THE WEEK IN East Bristol & North East Somerset
10th May 2023
Issue 780
FREE
Read by more than 40,000 people each week
Conservatives lose control of South Glos Council The Conservatives have lost overall control of South
month that he would not be seeking re-election.
South
Gloucestershire.
High-profile Tory losses at Thursday’s elections included
Greens said that while they
They had enjoyed an outright majority since 2015. Last
cabinet member Steve Reade, who was ousted from his Boyd
had not picked up any
Thursday they lost 10 councillors, ending up with 23 of the
Valley seat by the Lib Dems.
seats at district level , they
61 seats.
Veteran councillor Colin Hunt lost his Emersons Green seat
were encouraged by the
The Lib Dems now have 20 councillors, Labour have 17 and
to Labour. The Conservatives also lost another of the three
level of support. Sian
there is one Independent.
seats in that ward to Labour.
Harris, who stood for the
With no one party in
Labour retained all six seats in the three Kingswood wards,
Greens in the Emersons
overall control, talks are
while in Staple Hill & Mangotsfield the three Labour
Green ward, said that her
getting under way to try
councillors were returned.
party had attracted 4% of
to work out a way
The Conservatives held on to the Bitton & Oldland Common
all the South Glos votes,
forward.
ward and to the Parkwall & Warmley ward. Longwell Green
compared with 2% at the 2019 local elections.
South Gloucestershire’s
stayed blue with two new candidates.
The party fielded candidates in 16 of the 61 seats this time –
Conservative
group
Labour’s April Begley gained one of the three previous Tory
more than double the number in 2019. The party did secure
leader Toby Savage, who
seats in Hanham. And in the Frenchay & Downend ward, one
six parish and town council seats in the district.
had represented Longwell
of the three Tory councillors, James Griffiths, lost out to the
The voter turnout in South Gloucestershire was 33.57%. For
Green, announced last
Lib Dems.
the full results go to https://tinyurl.com/w6kpwkvp.
Steve Reade
Gloucestershire
Colin Hunt
Lib Dems secure historic second term in B&NES The Lib Dems have become the first party to ever win two
had represented Chew Valley for 36 years. Labour are now
Brian Simmons lost his seat and fellow Tory Allan Sinclair
terms in office at Bath and North East Somerset Council.
the official opposition with five seats. The Greens won
failed to hold on to the seat left vacant by Vic Clarke who
They gained four seats and now have 41 councillors out of
three seats and there are also five Independents.
was not standing again.
59 seats.
In the North East Somerset part of the district the Lib Dems
In Keynsham South Daniel Condick failed to keep the Tory
The Conservatives lost eight seats – including the two in
won 17 out of 31 seats, becoming the largest party in the
seat that had been Lisa O’Brien’s, losing out to Labour’s
Keynsham North. There are now just three Tories left on
current Parliamentary constituency where Conservative
Dave Biddleston. Conservative Alan Hale held the other
the council which four years ago they were running with
Jacob Rees-Mogg is MP.
seat in that ward.
more than 10 times that number.
The Keynsham North ward was taken by Lib Dems Alex
The Lib Dems held Saltford with Duncan Hounsell being
Among the casualties was their leader Vic Pritchard who
Beaumont and George Leach. Veteran Tory councillor
Continued on page 2
Also in this week’s issue
Keynsham High Street cycle lane debate rages on . . . pages 2, 8 & 9
Round-up of local Coronation events . . . pages 3 - 6
Death of well-known Keynsham man . . . page 7
Kingswood policeman’s run raises over £5k . . . page 10