Labour retains control of Crawley Borough Council
As always in Crawley, the day did not pass without a couple of surprises and close-run results.
Mayor Carlos Castro lost his Tilgate seat to Tory Charles Petts by 20 votes, with Mr Petts in turn beating Labour’s Kiran Khan by just five votes.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdEvery ward was being contested this year, and the turn-out was 31.58 per cent.
This was a drop on last year’s 33.1 per cent, when only 12 seats were involved.
Despite the national picture, which has seen the Conservatives lose more than 1,200 seats, in Crawley they cut Labour’s majority from three seats to two.
This was helped in part by a boundary change, which saw the town’s wards reduced from 15 to 13 and its seats from 37 to 36.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut it still ensured that democracy in the town would not be as one-sided as it has been in other parts of West Sussex.
That being said, the relative lack of other choices – there were no independent candidates – coupled with national issues such as the Brexit saga, appeared to have coloured some people’s thinking at the ballot box.
Last year, only 92 ballot papers were rejected. This year the number was 379.
Labour leader Peter Lamb, who was elected to the newly combined Northgate & West Green ward, said people were ‘quite disaffected’ with events in Westminster.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe added: “A democracy can only function while people feel they’ve got some investment in it.”
Duncan Crow, leader of the Conservatives, retained his Furnace Green seat.
He said that the ‘general unhappiness with the national situation at Westminster’ was an issue which had been raised a lot by residents in the run-up to the election.
As well as the borough elections, there was a county by-election to be fought in Northgate & West Green.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLabour held the seat, with Karen Sudan elected, replacing Sue Mullins, who had stepped down for personal reasons.
Mrs Mullins had hoped to take a seat alongside her husband, Chris, in another newly combined ward – Gossops Green & North East Broadfield.
While he was successful, she lost out to the Conservatives, with Liam Ascough taking the seat by 51 votes.
The results:
BEWBUSH & BROADFIELD NORTH
Marion Ayling (Lab) – 1,029 (ELECTED)
Rory Fiveash (Lab) – 948 (ELECTED)
Tony Herbert (Con) – 419
Michael Jones (Lab) – 873 (ELECTED)
Richard Kail (Green) – 321
Arshad Khan (Justice Party) – 106
Angela Khassal (Con) – 325
Janet Setford-Thompson (Legacy) – 108
Sarah Smith (Lib Dem) – 172
Nina Wakeling (Con) – 384
18 rejected
BROADFIELD
Stefan Franks (Con) – 673
Ian Irvine (Lab) – 1,027 (ELECTED)
Irshad Jalaldeen (Con) – 540
Valerie Knight (Con) – 596
Tim Lunnon (Lab) – 868 (ELECTED)
Tahira Rana (Lab) – 807 (ELECTED)
43 rejected
FURNACE GREEN
Duncan Crow (Con) – 1,119 (ELECTED)
Dan Dobson (Lab) – 861
Carol Eade (Con) – 1,050 (ELECTED)
Harry Old (Lib Dem) – 171
Laura-Lee Willcock (Lab) – 693
23 rejected
GOSSOPS GREEN AND NORTH EAST BROADFIELD
Liam Ascough (Con) – 656 (ELECTED)
Iain Dickson (Green) – 218
Christopher Mullins (Lab) – 666 (ELECTED)
Susan Mullins (Lab) – 605
Neil Setford-Thompson (Legacy) – 61
Lisa Vitler (Con) – 598
21 rejected
IFIELD
Tahir Ashraf (Con) – 864
Josh Bounds (Con) – 945
Jilly Hart (Lab) – 1,076 (ELECTED)
Peter Smith (Lab) – 1,132 (ELECTED)
Martin Stone (Con) – 932
Geraint Thomas (Lab) – 1,167 (ELECTED)
43 rejected
LANGLEY GREEN AND TUSHMORE
William Arinze (Con) – 313
Bradley Constable (Con) – 365
Shahzad Malik (Lab) – 965 (ELECTED)
Lawrence Mallinson (Lib Dem) – 191
Tom McAleney (Lab) – 816 (ELECTED)
Mike Sargent (Lib Dem) – 267
Brenda Smith (Lab) – 958 (ELECTED)
Tanya Taylor (Con) – 320
27 rejected
MAIDENBOWER
Cecilia Hughes (Lab) – 580
Neil Hughes (Lab) – 543
Kim Jaggard (Con) – 1,216 (ELECTED)
Jennifer Millar-Smith (Con) – 1,188 (ELECTED)
Duncan Peck (Con) – 1,051 (ELECTED)
Daniel Ugbo (Lab) – 494
64 rejected
NORTHGATE AND WEST GREEN
Zack Ali (Con) – 827
David Anderson (Lib Dem) – 366
Connor Bounds (Con) – 734
Sally Fadelle (Green) – 419
Gurinder Jhans (Lab) – 1,016 (ELECTED)
Peter Lamb (Lab) – 1,126 (ELECTED)
Maureen Mwagale (Con) – 662
Karen Sudan (Lab) – 996 (ELECTED)
38 rejected
POUND HILL NORTH AND FORGE WOOD
Olusina Adeniyi (Lab) – 477
Tina Belben (Con) – 1,038 (ELECTED)
Richard Burrett (Con) – 1,065 (ELECTED)
Winifred Duggan (Lab) – 450
Siobhan Gallichan (Lab) – 473
John Mac Canna (Legacy) – 161
Kevan McCarthy (Con) – 976 (ELECTED)
28 rejected
POUND HILL SOUTH AND WORTH
Andrew Belben (Con) – 1,167 (ELECTED)
Colin Flack (Lab) – 710
Cyril Gambrell (Green) – 483
Stuart Gunatillake (Lab) – 506
Bob Lanzer (Con) – 1,165 (ELECTED)
Emma Newnham (Lab) – 633
Alison Pendlington (Con) – 1,051 (ELECTED)
21 rejected
SOUTHGATE
Morgan Flack (Lab) – 1,017 (ELECTED)
Karim Khassal (Con) – 722
Inna Orjola (Con) – 775
Kevin Osborne (Lib Dem) – 301
Mike Pickett (Lab) – 1,065 (ELECTED)
Simon Piggott (Con) – 856
Raj Sharma (Lab) – 999 (ELECTED)
24 rejected
THREE BRIDGES
Bob Burgess (Con) – 969 (ELECTED)
Brenda Burgess (Con) – 976 (ELECTED)
Julian Charatan (Lab) – 752
Danielle Kail (Green) – 425
Angela Malik (Lab) – 743
Stephen Pritchard (Lab) – 710
Jonathan Purdy (Con) – 798 (ELECTED)
17 rejected
TILGATE
Francis Guidera (Con) – 803 (ELECTED)
Derek Hardman (Green) – 259
Kiran Khan (Lab) – 646
Charles Petts (Con) – 651 (ELECTED)
Carols Portal Castro (Lab) – 631
12 rejected
WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL NORTHGATE BY-ELECTION
David Anderson (Lib Dem) – 268
Richard Kail (Green) – 246
Karen Sudan (Labour) – 1,293 (ELECTED)
Jan Tarrant (Con) – 893
Rejected – 52