Conservatives Maintain Their Grip of SCC – Shalford Alone Changes Hands in Guildford

Published on: 5 May, 2017
Updated on: 6 May, 2017

The result for the Shalford Division, the only one to change hands between parties, being announced

Only one of the ten Guildford county council divisions changed hands as a result of yesterday’s (May 4, 2017) Surrey County Council election. With the election of Matt Furniss, Shalford returned, as expected, to the Conservatives.

The count underway at Spectrum Leisure Centre

In 2013 a mistake by an election agent prevented the nomination of the Conservative Simon Gimson and voters switched their support to UKIP’s George Johnson.

The Shalford result means the new distribution of Guildford district seats, by political party, is: Conservative 7 seats while the Liberal Democrats remain on 3.

The two possible marginals were Guildford South-West and Guildford West but in the event both were easily held by their Liberal Democrat incumbents.

Other than Matt Furniss there are two new county councillors: Julie Isles (Con) for the Horsleys, who takes over from Bill Barker, and Angela Goodwin (Lib Dem) who replaces Pauline Searle for Guildford North.

Average turnout in the Guildford divisions was 36%.

The ten Guildford divisions winners are:

Ash

Marsha Moseley (Conservative) elected for Ash division (28% turnout ) 1,675 votes. Lib Dems 528, Lab 249, UKIP 192, Greens 152.

Cllr Moseley declined to be interviewed.

Cllr Graham Ellwood

Guildford East

Graham Ellwood (Conservative) elected for Guildford East division (41% turnout) with 1,910 votes. Lib Dems 1,495, Lab 505, Greens 304.

Graham said: “I am delighted to have won and very grateful to my residents for voting for me. I will start a roads project and I also want to deal with illegal advertisements.

Guildford North

Cllr Angela Goodwin

Angela Goodwin (Liberal Democrat) elected Guildford North division (34% turnout) with 1,564 votes. Others: Cons 1,250, Lab 724, Greens 206.

Cllr Angela Goodwin said: “I am absolutely thrilled with the result, and the funding issues SCC will need to work more with the national government for a solution that is fair and transparent across the UK.

“In my division my priorities will be social care and representing my constituents so their voice is heard at the county council. There are particular issues with parking and highways which I will concentrate.”

Cllr Mark Brett-Warburton

Guildford South-East

Mark Brett-Warburton (Conservative) elected Guildford South-East division (40% turnout) with 2,073 votes. Others: Lib Dems 1641, Lab 355.

Cllr Brett-Warburton said: “I am very please to have been endorsed once again by the people of Guildford South-East. There are tough times ahead on the funding front. We will need to find innovative and smarter ways to address the funding issues and engage with the public over the choices to be made.

“In my division the infrastructure issues are around roads and particularly pavements but I will lobby for a bigger share of the limited funds. I will also do what I can to continue to support local schools.”

Cllr David Goodwin

Guildford South-West

David Goodwin (Liberal Democrat) elected for Guildford South-West division (37% turnout) with 1,975 votes. Others: Cons 1128, Lab 330, Greens 208, Peace 34.

“I am very happy and grateful to the people of Guildford South West. My priority is to try and introduce 20mph speed restrictions throughout my division on residential roads.”

Guildford West

Cllr Fiona White

Fiona White (Liberal Democrat) elected for Guildford West division (29% turnout) with 955 votes. Others:  Lab 573, Cons 567, Greens 71, Peace 38, SPGB 12.

Cllr White said: “I am absolutely delighted and really grateful to the community for supporting me again. I sincerely hope that Surrey County Council will now look at all their spending, across all areas and get their priorities right.

“I have three priorities for my division. First, to improve road conditions, a number if roads have been taken off the highway scheme and really must be re-instated. Secondly, better provision for younger people in my area, who have never been served well by the county council. Thirdly we need an up-to-date Health Centre. The current building is not suitable for modern medical practice.”

Horsleys

Cllr Julie Iles

Julie Iles (Conservative) elected for the Horsleys division (46% turnout) with 2,450 votes. Others: Lib Dems 1,731, Labour 108, UKIP 108, Greens 134.

Cllr Iles said: “I am very pleased to have been elected and to follow in Bill Barker’s footsteps. On the funding issues, more funding is required to improve road maintenance. The funding of adult social care is being looked at together with the government.

“I have a five point plan for my division: 1 development does not impact on the villages; 2 roads and pavements are improved; 3 flooding issues are addressed; 4 the needs of our children are met; 5 our services offer value for money.”

Shalford

Matt Furniss (Conservative) elected for Shalford division (35% turnout) with 2,036. Others: Lib Dems 480, GGG 401, Labour 241, UKIP 312 , Greens 208.

Cllr Furniss declined to be interviewed.

Shere

Cllr Keith Taylor

Keith Taylor (Conservative) elected for Shere division (37% turnout) with 2,207 votes. Others: Lib Dems 713, Greens 391, Labour 256.

Cllr Taylor said: “Obviously I’m delighted with the result, I don’t think there’s a magic answer to the issues at SCC, but we will continue to push down on the costs of our front-line services. Although we have been doing this for so long now that it’s to hard to see what difference there is still to make.

“I think my division is a microcosm of the county as a whole. There are particular issues with highways and education.”

Worplesdon

Cllr Keith Witham

Keith Witham (Conservative) elected for Worplesdon division (36% turnout) with 2,691 votes. Others: Lib Dems 658, Labour 359, Greens 182.

Cllr Witham said: “I am delighted with the result of the Worsplesdon election and all the support that the villages and communities have given me to continue for the next four years.

“There has been an increase in the funding for road resurfacing, if there had not been, we would not have been able to carry out the repairs that have been completed. We need to continue to press the government for a longer term solution to the funding of adult social care.”

Results county-wide

Across the county the Conservatives also maintained their position at county hall gaining three seats, all from UKIP, to finish with 61 of the 81 seats and 48% of the vote.

Any expected Brexit bounce was not sufficient for the Lib Dems to increase their share of seats and they remain on nine despite an increased vote share of 23%, while in line with other results nationally UKIP, despite mustering 5% of the total vote, lost all three of its county council seats in Surrey.

Labour with 9% of the vote and the Green Party with 4% remain with one seat each and residents association councillors, with approximately 7%, stay with nine seats.

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