No shift in powers at the town halls

The Liberal Democrats had the most to celebrate as they moved two votes closer to the 26 needed to hold the town hall reigns upping their council cache from 21 to 23 seats of the 53 that were up for grabs.

Labour remained unchanged holding tight to its nine seats, while Independents dropped one to two and the Conservatives also endured one loss ending the May 1 election with 18 seats.

As a result SLDC, which has been a hung' council since its inception in 1974, remained that way with no political party gaining overall control.

The Conservatives suffered a blow as the Liberal Democrats seized control of the party's strongholds in Low Furness and Swarthmoor and Cartmel. Long-timer Bill Tyson was elbowed out of his seat by Sonjie Marshall and Leslie Hadwin lost to Howard Martin.

Liberal Democrats also made another gain as first-timer Peter Thornton toppled Independent candidate Bill Robinson by 100 votes from his Whinfell seat.

Mr Thornton, who is looking forward to his new role, said his priorities as new politician on the block would be to unite the sprawling parishes.

"I feel quite humbled to be following Mr Robinson who has done tremendous work over the years. Whinfell is a massive ward and the main thing I want to do is work hard to knit it together and work out issues that are common in all of its parishes."

But the Conservative camp exacted their revenge as their candidate Richard Rollins stole the former Liberal Democrat seat in Arnside and Beetham with 906 votes while lone Labour candidate Jocelyn Innes trailed with 198 votes.

But the Waterside ward was the centre of controversy as Conservative agent Peter Williamson revealed that the party would be contacting central office after it was alleged the Liberal Democrats posted fallacious flyers claiming that Mr Rollins had stood down.

"We have suffered from a leafleting explosion. We have reached the stage where parties are not saying things that matter, they are retaliating to each others tit for tat," said Mr Williamson.

SLDC Liberal Democrat group leader Brendan Jameson declared the night a success, claiming even the losses had been a win.

"We believed we were capable of winning the Cartmel seat and we did, but the highlight of the night was Sheila Eccles coming within an inch of victory at Crooklands. Although she lost to Conservative John Galbraith by 17 votes, what she achieved was incredible a 20 per cent swing. We also have to be pleased with the gains at Swarthmoor and Whinfell but I'm bitterly disappointed by the loss at Arnside and Beetham."

Chairman of South Lakeland District Council Conservative Roger Bingham reflected on the night: "It's been a very good night. We have won a major victory in Arnside and Beetham by a notable majority, which is by far the largest ward in terms of population.

"Because no party has overall control, the council can continue to be balanced and independent-minded and make up its mind on issues as they occur."

Barrow gain

for Labour

LABOUR gained overall control of Barrow Borough Council by taking an extra two seats.

The party already held half of the 38-seats before a third of them went up for grabs during last Thursday's election.

Labour now has 21 seats, the Conservatives lost one and have 14 and the Independents kept hold of three seats. The average turnout of voters for the borough was 24.81 per cent.

A recount had to be held for the Dalton North seat but Labour councillor, John Major, of Lancaster Street, Dalton, clinched the seat with a majority of 17. He was first elected on to the council in 1996. Conservative candidate Lynn Murray, of Turnstown Crescent, Askam-in-Furness, got 414 votes and Independent candidate Tom Weall, of Snipe Gill, Marton, 368.

In the Dalton South ward conservative councillor Dorothy James, of Prince Street, Dalton, claimed the seat with a majority of 86. Independent candidate Ian Singleton, of Lord Street, Dalton got 137 votes, Labour candidate Dennis Toye, of William Street, Dalton, 341 votes and Dorothy Turner of the People's Party, 58.

Coun James was first elected on to Barrow Borough Council 12-years ago. She is also a Dalton Town councillor after joining in November 2001.

Coun James said: "I am really pleased to have been voted on again as it isn't easy. I am really grateful to everyone for voting for me.

"I have two main projects that I am going to work on and they are setting up a youth council in Dalton and trying to get some playing fields in the town."

Independents

stay in control

THE citizens of Eden voted to keep their district council under Independent control.

Only nine of the 30 district wards were contested and, following the declaration of all results, the council now comprises 28 Independent (or undeclared), four Liberal Democrat and five Conservative councillors.

It was a close fight between Appleby (Appleby) Independent candidates Alan Keith Morgan and Lancelot Henry Thwaytes, with just one vote deciding the outcome. Sitting district and town councillor Morgan received 192 votes, beating retiring mayor and town councillor Thwaytes, who received 191 votes.

In Orton with Tebay, sitting independent councillor John Bernard Thornborrow retained his seat with 282 votes against Liberal Democrat opposition candidate Mark Alan Saunders, who received 254 votes.

In Shap sitting district councillor, Independent Maurice Weightman lost his seat with 132 votes to Liberal Democrat candidate Neil Hughes, who gained 166 votes.

The first meeting of the newly-formed Eden District Council was held yesterday (Thursday).

Little change

in Craven

THE overall position of Craven District Council was little changed following the poll, in which ten seats were up for election, although two wards were uncontested.

In the Bentham ward, sitting Conservative councillor Gerald Hurtley, of Low Bentham, who has held the seat for five years, was returned with 521 votes.

His challenger, Independent Manuel Camacho, from Bentham, was not far behind and polled 490 votes.

The overall results were 11 seats for the Conservatives, who lost two; ten for the Independents, who gained two; and nine for the Liberal Democrats, who kept the same number of seats.

The council has been controlled by an Independent and Lib Dem group and the election paves the way for the same arrangement to continue.

l WELL known former Lake District tourism personality and author Ron Sands has been elected to Lancaster City Council. Mr Sands, who was assistant director of the Lake District National Park Centre at Brockhole from 1973 to 1988 and the first external relations officer for the National Park Authority from 1988-90, has been voted in as Labour councillor for the Heysham North ward of the City Council. He was elected the Cumbria Tourism Personality of the Year in 1990.

May 8, 2003 16:00