There were three by-elections this week in principal authorities. The Liberal Democrats gained two seats in Epping Forest and Guildford and lost one in Somerset.
In Guildford, Colin Cross swept to victory with 63.4% of the vote for the Liberal Democrats (an increase of 49.1%) to gain a seat from the Conservatives. The Tory vote tumbled to come second with 25.7% (-45.3%), UKIP came third with 7.2% and Labour were last with 3.7%. Cllr Cross who has been a local parish councillor for the last 25 years fought a vigorous campaign to protect Green Belt land from development. The local Conservative council plan to build 2,100 new homes on an old airfield but Guildford Liberal Democrats have raised concerns about the loss of Green Belt land, traffic gridlock and the lack of affordable homes. The Liberal Democrats went door knocking every day during the campaign so had a huge amount of recent voter ID by polling day. As a result they were able to build shuttleworths using only data from this year which combined with an intensive knock up on polling day helped to maximise the Liberal Democrat vote. The local team also used the campaign as an opportunity to train volunteers to use Connect.
Newly elected Cllr Kim Adams (r) with his ward colleagues
The Liberal Democrats now hold every seat in Epping Hemnall ward (Epping Forest DC) after Kim Adams took a Conservative seat in with 43.3% of the vote. The Conservatives came second with 27.6% just ahead of UKIP on 24.2%. The Green Party came last with 4.9%. The local team also made sure to integrate Cllr Adams well into the existing team and to have a complimentary balance of literature and door knocking. The campaign focused on the Liberal Democrat’s record of action in the area particularly to tackle commuter parking issues and their opposition to an inappropriate Tory local development plan. The use of targeted literature and door knocking and effective use of Connect and Virtual phone Banks ensured a high turnout of Liberal Democrat voters.
Despite running a concerted campaign the Liberal Democrats were unfortunate in their bid to defend the marginal Frome North division of Somerset County Council. Damon Hooton secured 35% of the vote but the absence of a UKIP candidate saw the Conservative vote shoot up by 10.8% to win with 46.5%. Labour were third with 6.8% of the vote and the Greens and an Independent shared joint fourth place with 5.8%. Cllr Hooton has been a Mendip District Councillor for twelve years and ran a strong local campaign focused on protecting bus services and fighting Tory waste at County Hall. Liberal Democrat literature showed how Conservative decisions to spend £741,000 on consultants could have paid for 14,820 pothole repairs, 33 new teachers, 31 new police officers or 23 new social workers. The Frome team ensured the Liberal Democrat vote share remained stable by working exceptionally hard to collect Voter ID, producing good quality literature and making use of volunteers from across the region and country.
In North Devon, Jean Foster unfortunately drew the short straw to miss out on a place on South Molton Town Council despite winning as many votes as the elected independent councillor.
For all the detailed results see the ALDC elections page: https://www.aldc.org/category/by-election-results/