Conservatives maintain grip on Lincolnshire County Council, taking all but one seat in Sleaford and district

The ballot papers were counted today (Friday), with those in North Kesteven done at the OneNK leisure centre in North Hykeham.

The Conservative Party have won 54 of the 70 seats at the county council - down from 58 at the previous election in 2017, although they were down to 54 seats at the time of this election.

Liberal Democrats and Independents were the ones to benefit.

Five independent councillors were elected, four for Labour, three Liberal Democrats, three South Holland Independents, and one Lincolnshire Independent.

The overall turnout was 31%.

Locally, Leader of the Conservative group on the council Coun Martin Hill retained his Folkingham Rural seat, said: “I’m very pleased with the result, which nearly matches the excellent result we had four years ago.

“We have an ambitious manifesto for the future. It’s all about continuing to provide good services, keeping council tax low, and an ambitious building programme for the future – not just new roads and bypasses, also new schools, better broadband across the county, and many other initiatives which we want to bring forward.

“We’re going to continue to ask for more powers from government and also for more money for things like road maintenance, which was probably the most dominant theme of this election. We’ve always prioritised road maintenance but I think we need more help from government to continue the good work.

“We’ll do our very best for you over the next four years.”

Meanwhile Conservative Mark Allan regained his Sleaford town seat which he lost at the 2017 election, albeit at that time he was a Lincolnshire Independent and lost it to a Conservative candidate, Kate Cook, who later switched to Independent.

He said it felt “very good” to win back the seat after a lot of miles of campaigning and talking to people where her could: “It has been quite difficult with the Covid restrictions making conditions quite unusual, but hopefully the vaccination programme is going really well and we will soon be back to fairly normalconditions.”

He felt the success of fighting the pandemic and the Tories winning the 2019 general election made a difference this time, with the Prime Minister wanting to ‘level up’ across the whole of the UK and areas forgotten in the past.

A new, but familiar face was Conservative winner of the Heckington Rural division Andrew Key, who replaces Barry Young who served in the role for 24 years.

Paying tribute Coun Key said: “I have big shoes to fill but I will do my very best for all parts of the Heckington division. It is an outstanding result for the Heckington villagers. I thank everyone who turned out and voted for me in such big numbers.”

Another new face was Coun Richard Wright, the Leader of North Kesteven District Council, who became the new county councillor for Ruskington.

He said: “I looked before the start of teh campaign to make sure I would have time to do justice. I don’t want to stand I am committed to doing what I need to do for the residents.

“People did ask me about my dual role and it isn’t always about local politics sometimes people vote nationally.”

He said some historically vote one way while others were pleased with way things were going nationally.

Coun Wright said: “I did do some survey work and yes roads was one of the things that came up. Some mentioned adult social care. Roads and potholes came top of the list as an everyday problem affecting a lot of people, so I have got my list and when in then right position I will bring those issues to the fore.”

Lincolnshire Independent Coun Marianne Overton was re-elected for Bassingham and Welbourn division - the only seat not to go blue in the district. She remains the only member of her group but was looking forward to the challenge in knowledge that other Independents have made gains in the south of the county.

She did not think the national picture was very helpful for her very locally focussed group. “We have been locked down in front of the television every day, the Conservatives coming out and saying what we can and cannot do and that is a strong presence in our minds, then calling the election and then we had the gunboats going out yesterday (to oversee the French fishing protests) that has has made things quite difficult. That is why people need to know this is a local election. I’m not sure everybody understands just how much the council influences their lives, when you think about planning, roads, education, social care, it is pretty well everything - the council touches our lives in every single way and if they realised that they would come out in droves to vote for strong local support and that’s Lincolnshire Independents.”

There was also a by election result for NKDC in the Bassingham and Brant Broughton ward. That was a Conservative hold, won by Russell Eckert.

A by election result for Sleaford Town Council Quarrington Ward saw a big win for the Conservatives, with Mark Smith taking a huge majority.

Bassingham & Welbourn Division

l Eckert, Russell – The Conservative Party Candidate 1,152

l Overton, Marianne Jane – Lincolnshire Independents 1,828 Elected

l Townsend, Vonnie – Labour Party 319

Folkingham Rural Division

l Hansen, The Chocolate Man - Independent 897

l Hill, Martin John - The Conservative Party Candidate 1,985 Elected

l Richardson, Paul Jeffery - Labour and Co-operative Party 479

Grantham North Division

l Hasnip, Wayne Andrew - Labour Party 525

l Simmons, Ian Paul - Green Party 353

l Wootten, Ray - The Conservative Party Candidate 2,130 Elected

Heckington Division

l Key, Andrew Michael - The Conservative Party Candidate 2,547 Elected

l Peacock, Jennifer Helen – Labour Party 577

Hough Division

l Blackwell, Andrew - Labour Party 395

l Maughan, Alexander Paul - The Conservative Party Candidate 2,074 Elected

l Wood, Paul - Independent 1,084

Metheringham Rural Division

l Bissitt, Calvin – Labour and Co-operative Party 340

l Byatt, Nick - Lincolnshire Independents 573

l Kendrick, Rob - The Conservative Party Candidate 1,534 Elected

Potterhanworth & Coleby Division

l Carrington, Ian David - The Conservative Party Candidate 1,508 Elected

l Chapman, Stephen John – Liberal Democrat 126

l Edwards-Shea, Linda – Labour Party 431

l Lundgren, Peter Charles – Lincolnshire Independents 926

Ruskington Division

l Lowndes, Linda Margaret – Labour Party 562

l Wright, Richard - The Conservative Party Candidate 2,203 Elected

Sleaford Division

l Allan, Mark Guy – The Conservative Party Candidate 1,062 Elected

l Edwards-Shea, Paul Andrew – Labour Party 475

l Greetham, Robert Charles – Independent 38

l Hislop, Susan Elizabeth – Liberal Democrat 105

l Hunt, Edwin – Independent 58

l Lorimer, Heather Katherine – Independent 190

l Oates, Robert Arthur – Lincolnshire Independents 402

Sleaford Rural Division

l Hagues, Andrew Gibson – The Conservative Party Candidate 1,392 Elected

l Mason, Steve – Independent 356

l Smith, Ian Beresford – Liberal Democrat 114

l Suiter, David – Lincolnshire Independents 382

l White, Keith Richard – Labour Party 268

North Kesteven District Council by-election (1 seat):

Brant Broughton and Bassingham Ward

l Bauer, Penelope Jane – Lincolnshire Independents 616

l Eckert, Russell – The Conservative Party Candidate 721 Elected

l Wright, Tom – Labour Party 254

Sleaford Town Council, Quarrington Ward by-election (1 seat)

l Fink, Robert Adam – Independent 177

l Gill, Shaun Michael – Labour Party 227

l Hislop, Susan Elizabeth – Liberal Democrat 147

l Mason, Steve – Independent 377

l Smith, Mark Antony – The Conservative Party Candidate 858