Authority not representative of the district, says Lib Dem leader

THE LEADER of the Liberal Democrats in Harrogate has warned that the council “is not really representative of all the different people that live in the district” after the Conservatives continued their grip on the authority.

For the first time, the whole of Harrogate Borough Council was up for election, with the creation of new wards and the number of councillors being reduced from 54 to 40.

The Conservatives maintained their majority with 31 seats, and the Liberal Democrats won seven wards. The Labour Party did not win any borough council seats, but a Labour parish councillor was elected to the Knaresborough Scriven Park ward. Two independent councillors were also elected to the borough council.

The leader of the Conservatives for the Harrogate district Richard Cooper said: “We haven’t just held Harrogate Borough Council, we’ve increased our percentage of councillors on the council. I think this is an endorsement of what the council’s Conservative Group has been doing over the past four years of my leadership, and I look forward to continuing working on behalf of the public for the next four years.”

However, the leader of the district’s Lib Dems, Pat Marsh, who was re-elected to Harrogate Hookstone ward, said: “I am disappointed because we have got a council that is not really representative of all the different people that live in the district. We need those different voices.

“It is disappointing because we had brilliant candidates who worked their socks off. But we are determined to put as much pressure on this council to get them to deliver on what’s important.”

Many long-serving councillors stepped down at this election, and all of the main political parties fielded a higher number of younger candidates, including 22-year-old Ed Darling (Con) for the Knaresborough Castle ward.