All the South Holland results and reaction from Lincolnshire County Council elections

 

Thursday’s (May 4) elections saw the Tories take two further divisions in the district.

 

The other two seats at County Hall were retained by Chris Brewis (The Suttons) and Angela Newton (Spalding West), who scraped home by 50 votes ahead of Tory challenger and South Holland District Council cabinet member Coun Gary Taylor.

 

There was joy and relief for Conservative candidate Eddy Poll, who regained the Spalding East seat which he lost to UKIP’s Richard Fairman in 2013. Coun Poll had previously held it since 1997 and was deputy leader of the council at the time of that defeat four years ago.
This time Mr Fairman was convincingly beaten into second place.

 

Coun Poll put his return down to getting out and talking to people and leafletting, and was “certainly helped” by no “controversial issues coming out a couple of weeks before the election”.

 

He said: “I won the seat back in 1997 with about a one hundred majority and then it got bigger and bigger and then obviously collapsed with the UKIP and the gay marriage stuff.”

He added: “I’ve had a rest – I’m ready for it! Obviously I’m pleased to be back. From my point of view, there was still unfinished business, really.”

 

Of Mr Fairman, Coun Poll said: “We’ve been friends for 30 years and I didn’t really consider him an opponent – he’s just somebody out there who is trying to get in as well.
“I feel a bit sorry for him because he really enjoyed his four years on the county council.”

 

Mr Fairman was gracious in the face of a heavy defeat, saying: “I’m very peeved, I’ve got a P45 to pick up!
“I have worked very hard for the area and for general policies overall and I’d like to think my work has been taken seriously in Lincoln.
“It was a very heavy defeat, it does hurt. The response on the doorstep was exactly the opposite.”

 

Asked why voters had not backed him this time, he replied: “Last time Cameron was there. This time there’s been a General Election called and there are several aspects.
“Of course, people think that Brexit is our job done, which is very far short, I’m afraid. We’ve got to hold their feet to the fire.”

 

Mr Fairman said he “may well” stand again in the next election, when he will be aged 80.

 

UKIP went from having nine seats on the council to none. In South Holland, Independence from Europe councillor Alan Jesson did not stand for re-election in Spalding South.

Meanwhile, Coun Newton was relieved to earn another term on the council. The Spalding West seat required a recount because her margin of victory was tight.

She said: “Fifty votes doesn’t sound a lot but we have a first past the post system and I was the winner, which I’m very happy about.”

 

Having first got on to the council in 1981, she elected for a break from the county scene in 1993 to concentrate on her forthcoming district council duty as vice-chairman.
In 2013, Coun Newton regained her county seat. However, she considered Coun Taylor a serious threat to her beginning a 17th year as a county councillor.

 

“I did think that there was a good possibility that I wouldn’t keep the seat,” she said. “Nationally, there’s obviously a swing to the Conservatives.

“I won the seat from the Conservatives last time, they had held it since I retired in 1993.
“Gary worked very hard and I’m pleased to have beaten him.”

Coun Newton also felt that a boundary change for the division might have worked against her as some areas of Holland Park where she has previously enjoyed good support were removed.

Her closest challenger paid tribute to Coun Newton, whom he knew would be a formidable opponent.

Coun Taylor said: “There were 50 votes between myself and the Independent candidate, who is well-known, popular and hard-working and has been there for 40 years in Spalding.
“It was the first time that I had stood in that area. With my team of supporters I believe [the result] was nothing to be ashamed of and I’ll continue my work on the district council now.”

Coun Taylor, who said he might stand again in the future, referred to Coun Newton’s pre-election pledge to seek improvements in issues such as street lighting being turned off at midnight, grass cutting, and traffic congestion and potholes.

 

He said: “There’s certainly some difficult times and difficult challenges for those councillors now elected and they now need to start delivering on their promises.
“At district council level, we need to work together with the county councillors elected to try and improve our area.”

 

Third in the division was Labour candidate Wojciech Kowalewski, who is standing in the constituency of South Holland and The Deepings in next month’s General Election.Other new faces on Lincolnshire County Council from our patch are South Holland District Council members Coun Peter Coupland (Holbeach Rural), Rodney Grocock (Donington Rural) and Christine Lawton (Spalding South).

By far the largest winning margin was in Crowland where sitting member Nigel Pepper polled the most votes in any South Holland division and trounced his next nearest challenger by almost 2,000. 

Results:
CROWLAND
Nigel Pepper (Con) 2,194
Darryl Kirk (Lab) 271
Charles Finister (Lib Dem) 211