Yahoo News Elections 2024: Conservatives hold all nine seats they were defending in Broxbourne
In a sports hall named after one of Britain’s speediest cyclists, it is surely no surprise that teams in Broxbourne finished counting their ballots first - before anywhere else in England. The Conservatives went into the 2024 poll defending nine seats and came out with all nine.
Ten out of the total of 30 seats were up for election on Thursday, May 2, and with 27 seats going into the election, against Labour’s three, a Conservative majority was guaranteed whatever the result on the night. Labour’s Sean Waters did successfully defend his seat in Waltham Cross.
“I’m thrilled,” said Jim Clune, speaking at the Laura Trott Leisure Centre, Cheshunt, after his win. The newly elected Conservative councillor will replace former authority leader Lewis Cocking in Wormley and Turnford ward.
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“I’m absolutely thrilled, and I just think it shows we are delivering in Broxbourne,” Mr Clune added. “Our council is an excellent council.
“It’s solvent, we’re very ambitious, and we managed to get that message across to our supporters and to the other residents of Broxbourne who might not be natural Conservatives. I’m very humbled and I think it’s been an excellent night.”
Broxbourne Borough Council has attracted billions of pounds of investment over recent years. Tech giant Google and Hollywood’s Sunset Studios are moving in, representing at least £700million of investment each, according to media reports.
The Westminster government has ploughed more than £14million into a “renaissance” at Waltham Cross - money from its flagship Levelling Up Fund - with plans to reopen the High Street to some traffic, refurbish a skatepark and sports pavilion, and invest in a new skills and learning hub. Its residents pay the lowest council tax bill in Hertfordshire - £2,094.99 per year for a band D property, below the England average of £2,171.
But some projects have stalled. Sunset Studios’ developers “intend to continue once market rates and construction financing stabilise”, a statement on its website reads.
Builders have paused work on a major 1,750-home development at Cheshunt Lakeside after developer Inland Homes collapsed into administration, with a bill of £1.008m owed to Broxbourne Borough Council. The authority has raided its savings pots, known as reserves, 2024/25 budget papers show. After starting with £32.6m held back in March 2023 - most of it earmarked for major projects - the council intends to end March 2025 with just over half this figure (£18.084m).
“Residents understand what is happening, and why,” Mr Clune said. “They see the ambitions of the council in the fact that Google has come in, that the film studios are hopefully going to be up and running in the very near future.
“They understand because we communicate very well. We’ve been out on the doorstep understanding their concerns and continuing to have that discourse with them so that we can help them to come with us on this journey. Change is going to happen, but what is incredibly important is that we have the people of Broxbourne with us on this journey.”
BBC and Local Democracy Reporting Service analysis of the results shows that despite holding their seats, the Conservatives have lost 13.4 per cent of their vote share since 2021. Green Party candidates added 8.7 per cent to their vote share, while Labour added 4.5 per cent.
“I don’t think this is a vote of confidence in what [the Conservatives] are doing in the council chamber,” said Labour’s Mr Waters. “I think it’s a sign that they’re out campaigning harder than ever because they know we’re on their tails.”
He added: “Labour has really narrowed the gap in Cheshunt South which was traditionally an area which the Conservatives would have considered safe. Now it’s a margin of 54 votes.”
The Conservatives were ahead in Cheshunt South and Theobalds by a margin of 425 votes in 2021, and 151 in 2023. “We are proud of our candidates and we hope that next year with Hertfordshire County Council elections, and a general election on the horizon, we can keep building and keep growing the Labour Party in Broxbourne,” Mr Waters said.
“We have offered a community-oriented and socialist alternative to the council. In the last budget, we offered a fully costed breakfast club programme, and this year we looked at a new way of encouraging volunteering in the borough, and we were going to fund that by moving to all-out elections.”
In a motion rejected by the council in February, the Labour Group said moving to all-out polls - one whole council election every four years - would save the taxpayer £100,000. Party members said the money could go towards a community strategy to prioritise where third-sector funding goes, but the Conservative administration warned savings would only kick in in 2026 - after the 2024/25 budget’s end point.
The next Broxbourne Borough Council election will take place in 2026. The 2024 results are in:
Broxbourne and Hoddesdon South
Sally Kemp (G) - 584
Matthew Neale (UKIP) - 82
Diane Sanders (Con) - 1,313 ELECTED
Kiran Thomas (LD) - 122
Roy Wareham (Lab) - 273
Turnout: 31.97 per cent.
Cheshunt North
Josh Asker (TUSC) - 38
Madela Baddock (G) - 87
Julie Gunnell (Con) - 895 ELECTED
Kostas Inchenko (LD) - 102
Lisa Newby (Lab) - 732
Turnout: 28.14 per cent.
Cheshunt South and Theobalds
Ellie Austen (G) - 131
Carol Crump (Con) - 821 ELECTED
Bea Gardner (TUSC) - 29
Cody McCormick (Ind.) - 126
Zahra Spencer (Lab) - 767
Turnout: 27.44 per cent.
Flamstead End
Karen Brett (G) - 120
Ian Dust (Lab) - 397
Dee Hart (Con) - 934 ELECTED
Kypros Savopoulos (LD) - 77
Aaron Smith (TUSC) - 28
Turnout: 24.02 per cent.
Goffs Oak
Pierce Connolly (Con) - 1,168 ELECTED
Trevor Griffiths (G) - 138
David Payne (LD) - 371
Aeden Rooney (Lab) - 347
Turnout: 27.26 per cent.
Hoddesdon North
Keith Brown (Con) - 1,033 ELECTED
Peter Kemp (LD) - 98
James McQuillan (G) - 151
Albert Nicolas (UKIP) - 137
Janet Wareham (Lab) - 433
Turnout: 24.72 per cent.
Hoddesdon Town and Rye Park
Ken Ayling (Con) - 713 ELECTED
Roy Clements (G) - 180
Andreas Georgiou (Lab) - 435
Pauline Sulman (TUSC) - 42
Tim Vizer (LD) - 96
Turnout: 20.68 per cent.
Rosedale and Bury Green
Peter Chorley (Con) - 943 ELECTED
Kirstie De Rivaz (LD) - 80
Ed Dragusin (Lab) - 550
Rishi Mehta (G) - 168
Turnout: 25.53 per cent.
Waltham Cross
Fabio Bonfante (LD) - 132
Bob Gledhill (G) - 134
Yinka Sonubi (Con) - 570
Christine Thomas (TUSC) - 55
Sean Waters (Lab) - 1,193 ELECTED
Turnout: 26.38 per cent.
Wormley and Turnford
Owen Brett (G) - 137
Jim Clune (Con) - 1,014 ELECTED
Robert Landon (TUSC) - 27
Seema Rajani (LD) - 70
James Spencer (Lab) - 560
Turnout: 23.17 per cent.
Overall turnout: 25.93 per cent.
This is down from 29.98 per cent in 2021, up from 24.01 per cent in 2023.
