Election win dedicated to area’s late councillor
TWO new Burton councillors have dedicated their win in a by-election to a well-loved teacher who died last year.
Labour’s Louise Walker and Thomas Hadley were last week elected to East Staffordshire Borough Council to represent the Eton Park ward.
Both have dedicated their success to former Eton Park Labour councillor Sonia Andjelkovic, a de Ferrers Academy teacher who died suddenly in January 2020.
Both councillors have pledged to address crime and poverty. Councillor Hadley said: “There’s a massive drug problem, along with antisocial behaviour, and these are the main concerns we must address.
“We’ll be consulting with residents about the Uttoxeter masterplan and voting against the move for Burton library.”
Councillor Walker said: “We’ll be addressing concerns about the cricket pitch on Eton Park. The key is we have to be visible. I was born and raised in the Eton Park area and I know what the concerns are.
“We have to keep people aware of what Labour is doing and how we are addressing residents concerns.”
Before last week’s result, Eton Park was represented by two Horninglow councillors in a temporary capacity. Ken Builth, of Labour, and independent council member Deneice Florence-jukes, stepped in when Councillor Andjelkovic died and independent Dale Spedding resigned.
Talking about Councillor Andjelkovic, Councillor Hadley said: “I worked with Sonja closely in the past. I hope Louise and I can build on her work and she’d be proud of the work we do. My own personal victory is dedicated to her.”
Councillor Walker said: “I stood with Sonja last time and knew her very well. She’d be really proud of the work that Tom and I have done and I know she’d have been delighted with the result here.”
The by-election was due to take place last year, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
Both candidates expressed their delight at bucking the national trend of Tory dominance in last week’s county council elections.
Councillor Walker said: “I want to say thank you to the people of Eton Park; it’s been a brilliant result for us in Burton. When I saw the national results for Labour, it came as quite a shock.
“Locally, we’ve been doing a lot of hard work and have all worked together and united for the community.
“I think nationally there needs to be a conversation of how we engage with people as a party.
“We have to be visible; we want to be seen as reporting back to and communicating with the people.”
Councillor Hadley, who stood for Labour 2019 in the Burton Tower ward, said: “It was fantastic to be elected as councillor for Eton Park.
“There’s now a brand new Labour team in the grassroots and we cannot wait to get started.
“We can make a difference. We now have to have a consultation and conversation with the national party and look at what is happening elsewhere in the country.
“When we spoke with people, we found they agreed with the grassroots, but not the national party. We have to listen to what people are saying.
“We now have to try to make up for disastrous election results and show people what Labour can do for them.” East Staffordshire Borough Council now has 24 Conservative councillors, 11 Labour members, one Liberal Democrat councillor, two independentss and one “centreright” independent councillor. In last week’s Staffordshire County council elections, the Conservative group won 57 seats compared to Labour’s four, with the remaining seat taken by an independent councillor.