Across the Sedgemoor District Council zone , Tories have retained control in the County election. However,despite a major swing and massive votes in some places, the Conservatives failed to take the two Bridgwater North and South seats from Labour and actually saw the Labour vote rise against them in East and West with strong campaigns from Diogo Rodrigues and Tony Heywood actively engaging with voters. The collapse of the UKIP vote saw a transfer directly to the Tory pile and Lib Dems everywhere polled a poor third in Bridgwater or second in the outlying areas – apart from the North Petherton area where local activist Bill Revans managed to take the seat from the Conservatives, despite being personally hit by the tragedy of his wife’s death in the last few days of his campaign.
In Bridgwater a sensational victory by young mum Chelsea Chadwick for Labour in the Eastover ward by-election saw Labour retain it’s position of 10 seats on Sedgemoor District.
The Eastover District By-Election vote was;-
Chelsea Chadwick (Labour) 287
Pele Barnes (Conservative) 256
Anthony Nickolls (Lib Dem) 132
David Preece (Independent) 60
Chelsea said after the meeting “Now I have been elected as your district county councillor, I will ensure the voices of Eastover are listened to, and that solutions are created for the problems raised – such as the 20mph speed limit around our schools.”
Across Sedgemoor the vote went like this;-
Bridgwater East and Bawdrip – David Hall (Con)
Bridgwater North and Central – David Loveridge (Lab)
Bridgwater South –Leigh Redman (Lab)
Bridgwater West –Ann Bown (Con)
Cannington – Mike Caswell (Con)
Huntspill – Mark Healey (Con)
King Alfred – David Huxtable (Con)
North Petherton – Bill Revans (Lib Dem)
Brent –Bob Filmer (Con)
Burnham-on-Sea North – Peter Burridge-Clayton (Con)
Cheddar – Nigel Taylor (Con)
Highbridge and Burnham South – John Woodman (Con)