Fears that there would be a massive shift in the tectonic plates of local government in the Pevensey and Westham ward for the election of district councillors proved to be unfounded today (Saturday 9 May), as results were published on the Wealden District Council website.
The number of councillors to be elected for the ward is three. In the election, held on the same day as the General Election (Thursday 7 May), a total of 10 candidates stood. Three conservative candidates stood, together with with two Labour candidates, three from UKIP, one from the Liberal Democrats and one from the Green Party.
The three candidates elected were from the Conservative Party, two were already District Councillors (Dianne Dear and Lin Clark).
The total number of votes cast for the three winning candidates was as follows; Kevin Balsdon (Conservative) 2,251 votes, Dianne Dear (Conservative) 1,980 votes, Lin Clark (Conservative) 1,980 votes.
The votes cast for all ten candidates was as follows;
Kevin John Balsdon
Conservative Party Candidate
2251
17.04%
Elected
Helen Christina Burton
Green Party
597
4.52%
Not Elected
Lin Clark
Conservative Party Candidate
1980
14.99%
Elected
Dianne Janet Dear
Conservative Party Candidate
1980
14.99%
Elected
Alfred (Alf) Lovell
UK Independence Party (UKIP)
1567
11.86%
Not Elected
Jane Ann Marter
Labour Party
731
5.53%
Not Elected
Roanna Helen Elisabeth Price
Liberal Democrats
940
7.12%
Not Elected
Michael Charles (Mike) Pursglove
UKIP
1322
10.01%
Not Elected
Yvonne Beryl Scott
UKIP
1139
8.62%
Not Elected
Alistair Robert (Robert) Slater
Labour Party
700
5.30%
Not Elected
Talking to Bay Life Dianne Dear (who is also the publisher of Bay Life) said’ a big thank you to every one that voted for me and the other Conservative candidates’.
Following the shocks and surprises of the General Election on Thursday, many local people had wondered if the same pattern would emerge in local elections.
Would the sudden shift towards the Conservative Party, which appears to have happened below the radar of the national pollsters, in the last two weeks of the campaign, also be measurable in local elections?
Would UKIP pick up the numbers of vote cast nationally that put the party in to second place in a number of constituencies, without any candidates elected?
In fact the voting in the Pevensey and Westham ward of the Wealden District Council Election replicates what happened in the General Election to a certain extent.
In the General Election, Huw Merriman, the local Conservative candidate, polled 30,245 votes, with the UKIP candidate, Geoffrey Bastion, coming second, polling 10,170 votes.
In the District Council elections the three Conservative candidates took the top three positions and were duly elected. Next placed were the three UKIP candidates.
Perhaps there is nothing remarkable to report in seeing this replication. The same people, after all, on the same day were being asked how they wished to vote. The same parties were represented in both the General Election and the District Election.
If we look at the percentage of votes cast for the parties that came first, second and third in the General Election and the District Election, we find that the same kind of pattern emerges.
In the General Election, Huw Merriman (Conservative), polled 55% of the votes. UKIP polled 18% of the votes and the Labour Party polled 14% of the votes
In the District Council elections the Conservatives polled 47.02%, UKIP polled 30.49% and the Labour Party 10.83%. There is an anomaly in analysing these percentages and making a comparison. It should be noted that in the case of the Labour Party, only two candidates stood, whereas for the Conservatives and UKIP, three candidates stood. Having made that point, the voting patterns bear similarities.
Did the Wealden District Council Election demonstrate a seismic shift in terms of representation?
It did not. It demonstrated the same kinds shift that we saw in the General Election, towards the Conservative Party.
It can be argued that the vote for UKIP locally, represented a big protest vote of some description against (in the case of Wealden) the Conservative Party, but this was not a seismic shift. There were no UKIP councillors elected to Wealden Council for the ward.
This part of Sussex is deep or true blue, depending on the perspective from which you see the big canvas. The Wealden District Council representation in Pevensey and Westham, as with other wards, is part of this picture.
It can be argued that the last time there was a radical re-configuration of the coastal community was late in the 17th century when the Bay began to silt up and created a number of communities, one was the inland Pevensey, a second Westham and a third is now called Pevensey Bay.
Nothing has changed today with the announcement of the councillors elected locally.
Scanning the ward elections across the locality, it is not possible to see a single UKIP councilllor elected. All the candidates elected (with the exception of a tiny number of candidates who offer ‘no description’ of their allegiance) appear to be Conservatioves.
The same swing towards the Conservatives in the General Election appears to have happened with the District Election. The big protest vote locally with UKIP has made no difference to the representation that we will now see at Wealden District Council. The same is true in the Westminster Parliament. Only 1 UKIP MP has been elected.
We began with three Conservative Councillors earlier in the week in the ward. One Conservative councillor chose not to stand. He was replaced by another candidate. Dianne Dear and Lin Clark were councillors, they remain councillors. They are joined by Kevin Balsdon.
Today at the end of the week, we are still represented by three conservative councillors.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
