Where control of our city could be won and lost on May 6

WHO will be brave enough to predict the leadership of Derby City Council come the end of May?

Local elections take place on Thursday, May 6, and although the outcome of the voting will be known by first thing on May 7 after an overnight count at Powerleague in Pride Park, the results may not immediately show who is in charge.

The Conservatives have been the ruling party since 2018 with the support of Lib Dems and Reform Derby (formerly UKIP and Brexit Party).

At present, it is a close call between the two major parties. The Conservatives have 17 seats, Labour 14, Liberal Democrats nine, Reform Derby five and there are five independents.

In all events, the outcome could prove even closer than it is currently and it could be that once again alliances will have to be made between parties to secure the leadership of the authority.

On May 6, a third of the 51-seat council is up for grabs plus an extra seat in Darley following the resignation of Lisa Eldret for work reasons last month, making 18 seats altogether.

Ahead of the local election being called, these seats were held as follows: seven are Labour seats, six Conservative, three Liberal Democrat, one Reform Derby and one independent.

Will voters turn out in force to polling stations or will they decide that the ballot box battle is important enough to at least secure a postal vote during the pandemic and vote that way?

Or will people turn their back on politics to savour the delights of early lockdown freedoms and ignore politics altogether on the day?

Certainly there is a lot for the political groups in Derby to play for - outright control, minority leadership or a chance to be kingmaker.

The Green Party is putting up seven candidates and Reform Derby has at least one candidate in every ward helping to divert the votes away from the major political parties.

While it is easy to look at some wards and assume the outcome is a forgone conclusion because of the traditions of voting, that is not always the case and low voter turnout or additional candidates can upset the form book very easily.

Here we take a look ward by ward at where some of the battlegrounds are likely to be and where the election could be won and lost by the major parties, as the smaller parties and ultimately the independents could play a very important role.

Your vote could make all the difference so please use it.

ABBEY WARD

Five candidates will contest the single seat available in Abbey ward following the decision by Labour’s Sarah Russell not to stand for reelection – so there will be a new councillor elected for there next month.

Until 2019, when the Lib Dems took a seat, the ward had been quite strongly Labour and the party having all three seats.

So can the Lib Dem revival in the ward continue with former councillor Farhatullah Khan or will Labour secure the seat once again? Or will the Green (Helen Hitchcock), Reform Derby (Julie Paxton) or Conservative (Edward Rycroft) candidates cause any upsets?

ALLESTREE WARD

Standing councillor Ged Potter is seeking re-election for the Conservatives in Allestree, which already has two other Conservative councillors.

Candidates which might upset the vote are from Green Party (Tony Mott), Lib Dems (Martin Jones), Reform Derby (James Wise) and Labour (John Banks). A five-way race could split the vote more than usual.

ALVASTON WARD

Reform Derby has a strong council presence in Alvaston with all three seats held by the party.

John Evans is standing for re-election after first taking the seat in 2016.

Competition will come from former mayor and councillor Peter Berry for the Conservatives, Lib Dem Preetinder Kaur Butter and Labour candidate Thomas Spray in a four-horse race.

ARBORETUM WARD

A traditional Labour stronghold, where the party holds all three seats, sees Gulfraz Nawaz standing for reelection after first taking the seat in 2012.

George Flint (Reform Derby), Adam Hurt (Conservatives), Jairo Marrero (Lib Dems) and Ian Sleeman (Green) are making this a fiveway contest.

BLAGREAVES WARD

A traditional Liberal Democrat stronghold with Joe Naitta aiming to be re-elected to the seat he first won in 2008.

Three candidates opposing him are Andrew Blaney (Reform Derby), Michael Bullock (Labour) and Conservative (Rusi Jaspal).

BOULTON WARD

This could be one of the more interesting battleground wards of the local election.

The influence of Reform Derby in nearby Alvaston appeared to have spread with wins for the party in 2018 and 2019. The third seat had been held by Labour’s Dom Anderson since 2016 but in 2019 he became an independent and earlier this year joined the Conservative group.

He has decided not to stand again, so a new councillor will be elected to this ward but will the Reform Derby candidate Tim Prosser, who is also the Reform Derby candidate for the Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner election, complete the full set for the party in Boulton?

Or will former Chaddesden councillor Sara Bolton make a successful council comeback? Or could Jane Webb take it for the Lib Dems?

One thing is certain, it will not be won by a Conservative after the nominated candidate decided to withdraw on the final day of declarations leaving the Conservatives with no time to select an alternative candidate.

CHADDESDEN WARD

Since 2016, the Conservatives have gradually acquired seats in this ward and now have all three. Defending candidate is current Conservative council cabinet member Jonathan Smale.

His challenge will come from Glenda Howcroft (Lib Dem), Gary Small (Reform Derby) and Adam Wisdish (Labour) in a four-way race to the Council House.

CHELLASTON WARD

Traditionally a Conservative stronghold, in recent years two Conservative councillors have become independent councillors, leaving just one Conservative councillor in situ.

One independent councillor, Sean Marshall, is not standing again and so a new councillor will take the seat in May.

Contesting the seat is independent Celia Ingall, wife of existing independent councillor Phil Ingall; former Conservative councillor Harvey Jennings; Hafeez Rehman for Labour; Alfred Saxby for Reform Derby; and Paul Wilson for the Lib Dems.

DARLEY WARD (TWO SEATS)

There are nine candidates for two seats in this ward, which traditionally has largely been Labour for many years.

Jack Stanton decided to stand down and will not seek re-election and former Labour group leader Lisa Eldret stood down in March creating a vacancy meaning that there is all to play for in Darley ward with two new councillors taking their seats in Derby’s Council chamber after May 6.

There are two candidates from each of Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green Party and one from Reform Derby.

Former Chellaston councillor Alan Grimadell will be trying to win a seat for the Conservatives and another former councillor, Alison Martin, will be hoping to retain the seat for Labour.

Other candidates are Adrian Howlett and Robert Jacques (Green), Simon King and Eloise Thatcher (Lib Dem), Carmel Swan (Labour), Chris Howlett (Conservative) and John Summerfield (Reform Derby).

DERWENT WARD

Another potential battleground seat after the Conservative councillor Richard Hudson fell out with his party and became an independent councillor last month. This ward has six candidates battling it out for one seat.

Derwent is a ward that has seesawed between Conservative and Labour for a number of years and at one time all three seats were held by the Conservative Party. But a defection to Lib Dems by one councillor and another shifting to also being independent means that there are no Conservative councillors in Derwent currently.

So will Conservative candidate Tracey Pearce win back the seat, or will Mr Hudson retain it as an independent? Or will returning former councillor Martin Rawson take it for Labour?

Veteran of several elections Simon Ferrigno is standing for Lib Dems, while Reform Derby’s Carole Bradley and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate Eden Maskill-Watts are also standing.

LITTLEOVER WARD

Another Liberal Democrat area with three councillors over many years. The retirement of Eric Ashburner means that the seat will have a new councillor in place after the election.

Hoping the Liberal Democrat influence will continue is their candidate Emily Lonsdale. She is up against Gurdev Dhillon (Labour), Brenden DeClive May (Reform Derby), Ed Packham (Conservative) and Tony Welch (Link Party).

MACKWORTH WARD

This ward used to be steadfastly Labour for many years but elected a Conservative candidate in 2018 and one of its Labour councillors became independent in 2019.

Labour’s Paul Pegg, who was first elected back in 2012, is defending his seat against a challenge from Carmine Branco (Lib Dem), Gaurav Pandey (Conservative), Sam Ward (Green) and George Warren (Reform Derby).

MICKLEOVER WARD

Another interesting contest could take place in Mickleover where the Conservatives currently hold all three seats. Defending his seat is Conservative group deputy leader Matthew Holmes, who was first elected in 2008.

He is up against former Derby councillor and mayor John Whitby, former Lib Dem councillor Maggie Hird and Derek Reynolds representing Reform Derby.

NORMANTON WARD

Standing for re-election is Labour’s Hardyal Dhindsa, who is also standing for re-election as the Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner on the same day.

Traditionally a Labour stronghold, he is up against Tafseer Habib (Conservative), Abdul Basit Jabbar (Lib Dem) and Reform Derby’s Michael Siveyer.

OAKWOOD WARD

Another ward where there is likely to be a close battle is Oakwood. It comes after Conservative councillor Frank Harwood and mayor became an independent last year but has since become a Liberal Democrat, who he is representing in the forthcoming election.

Oakwood is traditionally a Conservative stronghold and the Conservative candidate is Matthew Eyre, who will be hoping to win it back for the party.

Also standing are Neil Wilson (Labour and Cooperative), Vic Wood (Green) and another former councillor Frank Leeming, who was a member of a number of different parties over several years but was last elected as a Conservative. He will be standing in May for Reform Derby.

SINFIN WARD

Another Labour stronghold, where the party holds all three seats, Labour group leader Baggy Shanker is hoping to retain his seat next month.

The seat is also due to be contested by Jay Joshi (Conservative), Paul Lind (Lib Dem) and Doug Lumley (Reform Derby).

SPONDON WARD

Five candidates will be contesting Spondon ward, where all three seats are currently held by the Conservatives, with Conservative Evonne Williams hoping to retain her seat after first being elected to it in 2000.

The challengers are David Adams (Reform Derby), Andreas Christodoulou (Green), former Labour councillor Ashiq Hussain and Philip Wray (Lib Dem).