The Lib-Dems won 18 and the Greens won one of the Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council seats. The orange diamond with the slogan ‘Liberal Democrats – Winning Here’ came true today. They were a long way ahead of the other parties. Conservative voter turnout was about half the level of 4 years ago due to national politics, and the Lib-Dem voter turnout was similar to, and possibly up on, 4 years ago.
Commiserations to the Conservative Mayor elect David Pope who lost his position. Other high profile Conservatives losses include: Mike Badcock (Council Leader); Alice Badcock (organiser of Fun and Music in the Park, and Chair of Amenities); Sandy Lovatt (former Council Leader); Monica Lovatt (Chair of the Vale), Dennis Garrett (who led the Guildhall revamp), Vicky Jenkins (a councillor who got things done on her local patch and who chaired the Community Services Committee).
Congratulations to the new council who will be taking Abingdon forward for the next four years – especially to Cheryl Briggs who becomes Abingdon’s first ever Green Party Town Councillor.
Thank you to everybody who voted for me as an Independent, and helped me in campaign. We were just 14 votes short and so nearly did it.
Commiserations, Backstreeter, but I know you will continue to work hard for the town in other ways.
Commiserations also to those other Councillors who have worked hard for Abingdon-on-Thames over, in some cases, very many years.
Many people on this blog have been calling for new faces on the Council – well we now have 10 (I think), so very best wishes to all of them: do your best for our lovely town!
I am sorry you didn’t get in, Alastair; and, of course, some good people with have lost their seats. All the more (as Hester suggests) the new Councillors have to do their utmost.
Thanks to all who have served honourably over recent years.
Sorry you didn’t quite make it. You would have made a great Independent.
So very sorry you lost by just 14 votes, I would have voted for you if you had been standing in our area. Keep up all the good work you do for our lovely town!
Hear hear
The trouble with these landslides is they sweep away the good as well as the bad! We voted for you!
And you would have had our two votes if the vale had supplied us with our postal voting slips in time !
Thanks Deedee. It would only have helped if you voted for me and not the 4th Lib-Dem.
I didn’t vote for a fourth person.
However I do think it was all a little confusing….
Either way…it is a shame and the town’s loss, as others have said, that Alastair missed out…
Hi Daniel, Having a 4 councillor ward is confusing. It is difficult for voters to go through so many candidates (11 in Caldecott). I wonder if it would be worth raising a request with VWHDC elections to break down parish wards to be only 2 councillor to give voters a chance.
Interesting thought Alastair, but I am not sure: I think it could go either way.
The thought that has been going round my head over the last few days is whether an effectively one-party council (sorry Cheryl!) is a dangerous thing or whether it could, paradoxically lead to more open debate? Since there will be no party lines to stick to, will Councillors be able to express their own views, with free votes being taken if there is no consensus? Will they all sit round a big table rather than in adversarial format?
…as long as they learn from the mistakes of the past.
The orange team was ceremoniously got rid of only a few short years ago for (fact or perception) that they did some bad things for the town….
We remember. We wait. We hope. We watch….