Labour Take Control of Amber Valley Council
DE56 has mostly moved to the left, whilst the rest of Amber Valley has mostly stayed Conservative.
Outside of Nailed’s remit:
- Alfreton is a Labour hold with Gail Dolman being re-elected.
- Alport re-elected Conservative David Taylor.
- Crich is a Conservative hold with Gareth Gee being re-elected.
- Ripley re-elected Conservative Paul Moss.
- Ripley & Marehay is a Conservative hold with Ronald Ashton being re-elected.
- South West Parishes re-elected Conservative Jane Orton
- Swanwick is a Conservative hold with Steve Hayes being re-elected.
- Wingfield re-elected conservative Valerie Thorpe
Within the DE56 area only one ward has remained Conservative. Kilburn, Denby and Holbrook re-elected Conservative Kevin Buttery.
15 seats were being contested. Prior to this election 14 were held by the Conservative party. Contrary to the BBC report of the Conservatives losing 7 seats and Labour gaining 6, the Conservatives have lost 6 seats, and Labour have taken 4 of them. The other 2 seats were taken by the Green Party and Neil Ploughman, who is elected as an independent due to suspension from the Labour Party.
The council has 45 seats, and is elected a third at a time. 25 of these seats were held by the Conservatives, and 20 by Labour. The balance is now 24 Labour, 19 Conservative, 1 Green, 1 Independent.
Labour won seats in Belper North, Belper South, Belper East, and Heage & Ambergate. The Green Party took Duffield with a massive majority. Neil Ploughman took Belper Central as an Independent, although it remains to be seen whether people were informed when they voted, as he appeared on the ballot as Labour due to his suspension occuring too late to change the ballots.
The Conservatives have lost control of Amber Valley Borough Council. Labour have only previously led the council for 1 year this century, 2014-2015. Amber Valley now has two councillors who are not members of those two main parties, breaking, albeit slightly, the two party system. Dave Wells is the first Green Party candidate to be elected in the area, and brings party representation in borough council up from two to three.
The Green Belt played a huge part in Belper-centric elections, however in the areas represented by those who voted to delete the Green Belt, all councillors up for re-election were re-elected. Those areas were all the wards listed as outside Nailed’s remit, with the exception of Alfreton.
Your new councillors are:
- Dave Wells – Duffield – Green Party
- Emma Monkman – Belper North – Labour
- John Porter – Belper South – Labour
- Mark Oldfield – Belper East – Labour
- Neil Ploughman – Belper Central – Independent
- Paul Lobley – Heage & Ambergate – Labour
Turnout varied per ward, with the lowest turnout in Kilburn and Belper East, both at 38%, and the highest in Duffield at 55%, followed by Belper North at 49%. Average turnout for the whole is about 38%, which is double the turnout the last time this third of the seats were contested, in 2015.
Now maybe the greenfields will be saved from developers, who only think about profit margins because it’s cheaper to build on greenfield.
Dave Taylor should resign. His election flyer from 2017 stated he would protect greenfield sites from over development. He wasn’t telling the truth so that 2017 election flyer was just propaganda!
”The Green Belt played a huge part in Belper-centric elections, however in the areas represented by those who voted to delete the Green Belt, all councillors up for re-election were re-elected.” Not in Belper South. Sitting cllr Paul Hillier – who voted in support of the GBelt deletions – was defeated by John Porter, who has worked tirelessly for years to help create a Neighbourhood Plan for Belper which will protect all our green belt sites if it is agreed with residents.
Maurice is partly correct, I have managed to get in a few hours of sleep every night over the past few years.
It has to be said that opposition to Green Belt development was a key factor in this election so the Labour promise to overturn this Tory policy is one that we have to honour. The underlying message I gained on doorsteps when canvassing was a loss of faith in political parties to deliver on promises so we have a duty to start to rebuild trust and show that a vote for Labour can be relied upon.
I am now optimistic about the future because both councils, AVBC and BTC have a mandate inline with the objectives of the Neighbourhood Plan for Belper (NP4B) which rejects Green Belt and Green Field development in favour of a regeneration of our industrial wastelands ……… Brownfield development. NP4B have commissioned 3 Brownfield site reports which prove that we do not need to pave over our green fields; we now have to carry out such studies for the whole of the borough of Amber Valley so as to transform the Local Plan into a document that at last reflects the wishes of residents.
Last but not least ……….. thank you to everyone that voted for me. I made promises that I will honour.