Thursday 10 May 2007

Error found in counting of votes for Skelton Ward

An arithmetical error has been discovered in the declared result for Skelton. For some inexplicable reason it appears that in adding the different totals the supervisor added the total for one of the Conservative candidates (672) to the Labour block total. Removing those 672 votes from the Labour block total still means that the declared Councillors (three Labour) were duly elected, though by much smaller majorities.

Lib Dems re-elect Chris

Chris Abbott
Irene Nightingale
Mary Ovens

The 13 Liberal Democrat councillors at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council have unanimously re-elected Councillor Chris Abbott as their Group Leader.

Chris has been Group Leader since 1999. He and his wife Glynis both represent the Newcomen ward in Redcar, and comfortably held their seats at the elections last week.

Chris’s Deputy will be Councillor Mary Ovens, also from Redcar (West Dyke ward) who is coming to the end of her term as Mayor of the Borough.

The Lib Dem Group will be chaired by Councillor Irene Nightingale, who represents Ormesby ward. She takes over from former Guisborough Councillor Keith Pudney, who did not seek re-election this year.

Cllr Chris Abbott, said:

“It looks as though Labour will now be running the Council. I look forward to making sure that they do not undo the good work that the Lib Dems have done as part of the ruling Coalition over the past four years.”

“We have some very experienced councillors and some talented new ones. I am sure we will be a better opposition than Labour were.”