Conservatives tighten grip on Hertsmere

12:17pm Friday 2nd May 2008

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The Conservative Party has strengthened its hold on Hertsmere Borough Council.

Results from yesterday's polls around the borough were announced this morning, with the Tories making gains across the board.The party now holds 31 of the authority's 39 seats. The Liberal Democrats have five councillors, down two, and Labour has three, down one.One Conservative gain was in Borehamwood's Brookmeadow ward, with Andrew Zucker removing Labour's Ian Feeney.Residents voted in 13 wards across the borough, with the biggest shock coming in Bushey North, where Liberal Democrat group leader Robert Gamble lost out to Steve O'Brien.Council leader Morris Bright said: "Brookmeadow is a good result. I'm particularly glad that the turn out is up. Labour have polled their most votes ever and so have we."I could not be more delighted. We will have 31 out of the council's 39 seats. Everyone has taken this campaign seriously. "It's not just winning for winning's sake. We already had a huge majority, but people still took it seriously and that's a credit to the candidates. But we still have a lot to do."Labour leader Ann Harrison kept her seat in Borehamwood's Cowley Hill ward by just 40 votes.She held off the challenge from the Conservative candidate Farida Turner. After collecting 640 votes she reflected on her win and Mr Feeney's loss.She said: "I'm delighted to get back in, but we are very sorry to lose Ian."I know he was only there for a year, but he was a very good councillor and hopefully we can get him back in the future."Looking at the results nationally I was wondering whether I should even go to the count, but it is gratifying that people came out and voted." Conservative councillor Hannah David held her Borehamwood Hillside ward with a big majority.She picked up 1,091 votes to Labour candidate Peter Hedges' 473. Gavin Whenman, the only Liberal Democrat candidate to stand in the town, received 220 votes.Mrs David said: "I'm delighted. I can now carry on with my job. You never take anything for granted in politics but it instills confidence that I'm doing a good job."Writing on his blog, Mr Whenman said: "The lesson for the Lib Dems in Hertsmere is that this is a Tory borough, and it will take a lot of hard work and patience to change that." Turn out was higher than expected, averaging around 35 to 38 per cent in the majority of wards.The highest figure came in Aldenham East, where John Graham returned a massive majority from a turn out of 40 per cent.In contrast, Cowley Hill's tight result came with just 26.6 per cent of eligible voters visiting the ballot box.Click here for the full results in Borehamwood, Shenley and Aldenham.