The Liberal Democrats are celebrating winning control of Shepway Council and sweeping gains across the whole area. The new composition of Shepway Council following the 1st May elections is Liberal Democrat 29, Conservative 16, Labour 1.
Liberal Democrats were the clear winners on Thursday in the elections for Bedford Borough Council. Liberal Democrat Candidates gained 2 seats in total, De Parys from the Conservatives and Kingsbrook from Labour. They also held on to Putnoe, Goldington and Wootton with good majorities.
Although the national trend was away from Labour and towards the Conservatives, at least in England, the Liberal Democrats are overall very pleased with the results of the May 1st local elections of 2003. Although losing control of some councils, this was balanced by gaining control of others, including Windsor and Maidenhead. The Conservatives lost 15 seats and the Liberal Democrats picked up 13 with five seats won by independents giving them a majority on the council of 11.
Lib Dem campaigners Gill Jenkins and Janet Andrews are urging people to use their local Post Offices.
It has been revealed that Tory run Shepway District Council has more meetings than any other Council in Kent. In fact the Council has as many meetings as three other local authorities put together!
The local Labour Party has only been able to field just 21 candidates to fight the 46 seats on Shepway Council. Both the Lib Dems and the Tories are fighting every seat.
