COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION: Hastings Tories make big gains

For the last four years Labour held seven out of the eight Hastings seats at East Sussex County Council.

But 19-year-old Laurie Loe was elected Conservative county councillor for the Baird & Ore division, taking the seat from Labour’s Kim Forward by just 71 votes.

Fellow Tory Matthew Beaver also took back the Maze Hill & West St Leonards seat, receiving 1,391 votes in total, against Labour’s Steve Thorpe, who got 807 votes.

And the Conservatives’ Martin Clarke, with 1,643 votes, took the St Helens & Silverhill seat from Labour’s Judy Rogers.

This now means both the Labour and Conservative parties each hold four of the eight Hastings divisions at the county council.

The full list of candidates, together with the number of votes they received are as follows:

Ashdown and Conquest:

* Gabriel Roy Carlyle, Green Party - 71

* Eileen Masters, Labour and Cooperative - 720

* Peter Pragnell, Conservative - 1,599

* Robert John Wakeford, Lib Dem - 190

Conservative hold

Baird and Ore:

* Kim Forward, Labour - 1,111

* Katy Hunter-Burbridge, Lib Dem - 112

* Laurie Loe, Conservative - 1,182

* Judy Scott, Green Party - 97

Conservative gain

Braybrooke and Castle:

* Xan Brooker, Lib Dem - 371

* Rob Cooke, Conservative - 684

* Godfrey Daniel, Labour - 1,848

* Andrea Needham, Green Party - 252

Labour hold

Central St Leonards and Gensing:

* Paul Robert Homer, Green Party - 280

* Tony Seymour, Lib Dem - 247

* Trevor Edward Webb, Labour - 1,520

* Graeme Williams, Conservative - 784

Labour hold

Hollington and Wishing Tree:

* Arkady Rowland Johns, Green Party - 103

* Stephen Milton, Lib Dem - 108

* John Rankin, Conservative - 795

* Phil Scott, Labour - 1,287

Labour hold

Maze Hill and West St Leonards:

* Matthew Beaver, Conservative - 1,391

* Diane Granger, Independent - 112

* Eve Montgomery, Lib Dem - 285

* Thaddeus John Skews, Green Party - 94

* Steve Thorpe, Labour - 807

Conservative gain

Old Hastings and Tressell:

* Tania Charman, Labour - 1,414

* John Faulkner, Lib Dem - 163

* Claire Hamill, Conservative - 740

* Julia Jane Hilton, Green Party - 284

Labour hold

St Helens and Silverhill:

* Martin Clarke, Conservative - 1,643

* Sally Phillips, Green Party - 129

* Stewart Gregory Rayment, Lib Dem - 258

* Judy Rogers, Labour - 1,228

Conservative gain

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