Spelthorne Borough Elections- Tories lose their Head
At the Borough elections on 5th of May the Tory Council Leader, John Packman, ignominiously lost his seat. He was replaced by the former Mayor of the Borough, Caroline Spencer, who stood as an Independent after having been de-selected by the local Tories. Caroline Spencer was one of about four Tory Councillors who were purged by the party for being too independent.
Local Liberal Democrats had a mixed election with a significant gain in Laleham and Shepperton Green - an area which has never previously had a Liberal Democrat Councillor - where Richard Dunn was elected. Despite losing seats in Halliford and Sunbury West and Sunbury East, the popular and hard working Lib Dem Councillors, Sandra Dunn and Caroline Nichols were re-elected.
Sunbury Common once again returned three Lib Dem Councillors - Ian Beardsmore, Robbie Colison-Crawford and Colin Strong. The team were elected with a 1.5% swing away from the Conservatives, in stark contrast to the national trend.
Because of the national referendum on the Alternative Vote, the turnout was much higher than in the previous Borough elections four years ago at 42%. In the AV referendum there was a large "No" vote in Spelthorne, achieved on the back of Tory-led negative campaigning.
Details of the Borough election results can be found from the Spelthorne Council website - Link to Council website