We held the five Stroud District Council seats we were defending - including one of the two up for grabs in Nailsworth (one a by-election with Green District Council Leader, Fi MacMillan standing down). As regular blog readers will know I had my election last year - Stroud elects a third of the council in three years out of four.
We therefore still have six Councillors on Stroud District Council. Molly Scott Cato (Green economist) and Simon Pickering (who has previously been a councillor) replaced Sarah Lunnon and Gwen Belcher who were standing down in Valley and Slade. Simon was at work in Norway - see left photo text he sent acknowledging results!Martin Whiteside (pictured below) and John Marjoram (pictured above) comfortably held their seats in Thrupp and Trinity.
Catherine Farrell, was elected in a rather nerve-racking and very lengthy Nailsworth count. It was disappointing not to get Norman Kay in who was a very close third - as ex-Mayor of Nailsworth he would have been a great asset to the Council and Greens.
As Rosie, the Party's secretary said: "Special mention to Molly (pictured left), who gave a rousing victory speech that raised the loudest cheers of the day. The new make-up of SDC is: Conservatives 25, Labour 11, Greens 6, Lib Dems 6, Independents 3. Therefore officially there is now no overall control."
However it is possible that the 2 ex-Tory Independents will return to the fold? We await with interest?
Stroud Town Council now has 12 Greens out of 18 members, with another four sympathetic Independents.
Meanwhile, in Cotswold District we are just getting started. Perhaps most notable is that we beat Labour by a small margin in Cirencester Stratton-Whiteway.Nationally I've not had a real chance to look at the results - but great to see Brighton Greens become the largest party there with 23 seats - see here.
Stroud District results in alphabetical order:Cainscross: Labour 1,237, Conservatives 731, Greens (Chris Owen) 235 (9.8%), LDs 190.
Cam East: Conservatives 871, Labour 779.
Cam West: Labour 683, Conservatives 473, LDs 301.
Central: Independent 354, Conservatives 210, Labour 155.
Chalford: Conservatives 1,302, Greens (Richard Dean) 649 (25%), Labour 638.
Dursley: Labour and Co-operative 1,026, Conservatives 679, LDs 416, Greens (Miriam Yagud) 112 (5%).
Farmhill and Paganhill: Labour and Co-operative 538, Conservatives 304.
Minchinhampton: Conservatives 1,108, Independent 354, Labour and Co-operative 270, Greens (Bill Heaney) 263 (13.2%).
Nailsworth: Conservatives 1,147 and 841, Greens 933 (Catherine Farrell) and 930 (Norman Kay), Labour 661 and 608. Total Green percentage in the ward = 36.4%.
Rodborough: Labour 617, LDs 591, Conservatives 453, Greens (Phil Blomberg) 213 (11.4%).
Slade: Greens (Simon Pickering) 350 (56.4%), Labour 270.
Stonehouse: Labour and Co-operative 1,346, Conservatives 789, Greens (Claire Sheridan) 314 (12.8%).
Thrupp: Greens (Martin Whiteside) 591 (53.6%), Conservatives 319, Labour 143, LDs 49.
Trinity: Greens (John Marjoram) 551 (62.7%), Conservatives 178, Labour 149.
Uplands: Labour 488, Independent 156, Greens (Rachel Lyons) 137 (16.6%), TUs and Socialists Against Cuts 45.
Valley: Greens (Molly Scott Cato) 417 (47%) Labour 279, Conservatives 190.
Wotton-under-Edge: LDs 1,211, Conservatives 1,104, Labour 347.
Cotswold District results in alphabetical order:
Cirencester Stratton-Whiteway: LDs 816 and 757, Conservatives 502 and 428, Greens (Bob Irving) 182 (6.4%), Labour 173.
Fairford: Conservatives 750 and 670, Independent 711, LDs 387 and 231, Greens (Xanthe Messenger) 205 (6.9%).
Kempsford-Lechlade: Conservatives 932 and 726, Independent 781 and 502, Greens (Neil Voller) 222 (7%).
Tetbury: Conservatives 834, 627 and 560, Independents 905, 467 and 169, LDs 577, 277 and 236, Labour 371 and 292, Greens (Brecon Quaddy) 167 (2.96%), UKIP 158.
Pic: Nailsworth resultsNote: For obvious reasons percentages are not straightforward in multi-councillor wards where some parties had two or three candidates.
6 comments:
Great to see a second Green in to Bristol City Council too!
http://www.bristol247.com/2011/05/06/bristol-local-election-results-gus-hoyt-speaks-of-utter-delight/
Problem with the Greens is that I find you to be an overwhelmingly middle class party. Yes Labour has a lot of middle class people running it but its activist base and membership/support is still drawn from a lot of working class people.
I also have concerns about the right wing history of your party with its leanings towards ruralist fascism-all well documented.
I agree the party needs to broaden support - but it is not true to say support doesn't come from all sectors - indeed canvassing this year showed how broad our support is...
However Green policies have social justice and environmental justice at their heart - you cannot have one without the other. And let's face it Greens have the policies that count like:
• Increasing the weekly state pension to £170
• Scrapping all tuition fees
• Free school meals for all
• Scrapping prescription charges
• Re-introducing free eye tests
• Free dental care
• Free social care for all
• Opposing budget and job cuts in the public sector
• Increasing the minimum wage to £8.10 an hour
• 50 per cent tax rate on incomes over £100,000
• No ceiling on National Insurance payments
• Re-introducing the fuel duty escalator at 8 per cent per year
• Introducing VAT and fuel duty on aviation
• Introducing a permanent tax on bankers’ bonuses
• Stripping private schools of charitable status
• Reducing the role of business in education
• Ending the use of nuclear power
• Scrapping the replacement for Trident
• Requiring 40 per cent of board members of larger companies to be female within five years.
PS Have a look at this:
http://weekisalongtime.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-green-party-too-middle-class.html
Green fascism exists let's not deny it - but that is not the Green party - there have been some extraordinary claims re the Green party but Greens are challenging fascism and have marched on the 'Unite Against Fascism' - I
saw Jean Lambert MEP speak last year at the rally in London. Hey and what a joke re Labour - they completely sold out the working class - shame on them! The Labour party has refused to listen to it's supporters and implements a right-wing agenda. How is that good for working people?
I agree with anon, the GP is overwhelmingly middle class and intellectual, in my experience. A degree seems to be commonplace, with Masters and PhDs frequent.
But it's also fair to say that all the respectable parties have now been fully colonised by the famously sharp-elbowed middle classes, no?
As for "working class socialists" mentioned - I can scarcely remember meeting more than a handful in twenty or thirty years. Quite the reverse in fact. The few remaining socialists I come across are generally middle or upper class, whereas the overwhelming majority of people who might call themselves, or be called working class have views much closer to the BNP than the Greens.
The Left has really gone tits up in this country!
As for the environmental movement - hope springs eternal ... just as well really ...
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