Conservatives strengthen their position in the town
Conservatives increase majority while Lib Dems hold six seats
AN HISTORIC ward that has been in Labour’s hands for four decades has been turned blue in Gosport.
The town’s Conservatives are celebrating an increased majority in Gosport Borough Council, after voters went to the polls on May 6.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats are also claiming the day as a victory, having held onto all six of their incumbent seats.
But the Labour Party has been left to ponder what might have been, with just one councillor left on the borough council.
The Town ward, which has two councillors representing its residents, has been in the hands of the Labour Party since the 1980s.
But with a majority of 80, former police officer Lesley Meenaghan has now taken one of those seats.
She said: ‘I’m elated. I think we have worked really hard in Town and it has clearly paid off.
‘I love my town and its people, and have always treated my neighbours with the respect and compassion they deserve.
‘I’m over the moon and cannot wait to get stuck in.’
Later this month, Conservative Party leader Cllr Mark Hook is stepping down, and will be replaced by his deputy Cllr Graham Burgess.
Both held their seats in Alverstoke and Lee East respectively.
On his final election, Cllr Hook said: ‘We have doubled our majority from two to four, and pulled around 50 per cent of the vote.
‘That shows the confidence people have in my Conservative administration, and we will work hard to ensure that confidence is well-placed.
‘We have been working tirelessly in the community – in food banks, vaccination centres and so on – because we care about this town.’
The current makeup of Gosport council is now 19 Conservatives, 14 Liberal Democrats and one Labour Party councillor.
Despite not making any gains, Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Peter Chegwyn believes his party has bucked the national trend.
He said: ‘One ward has changed hands, but everything else stayed the same.
‘We defended our seats comfortably and came close to making gains in two other wards – 90 votes or so would have swung everything the other way.
‘In my opinion it’s very much an “as you were” situation.’
Next year, the ward boundaries will be redrawn, shrinking the number of seats to 28 across 14 wards.
This will spark another election, with every councillor’s seat up for grabs.
Despite losing out heavily in Gosport this time around, Labour Party chairman Mark Smith is optimistic that next year will yield better results for his team.
He said: ‘Today has been very disappointing, to tell the truth.
‘It’s down to a few different things, like having three elections on the same day, but this is in no way a reflection of our team or the campaign we’ve run.
‘This is not a good day for us, but we’ve got it all to play for next year and we’ll come back stronger than ever.’
After months of meetings via Microsoft Teams, Gosport Borough Council will be meeting in person later this month.
The provisional full council meeting on Wednesday, May 19, is set to be held in Thorngate Hall to comply with social distancing guidelines.
Volunteers were yesterday counting up the election ballots for Gosport Borough Council, fter voters went to the polls on May 6.
Nationally, the Conservatives have been strengthening their position in local councils, and in Hampshire the party received around 50 per cent of all votes.
So far in Gosport, six seats have been counted and all were held by the incumbent candidates.
George McAleese, chairman of the Gosport Conservatives, said: ‘The results so far have been very positive for us – I’m optimistic that it’ll continue in that vein for the rest of today.
‘Our candidates are all strong and we’ve run a good campaign.
‘We got an excellent result in the county elections and are confident of holding the Conservative council in Gosport.
‘Gary Walker in Forton and Lesley Meenaghan in Town are great candidates and it would be the icing on the cake if they came through.
For more than half a decade, the Town ward has been held by two Labour councillors – Keith Farr and June Cully.
But early counting suggests that the battle for one of those seats could go to the Conservatives.
With the ward boundaries set to be redrawn for 2021, this year’s results could be seen as a temporary stop-gap.
But the Liberal Democrats are determined to put up a tough fight, and are pleased with the votes that have been taken off their political rivals.
Party leader Peter Chegwyn, who held onto his seat in Leesland, said: ‘It looks really good for the Liberal Democrats here in Gosport.
‘It looks like we’ve held all six seats we were defending – and some of those we thought were at risk.
‘We’ve come close to winning a couple more, but probably just missed them. It’s a difficult year with the Conservatives doing well nationally.’
Cllr Hook said: ‘The result should go in our favour and we should return a Conservative council to Gosport.
‘We will continue to do well under the leadership of Graham Burgess.’