Top leaders retain Lincolnshire County Council seats in South Kesteven but reform make gains
Reform has claimed five South Kesteven seats on Lincolnshire County Council, but failed to knock off any of the top leaders.
Conservatives were left with six – down from 11 – while Independents kept hold of their three.
Conservative Martin Hill, formerly the council leader, managed to hold onto his seat of 30-years, despite a strong effort from the Reform challenger.
Former highways boss Richard Davis also held his Grantham seat, while senior Independents Ashley Baxter, Phil Dilks and Richard Cleaver defended their seats.
However, Reform successfully managed to take five seats, helping boost its overall majority on the county council.
Mike Rudkin, who set the Lincolnshire branch of Reform up, said he was delighted with the results even if he’d been unsuccessful in gaining a seat.
“It was just me and a few volunteers when we started four years ago, and membership has just grown and grown,” he said.
“We had fantastic results last night, and Andrea’s definitely the right person for the job. We’re finally starting to get the change Lincolnshire needs.”
Councillor Martin Hill, who ends his 20 year stint as leader, congratulated Reform but said he was “worried that the party was all soundbite, no policies”.
He said this would be his final term on the council.
The full Lincolnshire County Council results:
Bourne North & Morton – Sue Woolley (Con) – 1261 votes
Bourne South – Kenneth Redfern (Reform) – 875 votes
Colsterworth Rural – Charlotte Vernon (Con) – 1018 votes
Deepings East – Phil Dilks (Ind) – 1019 votes
Deepings West & Rural – Ashley Baxter (Ind) – 926 votes
Hough – Ken Bamford (Reform) – 1068 votes
Folkingham Rural – Martin Hill (Con) – 1282 votes
Grantham Barrowby – Richard Litchfield (Reform) – 930 votes
Grantham East – Cain Parkinson (Reform) – 670 votes
Grantham North – Carl Peter Edgoose-Zagorskiy (Reform) – 575 votes
Grantham South – Paul Martin (Con) – 980 votes
Grantham West – Richard Davies (Con) – 787 votes
Stamford East – Kelham Cooke (Con) – 651 votes
Stamford West – Richard Cleaver (Ind) – 1279 votes
The Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral results for South Kesteven:
Sally Horscroft – Green Party, 2,591
Dame Andrea Jenkyns – Reform UK, 12,446
Marianne Overton – Lincolnshire Independents, 4,664
Jason Stockwood – Labour Party, 3,289
Rob Waltham – Conservative Party, 9,452
Trevor Young – Liberal Democrats, 1,936