Bridgwater has remained a lone Labour stronghold in the West of England between Bristol and Exeter proudly flying the red flag from its Town hall. After the hard fought town elections the final score was Labour 12 Tories 4. Although the Tories naturally regained their 2 seats in their Wyndham heartlands (they didn;t stand there last time so opposition parties made a temporary grab) but 2 ever-so-close battles saw narrow Tory wins. In Fairfax Labour councillor Alex Glassford lost to Tory Mike Cresswell by just 1 vote while in Dunwear South Labour’s Gary Tucker was defeated by Tory Suria Aujla by just 7.
Else where around the Town hard working Labour councillors were re-elected including leader and deputy leader Brian Smedley and Kathy Pearce in Westover, Tony heywood in Eastover, Mick Lerry in Victoria, Graham Granter in Fairfax West, Leigh Redman and Liz Leavy in Hamp , Dave Loveridge in North Dunwear and Diogo Rodrigues in Fairfax East
New faces on the council include Labour’s Li Gibson In Westover, Glen Burrows in Eastover, and Julie Cordiner in Victoria .
Bridgwater Town Council Results May 2nd 2019
Dunwear North ward (1 councillor)
Barnes, Pele James (Con) – 101
King, Lorna Ann Philippa (Lib Dem) – 62
Loveridge, Dave (Lab) – 177 duly elected
Ward electorate: 2,010
Turnout: 20.11%
Dunwear South ward (1 councillor)
Aujla, Suria (Con) – 209 duly elected
Tucker, Gary Andrew Derek (Lab) – 202
Ward electorate: 1,600
Turnout: 30.94%
Eastover ward (2 councillors)
Bristowe, Sue (Con)- 177
Burrows, Glen (Lab) – 412 duly elected
Fraser-Howells, Jonathan (Con) – 155
Heywood, Tony (Lab) – 375 duly elected
Ward electorate: 3,386
Turnout: 22.12 %
Fairfax East ward (2 councillors)
Baker, Sarah Victoria (Lib Dem) – 148
Cresswell, Mike (Con) – 227 duly elected
Glassford, Alex (Lab) – 226
Nickolls, Adrian David (Lib Dem)- 151
Rodrigues, Diogo (Lab) – 294 duly elected
Ward electorate: 3,536
Turnout: 21.19%
Fairfax West ward (1 councillor)
Granter, Graham John (Lab) – 192 duly elected
Marsh, Helen Julia (Con) – 90
Ward electorate: 1,756
Turnout: 18.19%
Hamp ward (2 councillors)
Austen, Stephen Barry – 216
Leavy, Elizabeth Ann (Lab) – 280 duly elected
Moore, Adrian John – 244
Nicholson, Julie Stenner (Con) – 96
Redman, Leigh Paul (Lab)- 352 duly elected
Ward electorate: 5,360
Turnout 14.12 %
Victoria ward (2 councillors)
Cordiner, Julie Marie (Lab) – 268 duly elected
Duddridge, Lance John (Con) – 238
Harwood, John (Con) – 180
Lerry, Mick (Lab) – 246 duly elected
Ward electorate: 3,084
Turnout: 20.60%
Westover ward (3 councillors)
Asher, Michael (Con) – 231
Bolt, Brian James (Con) – 240
Gibson, Li (Lab) – 377 duly elected
Lee, Roland (Lib Dem) – 143
Lewis, Gareth Edwin (Con) – 244
Nickolls, Antony (Lib Dem) – 191
Pearce, Kathryn Elizabeth (Lab)- 482 duly elected
Smedley, Brian David (Lab) – 461 duly elected
Ward electorate: 4,072
Turnout: 25.63%
Wyndham ward (2 councillors)
Johnstone, Peter Ian (Lib Dem)- 237
Lilley, Rachael (Con) – 531 duly elected
Palaram, Inika Raine (Lab) – 180
Ridewood, Stuart (Lab) – 178
Slocombe, Gill (Con) – 611 duly elected
Waghorn, Dean (Lib Dem) – 211
Ward electorate: 4,863
Turnout