ELECTIONS: Lib Dems ousted in Northampton Borough

Out: Brian Hoare is
no longer council leader

An amazing night of results saw the ruling Liberal Democrat party battered into third place on Northampton Borough Council.
The Lib Dems lost an incredible 22 seats - including those of leader Brian Hoare, deputy leader Paul Varnsverry and former leader Tony Woods - as the Conservatives swept to power.
In all the Tories captured an additional 11 seats to take their total to 26 as they carved up last night's spoils with Labour, which gained 10 seats up to 15 to become the borough's main opposition party. The Lib Dems were left with just four seats.
The night's other major casualty was Independent Tony Clarke, a former Labour MP, who lost out to his old party in Castle ward.
The Tory landslide means their leader, David Palethorpe, will become the new leader of the council.
Within The Hunsbury Herald region, which covers East and West Hunsbury, Upton and Nene Valley wards, all seven available seats were won by Conservative candidates.

The closest contest was in West Hunsbury, where Brian Oldham defeated former ward councillor and Parliamentary candidate for Milton Keynes North Jill Hope, of the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Oldham won 961 votes to her 779.
Writing on her website following last night's result, Mrs Hope admitted her party has been 'battered' but vowed to fight back.
She said: 'Many thanks to all who voted for me. Considering that the LibDems have taken a battering tonight locally and nationally it wasn’t a bad result and we will be back.'
Conservatives Phil Larratt and Brandon Eldred were unsurprisingly elected over Lib Dems Jill Panebianco and Martin Price, who were little more than paper candidates.
And it was a similar story in Nene Valley where Michael Hill and Jonathan Nunn won the two available seats. The Liberal Democrat pair of John Crake and Cerri Glynane were beaten fourth and fifth place by Independent Liam Costello.




Jill Hope

 

Mr Costello polled an excellent 1,056 votes, some way behind the 1,790 and 1,596 recorded by Cllrs Hill and Nunn respectively, but considerably ahead of Mr Crake's 524 and Mrs Glynane's 425.
Speaking on Twitter, Mr Costello (@ljcostello) said: 'I'm delighted to have picked up 1,056 votes in the Tory heartland (by) campaigning on local issues.'
And there was more pain for the Lib Dems in Upton ward, where they would have felt confident of winning seats.
Tory pairing Brian Sargeant and Alan Bottwood took the seats, despite the Lib Dems fielding a strong looking pairing of former West Hunsbury councillor Richard Matthews and South Northants Parliamentary candidate Scott Collins.
Commenting on Twitter after the results, Mr Collins (@ScottJonCollins) chose to put a positive light on things: 'Bad night but we must look to the future. Towcester now has 2 Lib Dems & good results across SNC. Something to work with next stop NCC (Northamptonshire County Council) 2013'.
Despite his positive outlook results were not that bright for his party on South Northants District Council either. Although they won two extra seats in Towcester Brook, the Conservatives still captured a massive 33 out of 42 seats.

Elected: Michael Hill

Mr Matthews' result saw him drop out of the council after previously serving in West Hunsbury. He had made way to allow Mrs Hope to contest that ward.
And his former running partner Paul Varnsverry fared no better. Mr Varnsverry was forced to move from West Hunsbury to Delapre & Briar Hill.
But the council deputy leader lost out to Labour's Geraldine Davis, Tory Michael Ford and fellow Lib Dem Brendan Glynane.
Immediately after the result he tweeted (@PaulVarnsverry) to thank all those he voted for him: 'Thanks to everyone who voted for me in Delapre & Briar Hill. It has been a great four years experience.'
And writing on his blog last night he added: 'The past four years have been a tremendous experience. From newly-elected backbencher to Deputy Leader of the largest non-unitary local authority in the country – and the opportunity to run for Parliament in 2010...
'Northampton Borough Council is a far better organisation today than when the Liberal Democrats took over ‘the World’s Worst Council’ in May 2007. More of the improvements we have made will filter through during the coming weeks and months – such is the ‘lag’ between decisions being made and implemented. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the new Tory administration to ensure they stay truthful and honest and don’t try to claim credit for the Liberal Democrats’ work.
'Thanks to everyone who voted for me, to the residents and local community leaders and organisations I have worked with over the past four years. It has been a pleasure and privilege.'
The result of the alternative vote referendum in the borough council area was a resounding 'No2AV'.
Only 17,651 people voted for the proposed electoral system, with 41,065 voting 'No2AV' and in favour of maintaining the old First Past The Post system.
This reflected the national result where more than two-thirds of voters opposed AV.
The full results for The Hunsbury Herald region of Northampton Borough Council were: * elected


EAST HUNSBURY

Brandon Eldred Conservative 2,405 *
Phil Larratt Conservative 1,736 *
Jill Panebianco Liberal Democrat 669
Martin Price Liberal Democrat 862

NENE VALLEY (covers Wootton and Collingtree regions)

Liam Costello Independent 1,056
John Crake Liberal Democrat 524
Cerri Glynane Liberal Democrat 425
Michael Hill Conservative 1,790 *
Jonathan Nunn Conservative 1,596 *

UPTON

Richard Matthews Liberal Democrat 615
Scott Collins Liberal Democrat 565
Brian Sargeant Conservative 696 *
Alan Bottwood Conservative 900 *

WEST HUNSBURY

Phillip Buchan Christian Peoples Alliance 94
Jill Hope Liberal Democrat 779
Brian Oldham Conservative 961 *