All change – but it’s still Labour keep grip on power in compact council Green dream as party wins first-ever seat
THERE were highs and lows and a few big name casualties. But after all the votes were counted it was pretty much business as usual as Labour retained control of Birmingham City Council after last Thursday’s local elections.
Labour failed to make significant gains, but the Tories also failed to make inroads as voters across the city opted for more of the same.
Leaving the counting halls of the ICC happiest was the Green Party after Julien Pritchard became their first-ever Birmingham councillor, winning the Druids Heath and Monyhull seat by a 476-vote margin.
After all 101 seats of the new smaller council had been declared Labour were in control with 67, the Conservatives had 25, with Lib Dems on eight and the Greens with one.
Although UKIP had never won a council seat in Birmingham, they had performed strongly in recent elections and the feeling was those previousUKIP votes had been split, perhaps benefiting the Conservatives in the south of the city slightly more than Labour.
Among high profile casualties were two veteran councillors. The Conservative group deputy leader Randal Brew missed out in Northfield and Labour’s Lynda Clinton, who had been lined up as the next Lord Mayor of Birmingham, lost in Castle Vale.
Council leader Ian Ward (Shard End) said it was a very good result for Labour, leaving the party firmly in control, although he recognised there had been setbacks in some parts of the city.
“I do think we’ve got to do something around the issue of street cleansing and litter on the streets because that’s been an issue in this election, so that’s got to be a priority for the next four years,” he said. “Beyond that there’s a lot of potholes on the roads in the city at the moment and we need to have a conversation with our private contractor Amey about resolving that. And we need to get on with the work of growing the city and levering in investment and we need to grow the jobs of the future and building the homes we need.”
With the councillors fighting new wards with different boundaries, it was difficult to see who had made gains or losses locally. But among the most interesting results were in the Northfield and Kings Norton areas where Tories and Labour both won and lost target seats. And in Sutton Coldfield Labour gained a second seat for the first time, building on earlier progress. Perhaps most indicative was the twoseat ward of Longbridge and West Heath where Labour’s Brett O’Reilly shared the victory with Conservative rival Debbie Clancy. Cllr O’Reilly, the cabinet member for jobs and skills, won by a narrow 13-vote margin, admitting having earlier in the day “feared the worst”. Conservative leader Robert Alden said his party had made significant progress. He said: “We have made gains in places from Castle Vale to Frankley, Rednal, Allens Cross, Highters Heath and Hall Green South, places which haven’t had Conservative councillors in years. We are back and winning by decent margins.
“It shows the mess made of the city.”
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems were celebrating a rare feat as their veteran councillor Paul Tilsley won again, 50 years to the day after first being elected to Birmingham City Council.
Lib Dem leader Jon Hunt said: “It looks like our group will be as strong as it was before, maybe a little bit more. We’ve consolidated seats which were previously split with Labour.”
He said they had worked hard to engage support among the young. Labour has THE Green Party will consider themselves big winners after securing their historic first-ever seat on Birmingham City Council.
Labour would have expected to secure the Druids Heath and Monyhull seat but were soundly beaten. Green candidate Julien Pritchard romped home with a 476vote majority on a relatively low turnout. He said: “I am thrilled and honoured to be elected as councillor for Druids Heath and Monyhull. We’ve done it by listening to people and by doing our politics and campaigning with people rather than to people. We listened to people’s concerns and tried to act on them to improve the area.”
He added: “It’s an area which has often been ignored and even neglected and I’ll be doing my best to try to change that.”
The Druids Heath estate, dominated by tower blocks, has been earmarked for regeneration and investment for years, but there has been little progress or investment. Cllr Pritchard said the result will spur on the party for future campaigns in the city.
In second place was Labour’s Victoria Quinn, who had been councillor for Sparkbrook for the past seven years and is wife of Sir Albert Bore, who was re-elected. She has gained a reputation as a ruthless inquisitor as chairman of the housing and previously transport scrutiny committees.