There was elation for Labour after they made five gains in the Crawley Borough Council elections.
Before the count on Friday the council had 20 Labour councillors and 16 Conservatives.
After the count, the divide was 25-11.
Council leader Michael Jones said: “I’m absolutely elated. This is the best result in decades.
“This is probably the first time that we’ve made five gains in the history of the borough council. We’ll use this mandate to do even more good for the people of Crawley.
“It’s just amazing. Words almost fail me – which is very unusual.”
READ MORE: Labour wins Adur District Council in local elections
Twelve places were being contested, with only the Furnace Green ward not involved.
There were always going to be a crop of new faces, with six councillors not standing for re-election and two leaving one ward to stand in another.
Of the six who chose not to stand, including Parliamentary hopeful Zack Ali, five were Conservative – and four of those former Tory seats went to Labour.
The turnout was 31 per cent for the local elections and 31 per cent for the Police & Crime Commissioner election.
Conservative leader Duncan Crow said: “Clearly this has been a challenging year and a disappointing set of results in Crawley.
“We are somewhat down today but we are not out. We will be back, holding our heads high.”
The results:
Bewbush & North Broadfield
Robin Burnham (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 119
Tony Johnson (Con) – 416
Michael Jones (Lab) – 920
Arshad Khan (Justice Party) – 38
Holly Rose Smith (Green) – 251
Dan Weir (Heritage) – 50
Labour Hold
16 rejected ballots, 25.03% turnout
Broadfield
Christopher James Ellis (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 133
Kiran Khan (Labour & Cooperative) – 979
Valerie Susan Knight (Con) – 509
Carolina Morra (Heritage) – 174
Labour Hold
21 rejected ballots, 24.59% turnout
Gossops Green & North East Broadfield
Esther Barrott (Lab) – 914
Iain Bradley Martin Dickson (Green) – 191
Anwaera Nazir Perveen (Con) – 557
Debbie Plaister (Heritage) – 82
Mark Laurence Wright (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 26
Labour gain
10 rejected ballots, 38.01% turnout
Ifield
Winifred Norma Catherin Duggan (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 105
Ines Eiva Manning (Green) – 229
Jonathan Robson Purdy (Con) – 688
Beni Yianni (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,046
Labour gain
20 rejected ballots, 28.99% turnout
Langley Green & Tushmore
Shelly Bushnell (Labour & Cooperative) – 772
Alan Hellier (Con) – 414
Karen Mary Sudan (Ind) – 465
Labour hold
24 rejected ballots, 27.32% turnout
Maidenbower
Max Perry (Green) – 614
Matt Pritchard (Lab) – 586
Dominic Patrick Ramsay (Con) – 940
Conservative hold 19
rejected ballots, 31.75% turnout
Northgate & West Green
Alec Miller (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 113
Sue Mullins (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,188
Nicholas Brian Leif Park (Green) – 278
Alison Sara Pendlington (Con) – 641
Labour hold
22 rejected ballots, 28.96% turnout
Pound Hill North & Forge Wood
Paul Charles Castle (Con) – 1,014
Nicholas Richard Hilton (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,236
Neal Douglas Murdoch (Green) – 236
Ben Newman (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 31
Labour gain
13 rejected ballots, 34.32% turnout
Pound Hill South & Worth
Thomas Adam Henry Bidwell (Con) – 1,099
Cyril James Gambrell (Green) – 247
Ruth Jane Gaunt (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 54
Tony Patel (Lab) – 721
Conservative hold
25 rejected ballots, 34.5% turnout
Southgate
Robin David Fitton (Green) – 255
Dipesh Jitendra Patel (Labour & Cooperative) – 924
Simon James Piggott (Con) – 746
Brett Christopher Shattock (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 73
Labour gain
14 rejected ballots, 29.98% turnout
Three Bridges
Kevin Ronald Bonnick (Con) – 809
Muhammed Hanif (Ind) – 93
Timothy Christopher Holt (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 89
Danielle Kail (Green) – 215
Atif Nawaz (Labour & Cooperative) – 1,274
Labour hold 16 rejected ballots, 36.85% turnout
Tilgate
Olu Adeniyi (Labour & Cooperative) – 732
Amanda Louise Brown (Freedom Alliance) – 69
Francis Guidera (Con) – 550
Christopher John Owen (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) – 33
Simon Russell Thorn (Green) – 120
Labour gain
10 rejected ballots, 33.68% turnout
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel