Conservatives take Cheadle & Gatley
| Published: 2nd May 2008 11:41 |
There was little change last night in the balance of power between the political parties in Stockport. The only ‘shocks' were the Conservative's gain of Cheadle & Gatley by the slim margin of just 17 Votes - and the Liberal gain of Brinnington & Central Ward in which Labour lost.
The AboutMyArea/SK8 team watched the teams of counters for the 4 wards in SK8, Cheadle & Gatley, Cheadle Hulme North, Cheadle Hulme South and Heald Green who were counting by 10 20 pm. Tension was high around the counting tables with the stress of not just the days' events but the campaigning trail etched on the faces of candidates and supporters anxiously peering over the shoulders of the counters, waiting to see how big their own piles of ballot papers were getting in comparison to other candidates.
Turnout at the polls for the four wards was as follows: Cheadle & Gatley 42.6%, Cheadle Hulme North 35.9%, Cheadle Hulme South 42.6% and Heald Green 38.4% thus higher than the expected national average of 35%.
This was the first time that The Editor of AboutMyArea/SK8 had attended an ‘Election Night‘and I have to say the pressure for all those involved started to reach fever pitch just before midnight when it became very clear indeed that the final results were resting on the last batch of voting papers in Cheadle and Gatley whilst in the other SK8 wards, supporters were whispering jubilantly to each other as in it seemed pretty clear cut that the final results would stay much the same. In the Cheadle and Gatley room faces bore solemn expressions as a recount was ordered as their result was so close, and then the final result was announced - a tiny margin of 17 votes had given the Conservative candidate Mick Jones the lead over Lib dem's Paul Carter.
Elsewhere in the hall people were amazed that Labour had lost Brinnington & Central Ward by a majority of 255 to Chris Walker of the Lib dems.
In Cheadle Hulme North John Pantall (Lib dem) held his seat with a 904 majority, in Cheadle Hulme South Lenny Grice (Lib dem -replacing Ingrid Shaw who retired this year) was newly elected with a 513 majority, whilst in Heald Green Peter Burns of the Ratepayers came through with a fantastic majority of 2198 votes. For a full break down of the SK8 results please read last night's article here.
The new state of Stockport council is as follows:
Liberal Democrats 36
Labour 14
Conservative 10
Independent Ratepayers 3
For full results for each ward within Stockport please read here.
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