583 (7%)
SANDHU, Sandeep (Con) – 496 (6%)
EDEMAKHIOTA, Stanley (Con) – 439 (5%)
GRANT, Elizabeth (Grn) - 355 (4%)
NICE, Stephen (Lib) – 286 (3%)
X, None Of The Above (Ind) - 26 (0%)
Turnout: 30.3% (+9.3)
In a depressing but predictable result, the newly enlarged Langdon Hills Ward was retained by the Kerry Smith-backed 'Independents'. Topping the poll was Hazel Green, who has successfully migrated to Langdon Hills from Nethermayne. Councillor Green enjoys a stonking majority of 1,137 over former Conservative councillor Chris Allen. Val Robbins and Walter Brown also retained their seats. Sadly, Chris Allen failed in his bid to rejoin the Council. In total, the Smithites enjoy a 66% vote share in the new seat, while Chris's vote share is down a massive 18 points from when he lost the seat in 2022! He was more than a thousand votes behind the lowest-placed Smithite. Sadly, Langdon Hills now appears to have completed it's astonishing transition from being a safe Tory seat for well over a decade to joining Nethermayne as a 'pocket ward', entirely at the disposal of Councillor Smith, who is also the local county councillor for the Westley Heights Division. As baffling to me as it is infuriating. Oddly (and I'm not sure if this is any kind of record), Councillor Green has now been a councillor for 8 years, having represented three different seats, being elected at every election she has fought but having never sought re-election in the same place. She was elected in Laindon Park for UKIP in 2016, defected to the Smithites in 2018, when UKIP collapsed, then decided not to seek re-election in Laindon Park in 2021 and switched to Nethermayne instead. She has served one term there and now been elected in Langdon Hills instead. Labour's Dean Sharpe came 135 votes behind Chris but out-polled the other two Tory candidates, Sandeep Sandhu and Stan Edemakhiota. The Green and Liberals were trailing at the rear and None Of The Above X secured just 26 abstentious votes.
LEE CHAPEL NORTH – Lab HOLD
HARRISON, Alex (Lab) – 1,148 (25%) *Elected
McGEORGE, Melissa (Lab) – 1,005 (22%) *Elected
McGURRAN, Aidan (Lab) – 900 (20%) *Elected
SHUKLA, Deepak (Con) – 474 (10%)
WINGFIELD, Joanna (Con) – 472 (10%)
CHANDLER, Mike (Lib) – 289 (6%)
McDONALD, Elaine (TUSC) - 227 (5%)
Turnout: 17.9% (+1.9)
Labour's Alex Harrison was re-elected comfortably to his Lee Chapel North seat, 674 votes ahead of nearest Tory rival Deepak Shukla. Councillor Harrison is joined by Cllr. Melissa McGeorge, who was elected here for Labour following the abolition of her former Vange seat, and Aidan McGurran, currently Essex county councillor for the Pitsea Division, who returns to Basildon Council following the loss of his own seat in Vange in 2021. Councillor McGurran sent me a slightly pious email the morning of Polling Day, remonstrating with me because of the "violent imagery" of my 'Runners & Riders' blog, in which I refer to him and Gavin Callaghan as "people who would shank you in the back just for the fun of it". Whilst I may have found such reproof a little sanctimonious, if I am being completely honest, I received it the day my son was born. Maybe I am going soft, but it occurs to me, begrudgingly, that he may have a point. To be fair to Aidan, I never had any personal run-ins with him myself and when we served together on Planning, he was broadly courteous (whilst nevertheless making it abundantly clear that he despises Tories at a cellular level). I was pretty sore when he succeeded me in the Economic Development brief in 2019 and almost immediately scrapped my scheme to create an 'Innovation Warehouse' in Pitsea. But, that aside, I have no strong animus against him. Hopefully, rather than simply upbraiding me though, he will actually prove me wrong by not now setting about shafting Billericay. It would be a neighbourly thing, given that he lives here. All told, Labour enjoy a 67% vote share in Lee Chapel North, making it pretty safe. Deepak and first-time Tory candidate Jo Wingfield put in a respectable showing but our vote was still 9 points down. The Liberal and TUSC candidates made no impact at all.
NETHERMAYNE – Ind HOLD* (new boundaries)
SMITH, Kerry (Ind) – 1,490 (27%) *Elected
LARKIN, Mo (Ind) – 1,307 (24%) *Elected
MURPHY, Eddie (Ind) – 1,168 (21%) *Elected
MOYET, Yanik (Lab) – 576 (10%)
BLAKE, Ann (Con) – 313 (6%)
CHAMBERS, Lewis (Lib) – 266 (5%)
MARTIN, Dave (Con) – 251 (5%)
ULUHAN, Maz (Con) – 163 (3%)
Turnout: 21.9 22% (-0.1)
In the foregone conclusion that is Nethermayne, Kerry Smith and his minions predictably romped home with 72% of the vote. Councillor Smith topped the bill, with a majority of 914 over the Labour candidate. Mo Larkin was re-elected and newcomer Eddie Murphy joins the Smithite faction on the Council. Lone Labour candidate Yanik Moyet came in 592 votes behind Councillor Murphy. Our three candidates and the lone Liberal, sadly, made little impact on the Smithites unassailable lead in Nethermayne, a traditionally anti-establishment ward. One interesting observation is that Councillor Larkin rejoined the Council in a by-election in 2022, more than a year after Gavin Callaghan had resigned his previous Pitsea North-West seat following his loss of power in 2021. Now that Councillor Callaghan has returned and immediately installed himself as Labour leader, he seems certain to become Leader of the Council. This is only possible, however, as part of an alliance with the Smithite faction. It will be interesting to see how Mo copes with this arrangement, given that she harbours a deep and intense loathing for Callaghan. I cannot overstate the degree to which she absolutely detests him, and the feeling has long been mutual. When Callaghan was first elected in Pitsea North-West in 2012, Mo (a Tory in those days) was a councillor in the neighbouring ward of Pitsea South-East and serving as Mayor at the time. They immediately clashed and their mutual persecution is the stuff of Basildon political folklore. The mind boggles at how they will now serve in a coalition alongside one another, particularly if Councillor Smith chooses to advance her as the Smithite candidate for Mayor, as he has in the past. Callaghan was a remorseless critic of Mo's long tenure as 1st Mayor of Basildon and, even with his famously relaxed principles, it would be an utter marvel to witness him put his hand up at the Annual Meeting to support her return to the chair. Watch this space. I suspect the fur will fly before too long.
PITSEA NORTH-WEST – 1 Lab HOLD and 2 Lab GAINS from Con
BAKER, Michael (Lab) – 1,026 (20%) *Elected
CALLAGHAN, Emma (Lab) – 1,012 (19%) *Elected
REID, Patricia (Lab) – 965 (19%) *Elected
BURKE TERSON, Stuart (Con) – 706 (14%)
SMITH, Lewis (Con) – 605 (12%)
COTTRELL, Mark (Con) – 558 (11%)
HOWARD, Martin (Lib) – 200 (4%)
HUGGINS, Jack (TUSC) - 137 (3%)
Turnout: 22% (+3)
Very disappointingly, sitting Conservative councillor Stuart Terson lost his seat after only 3 years in post, having won the 2021 by-election occasioned by the resignation of Gavin Callaghan. Sadly, despite working the ward like a Trojan, Labour swept the board. Sitting councillor Pat Reid (also an Essex county councillor for the Laindon Park & Fryerns Division) was re-elected, albeit, surprisingly, at the bottom of the poll. The top spot went to newcomer Michael Baker, who was elected with a majority of 320 over Stuart. In second place was Emma Callaghan, Gavin's wife. The remaining two Tories, along with the Liberal and TUSC candidates, trailed far behind. Labour's total vote share was 58%, a 9-point increase from when Councillor Reid was re-elected last year, whilst our vote has barely budged. Certainly a far cry from when Stuart won the seat in July 2021 with 57%. Sadly, democracy is a fickle mistress.
PITSEA SOUTH-EAST – Lab GAIN from Con* (new boundaries)
HILLEARD, Christopher (Lab) – 1,093 (16%) *Elected
PALMER, Gillian (Lab) – 1,082 (16%) *Elected
WESTWICK, Ben (Lab) – 1,001 (15%) *Elected
RIMMER, Craig (Con) – 938 (14%)
CANHAM, Gary (Con) – 901 (14%)
ADESHILE, Yetunde (Con) – 895 (13%)
HARRISON, Linda (Ind) - 301 (5%)
WILLIS, Steven (Grn) - 272 (4%)
SPOWART, Steven (Lib) - 193 (3%)
Turnout: 24.1% (-0.9)
Very disappointingly, we lost all three seats in Pitsea South-East to Labour. First-time Labour candidate Chris Hilleard topped the poll in an infuriatingly close race and was only 155 votes ahead of sitting Conservative cabinet member Craig Rimmer. His ward colleague, Gary Canham, and current Deputy Mayor Yetunde Adeshile, whose Vange seat has been abolished and who was seeking election in Pitsea South-East in place of the late Mayor Luke Mackenzie, both also lost their seats. In addition to Councillor Hilleard, Gillian Palmer and Ben Westwick also join the Council. There was only 63 votes between Craig and the new Councillor Westwick. The other single candidates made no impact on what was clearly a very tight two-horse race between us and Labour. Labour's total vote share is only 47% to our 41%. Just 6 points between us. All to play for at the next borough elections in 2026.
ST. MARTIN'S – 1 Lab HOLD and 1 Lab GAIN from Con* (new boundaries)
CALLAGHAN, Gavin (Lab) – 990 (20%) *Elected
FERGUSON, Jack (Lab) – 965 (20%) *Elected
YAQUB, Maryam (Lab) – 820 (17%) *Elected
ADEMUYIWA, Davida (Con) – 532 (11%)
ROY, Deepak (Con) – 514 (11%)
MATTHEWMAN, Ellie (Grn) - 319 (7%)
BREEDON, Simon (Ind) - 305 (6%)
JENKINS, Phil (Lib) - 243 (5%)
BUXTON, Andrew (TUSC) - 190 (4%)
Turnout: 20.3% (+3.3)
Somewhat astonishingly, St. Martin's - the ward that covers Basildon Town Centre itself - has returned Gavin Callaghan to Basildon Council. The man that was booted out of office just 3 years ago, in part because of his attempts to steamroller through plans for high-rise tower blocks in the Town Centre, now tops the poll, 458 votes ahead of Conservative incumbent Davida Ademuyiwa, who took the seat from the sitting Labour mayor in 2021. I am, frankly, staggered at the short memories of the electorate here. Davida was a conscientious and hard-working councillor, who advocated tirelessly for her ward. I try to be magnanimous in defeat but, honestly, whatever happens next to Basildon Town Centre, the residents there have nobody to blame but themselves. Joining Councillor Callaghan in the new enlarged St. Martin's ward, which now includes around half of the old Vange seat, is another former Labour leader, Jack Ferguson (a pretty good egg, to be fair), and the now former Labour leader, Maryam Yaqub. Despite being one of the incumbent St. Martin's councillors, Councillor Yaqub polled last for Labour, though that is probably simply a feature of her surname beginning with a Y. She was still 288 votes clear of Davida, which is dispiriting. All told, Labour's vote share in this traditionally safe seat was 57%, 5 points up since Councillor Yaqub was re-elected last year, whilst our share was down 4 points on last year but 18 points down on what Davida achieved in 2021, when she became the first Tory ever elected to the ward. Councillor Callaghan wasted little time and has already replaced Councillor Yaqub as Leader of the Labour Group. Well, on your own heads be it, St. Martin's. Enjoy your transformation into Mega City 1!
BROCKMAN, Eunice (W/Ind) – 1,228 (17%) *Elected
ALDRIDGE, David (W/Ind) – 963 (14%) *Elected
HAMMOND, Trevor (W/Ind) – 936 (13%) *Elected
HOLLIMAN, Peter (Con) – 872 (12%)
MORRIS, Carole (Con) – 794 (11%)
MORRIS, Don (Con) – 720 (10%)
NEMETH, Joe (Lab) – 493 (7%)
COLLINS, Dave (RUK) - 447 (6%)
WRIGHT, Penny (Grn) - 337 (5%)
MANTERFIELD, Karen (Lib) – 235 (3%)
Turnout: 26.5% (+1.5)
Sadly, both the sitting Conservative councillors in Wickford North lost their seats, as the Wickford Independents (Windies) swept the board. Eunice Brockman was comfortably re-elected once again, with a majority of 356 over nearest Tory rival (and former Windy himself), Peter Holliman. Councillor Brockman is now joined by two new Windy councillors, David Aldridge and Trevor Hammond. In addition to Peter, we say farewell to Carole Morris, the erstwhile 'Mother of the Council', who has lost her seat after 24 years service. Carole was first elected in 2000 and had been re-elected six times. I feel a particular pang of sadness at Carole's loss, as she mentored me on two committees. When I was first elected in 2013, I was appointed to the Leisure & Community Services Scrutiny Committee, which she chaired. The following year, I was appointed to the Planning Committee, to which she was also appointed as chairman. All told, I have served with Carole on Planning for about 7 years, much of that time under her able chairmanship. I shall miss her. We also say goodbye to her husband, the legendary Don Morris, who was unsuccessful in being elected here, following the abolition of his former Wickford Castledon seat. Don was first elected to the Council in 1990 - 34 years ago! - and has served, on and off, ever since. The Windies' total vote share here is 44%, verses the Tories on 33%, so there will be a long road to recover the ward.
WICKFORD PARK – 1 Con HOLD and 1 W/Ind GAIN from Con* (new boundaries)
BALL, Alan (W/Ind) – 881 (18%) *Elected
JEFFERY, George (Con) – 853 (17%) *Elected
HARRISON, David (W/Ind) – 831 (17%) *Elected
CHILD, Yvonne (Con) – 747 (15%)
TAGG, Gary (Con) – 666 (13%)
BUNYAN, Peter (Lab) - 629 (13%)
BLAKE, Simon (Lib) - 395 (8%)
Turnout: 23.4% (+1.4)
Another tantalisingly close result, whereby incumbent Conservative councillor George Jeffery was re-elected. There were only two Wickford Independent candidates and he wound up sandwiched between them, with former councillor Alan Ball returning to the Council at the top of the poll, just 28 votes ahead of George. Meanwhile, wily old fox David Harrison has also returned, snatching the third seat from incumbent Tory Yvonne Child, who only won the seat narrowly last year but has now lost it to Councillor Harrison by 84 votes. The Windies' total vote share was 35% to our 45% but, in this game, it's votes that count and the fact there were only two Windies seems to have worked in their favour, as they have clearly benefited from some split votes.
CONCLUSION:
As I said in my opening, there is no disguising that this is a catastrophic defeat for the Conservative Party, in what has clearly been a bad set of local elections nationwide. The national picture certainly worked against us but it would be delusional not to acknowledge that recent changes to the waste and recycling collection service (known ubiquitously as 'Bingate') loomed large in these elections, not least since Labour and the Independents essentially reduced the election into a referendum on the bins, pledging to return us to weekly collections. This is Basildon Conservatives' worst result since 1996 (which preceded the 1997 General Election Labour landslide), when we were almost wiped off the political map in Basildon. The Conservative Group is now only 13 strong, which is the least number of Conservatives we have had on the Council in over 20 years, since we went into the 2000 Local Elections with just 11.
This result makes us, officially, the second party on Basildon Council, with Labour now ahead of us on 18. In total, we lost twelve excellent councillors, including two members of the Cabinet. Two of them, Don & Carole Morris, had served on the Council for a combined total of 51 years. As Tories, we prided ourselves on having representation in every part of the Borough - Billericay, Basildon, Laindon, Pitsea and Wickford - but now only retain seats in Billericay and Wickford. As someone who was born in Basildon and spent half my life living south of the A127, this is deeply upsetting.
Nonetheless, we look forwards and, whilst it is sad to say 'goodbye for now' to so many fine colleagues, I warmly welcome my two new ward colleagues. We formally welcomed Cllr. Martyn Mordecai (Con, Billericay East) into the Conservative Group at the recent Group AGM. It was also a case of 'welcome back' to Cllr. Andy Barnes (Con, Billericay East), who previously served as a Conservative councillor for Laindon Park (2015-19). It is great to have Andy back in the Group. Both will be tremendous assets.
But, ultimately, this was very much Labour's election. They are now the largest party on the Council, for the first time since 2002. They gained a total of 8 seats, including the return of 4 former Labour councillors. But it was also a good night for Cllr. Kerry Smith, whose faction now command all 6 seats across his Westley Heights fiefdom. Labour did a deal with the Devil when they went into coalition with the Independents. As these elections show, they have set a horizon on their own ambitions. They have 18 seats now and that is all the seats they shall ever have. They need 22 seats or more to command an overall majority on Basildon Council and govern alone. They will never achieve this because they do not get a look-in in Billericay. They have handed Westley Heights over to Councillor Smith and have left Wickford for the Windies. So it is now official - Labour will never be able to govern Basildon Council alone, at least not for the foreseeable future. Their fates are inextricably tethered to the motley assortment of waifs and strays that make up the two Independent groups. If I were a Labour councillor, or even a Labour Party member or supporter, that is not a position I would relish! At least as a Tory, even from our current unenviable position, I can aspire to see my group govern Basildon again, alone and on our own terms. Labour cannot.
Although much of the social media comment I have seen in the days since has focused on the low turnout, turnout across the Borough was actually up in most wards - though continues to be depressingly low. The highest turnout was in my own Billericay East Ward, at 33.2%. It is a sad state of affairs though. The lowest turnout was, as usual, in Lee Chapel North at just 17.9% but even that was up on last year (when only 16% bothered to go vote).
Just enough time for some pointless stat-crunching! The single
highest number of votes won by any borough candidate was Cllr. Hazel Green (Ind, Langdon Hills), who received 1,855 votes. The lowest was None Of The Above X (former boxer Terry Marsh), also in Langdon Hills, at just 26 votes. He, not unsurprisingly, also has the lowest vote
share (0%). The largest single vote share went to Cllr. Kerry Smith (Ind,
Nethermayne), who personally commanded 27% of the votes cast in Nethermayne. The largest vote share for any party in a ward was in Fryerns, where Labour commanded an incredible 76% of the vote. The lowest was Wickford Park, where the Windies won two seats with 35% of the vote. The highest Tory vote share was jointly in Billericay West and Burstead, where we achieved 62% in both.
The single largest personal majority was won by Councillor Green, who was 1,137 votes ahead of her nearest rival. She and here two Langdon Hills ward colleagues were the only councillors elected with majorities over a thousand. The lowest personal majority among the first-placed candidates belongs to Cllr. Alan Ball (W/Ind, Wickford Park), who topped the poll only 28 votes ahead of runner up Cllr. George Jeffery (Con, Wickford Park). Our leader, Cllr. Andrew Baggott (Con, Burstead), won the largest personal Tory majority, being 852 votes ahead of his nearest rival in Burstead. The largest Labour majority went to Cllr. Alex Harrison (Lab, Lee Chapel North), whose personal majority is 674.
The Conservative Group will now go through the motions. We held our AGM last Tuesday and re-elected Andy Baggott and Kevin Blake as our Leader and Deputy Leader respectively. Danny Lawrence and Alex Myers will be our nominees for the mayoralty, to be presented at the Annual Meeting of Basildon Council scheduled for May 23rd. But the re-establishment of the Labour-led 'Rainbow Alliance' seems all but certain. We must now focus on being an effective Opposition and ensure we hold Labour and the Indies to their fanciful campaign promises, some of which are being watered down as we speak (their trenchant opposition to the so-called 'Garden Tax' now reduced to a loose commitment to reduce the green waste charge back to our £25 introductory rate).We are, as always, hugely grateful to everyone who voted for us and remain committed to acting as a strong voice across the whole borough.
If there is one thing I have learned over the last week, where there's a Will, there's a way.
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