Conservatives tighten their hold on county hall
ROSSENDALE provided a rare highlight for Labour in the county council elections, as the party lost ground at county hall.
The party took three seats off the Conservatives in the Valley - a reversal of four years ago, when the Tories themselves made three gains from Labour.
Sean Serridge overturned a wafer thin Tory majority of eight to narrowly take back Mid Rossendale, while the Conservative reverses in Rossendale East and Rossendale West may in large part be attributed to the deselection of their former incumbents, Jimmy
Eaton and David Stansfield, both of whom attracted significant support as third-placed independents.
Scott Smith retained Whitworth & Bacup for the Tories by 60 votes in a close three-way fight in a seat previously held by retiring county councillor Peter Steen, while Samara Barnes (Labour, Rossendale West), Jackie Oakes (Labour, Rossendale East) and Anne Cheetham (Conservative Rossendale South) were the other victors.
Rossendale Labour leader Coun Alyson Barnes tweeted: “Good result for Labour in the county council elections - 3 wins out of 5!”
However, overall, across the county the Conservatives increased their seat tally from four years ago by two to 48 to strengthen their grip on the authority, with Labour also up two to 32, and the Greens up one to 2.
The Liberal Democrats lost half of their four seats, while the Independents lost both of the seats they held as at 2017.
Lancashire County Council has a new leader-elect after the ruling Conservative group chose children and schools cabinet member Phillippa Williamson.
She was elevated to the role of county Tory leader on Sunday afternoon.
The position in charge of the Conservative group - and hence also the county council, in the wake of the election result - was vacant after Geoff Driver, who has led the authority for the past four years, stood down at last week’s poll.