TORY GLORY
BLUE IS THE COLOUR AS CONSERVATIVES RUN RAMPANT IN LOCAL ELECTIONS
THE new faces elected to run North East Lincolnshire Coucnil include a 19-year-old, a Grimsby nursery owner and a former evangelical minister.
North East Lincolnshire is almost a sea of blue as Conservatives increased their power following the local election.
The Tories took 31 seats, gaining many at the expense of Labour who were reduced to just eight seats on the 42-seat council. Liberal Democrats have held on to their East Marsh stronghold and now have all three seats, with newly- elected Nicola Aisthorpe joining Kay Rudd and Council- lor Steve Beasant. South ward had d its first Conservative councillor r elected in Paul Batson. Freshney ward is now all Conservative after owner of Little Oaks nursery, Tanya Brasted took the seat from former mayor Cliff Barber of Labour.
Yarborough ward is also dominated by all three th Conservative councillors following fo a win by Martyn Sandford, fo serving as a councillor for the th first time.
There were a host of other winners including Mark Smith in Heneage ward, also serving as a co councillor for the first time. Former evangelical minister Br Brian Robinson won in Sidney Sussex. Neighbouring Croft Baker ward is now all Conservative with newly-elected Graham Reynolds, joining fellow Conservatives, Oliver Freeston and Bob Callison. Immingham is now represented by three Conservative councillors, after 19-year-old Georgia Astbury won the seat from former council leader, Dave Watson.
“It must be something in the air,” said Councillor Astbury, who harnessed social media for her campaign.
Park ward in Grimsby is also all Tory as environmental campaigner, Daniel Westcott won the seat for the Conservatives to join Paul Silvester and Debbie Woodward.
There were two further victories for the Conservatives in Scartho where Charlotte Croft won 1,739 votes, more than councillor Ron Shepherd with 1,578.
Council Leader, Philip Jackson, now relish
We have been helped by the national swing and the lead in the polls
Council leader Philip Jackson
ing one of the biggest majority’s in the history of the council, said the victory in all but one of the 12 wards contested was partly due to success of the party in Government, influencing voters locally.
He said: “We have been helped by the national swing and the lead in the polls. “We achieved Brexit and handling the Covid crisis well with the immunisation programme which is going very well compared to others in Europe.
“In our first two years at the council we have made progress in what we said in our manifesto.
“In waste and recycling and bringing pride back into the area there has been improvement and we managed to retain Toll Bar when we were told we couldn’t.
“We also have £38 million of public investment coming in this year alone and we will also have a lot of work going on in Cleethorpes and will be looking to improve the North Prom.
“That is one area that needs to be made more attractive to bring in more visitors.”