Labour increases its majority at Crawley Borough Council after local election results

Richard Burrett, who has served as a Conservative councillor since 1992, lost his Pound Hill North & Forge Wood seat to Justin Russell by 1,314 votes to 1,137.

The result saw Labour extend its control of the council, with 20 seats compared to the Conservatives’ 16.

Labour leader Michael Jones said he was ‘absolutely delighted’ with the day’s results.

He added: “It was a really solid set of results for the party. I’m very pleased with the result in Pound Hill North & Forge Wood – it’s the first time we’ve won that ward since 1995.

“It showed a real vote of confidence from Crawley people that the council’s doing good things.”

Mr Jones said Mr Burrett had ‘served his community faithfully’ and suggested that he may have been a victim of his party’s plummeting national popularity.

He added: “Sometimes politics can be brutal.

“He’s still a county councillor and I’m sure he will continue to serve there. I wish him all the best for the future.”

The Conservatives regained the Pound Hill South & Worth seat, which had been vacant since the death of Andrew Belben.

Craig Burke took up the reins, seeing off challenges from Labour and the Greens.

One-third of the council’s 36 seats were contested, with only Tilgate residents not going to the polls.

There were some nervy moments, with Conservative leader Duncan Crow facing a strong challenge from Labour in his Furnace Green ward.

Mr Crow kept hold of the seat by 990 votes to 851, with Reform UK proving no challenge whatsoever with 127 votes.

In his column Mr Crow said: “Nationally, it was the worst set of Conservative local election results since 1995, losing one in three seats we were defending. While disappointing, it wasn’t a huge surprise being mid-term after thirteen years in government and broadly in line with national predictions.

“However, in Crawley we continued to buck the national trend. We did lose one of the five seats we were defending but we held the other four and narrowed the gap in Ifield. The one seat we did lose was Pound Hill North & Forge Wood.

“It is disappointing to lose such a good councillor in Richard Burrett from Crawley Borough Council, but he remains as County Councillor for Pound Hill and will continue to stand up for residents.”

Mr Jones will have some work to do reorganising his cabinet as two members – Shahzad Malik (Langley Green & Tushmore) and Sandra Buck (Ifield) – did not stand for re-election.

The turnout was 30.8 per cent, with 375 people being turned away for having no photo ID.

Of those, only 208 returned to cast their vote.

RESULTS

BEWBUSH & NORTH BROADFIELD – LAB HOLD

Marion Louise Ayling (Labour) – 934

Robin Burnham (Independent) – 154

Tom Liddiard (Conservative) – 378

Debra Louise Plaister (Heritage Party) – 25