Meet the candidates who gained seats in Basingstoke

The polls saw Basingstoke & Deane Independents (BDI) gaining three seats and Liberal Democrats gaining two wards.

Labour also gained a ward – Winklebury and Manydown, but they lost their Norden ward.

The gains for BDI came at Bramley, Norden and Whitchurch; Overton and Laverstoke.

READ MORE: A list of all the winning candidates and results from Basingstoke and Deane

In Bramley, BDI’s Tony Durrant 1330 votes, pushing previous winner Simon Mahaffey of Conservatives to second (938 votes).

Cllr Durrant has been a councillor for Bramley parish for the past 10 years and chairman for eight years.

BDI candidate Tony Durrant won from Bramley ward in Basingstoke and Deane council elections

Speaking after the result, he said: “People have seen that I have a strong independent view and they like it. That has reflected in the voting.

“Developments are a big impact in our ward and the rest of the borough. I also want to see a more active climate strategy from the council. It’s not there yet.

“I have got so much to learn. I hope to learn from across the parties.”

In Norden, BDI’s Paul Basham received 1,020 votes, as he defeated Labour’s Steve Rolfe (651 votes) and Conservative’s Satya Sookhun (315 votes).

The seat was previously held by Labour’s Carolyn Wooldridge who decided not to contest this time.

Cllr Basham said his victory is a result of hard work for the past one year.

BDI's Paul Basham won from Norden ward in Basingstoke and Deane council elections. Pic by Sarah Gaunt

“It feels good,” he said.

“I worked so hard during the last year. It’s a real sense of relief now actually – all the hard work, and all the door knocking and talking to constituents have paid off.

“Now, I need to learn the ropes about how the council works and then take from there.”

In Whitchurch; Overton and Laverstoke, there were elections for two seats, including the byelection for vacant seat left by BDI. The other seat was held by Independent councillor Lucie Follett Maitland.

The ward saw a record 41 per cent turnout as two BDI candidates emerged with most votes.

While Chloe Ashfield registered the most votes (2082) in the borough, Stephen Williams finished with 1,734 votes. Both will represent the ward during the next term.

BDI's Chloe Ashfield won from Whitchurch; Overton and Laverstoke ward in Basingstoke and Deane council elections

LibDem candidates Lucy Sloane (700 votes) and Linda Stepney (674) finished third and fourth, while Conservative’s Johanna Perry (609) and Labour’s Michael Barham (324) finished behind them.

While Cllr Williams, who is currently on holidays in Portugal, was not available to speak after the results, Cllr Ashfield seemed very excited with her big margin.

Speaking to the Gazette, Cllr Ashfield said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be elected today. I’m astounded that Whitchurch; Overton and Laverstoke saw the highest turnout across the borough. That’s a testament to our community. I’m personally delighted to receive more votes than any other candidate who stood across the borough. That’s a personal victory.

“Today’s a start of something. We got an incredible amount of work to do over the next two years – not least to challenge the council’s draft local plan. We got speculations from developers, our rivers are under threat, we have our town and village being underinvested in and seeing less value for money for our council taxes.

“But more than anything this council declared a climate emergency a couple of years ago. We haven’t seen anywhere near the amount of ambition that we need to see from this council. So I’m looking forward to working with Steve (Williams) and the wider independent community. Because we are not constraint by party politics working with colleagues across the board to make sure that we can deliver for the borough particularly for Whitchurch; Overton and Laverstoke, which is always in my heart.”

Liberal Democrats also emerged as big winners from the elections in Basingstoke and Deane. They gained two wards – Tadley and Pamber and Tadley North, Kingsclere and Baughurst – from Conservatives.

In Tadley and Pamber, Jo Slimin got 1,277 votes, while Conservative’s Derek Mellor, who was holding the seat, came second with 1,178 votes.

Cllr Slimin is returning to the council after her spells as borough councillor in 2002-2003 and 1994-1998.

LibDem's Jo Slimin won from Tadley and Pamber ward in Basingstoke and Deane council elections

She said: “We are happy because we have done a lot of hardwork and over the years we have had a lot of disappointments. It’s an icing on the cake as I’m back on the borough after 20 years.

“We will make a very strong case for people in Tadley as I’ve always done.

“They have declared a Climate Emergency, but they are not delivering anything. It’s a lot of talk and no action. I will go into the borough with ideas of things we should be doing and make sure that money is being spent and actions are being taken, so that people can reduce their energy costs.”

In Tadley North, Kingsclere and Baughurst, LibDem’s Kerry Morrow got 1617 votes against Conservative’s Maria Higson (1497).

LibDem’s Kerry Morrow won from Tadley North ward in Basingstoke and Deane council elections. Photo by Sarah Gaunt

The seat was held by Conservative’s Geoff Poland who decided not to contest.

Cllr Morrow said: “I’m completely overwhelmed. We have been working for over a year in my ward. All that work has resulted in being elected. I can do a lot more now.”

In Winklebury and Manydown, it was a narrow victory for Labour’s Alex Lee (961 votes) who defeated the Conservative’s incumbent candidate Sean Dillow (904 votes).

Alex Lee won from Winklebury and Manydown ward in the Basingstoke and Deane council elections

Cllr Lee knows what his priorities are.

He said: “We got the issue of side traffic using Roman Road as an entrance for Manydown development when they start. We are trying to get the developers to do the right thing and use the northern access that is detailed in the actual outline planning application. And build the trunk road between the A339 Kingsclere Road and down to the B3400. I also want to work on the Winklebury regeneration project.

We should also make sure that we get the right medical facilities for Winklebury now and the growing Manydown community when they start.

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