Rossendale Council local election 2024 results in full

Rossendale council remains Labour controlled - as the Conservatives lost four councillors and the Green Party enjoyed a hat-trick of wins.

This was a whole-council election, with three councillors elected in each brand new ward for a term of four years. Ward boundaries were changed after a review, so political parties were unsure how results would go.

Now with a total of 30 borough councillors, Labour has 20 council seats at rossendale-council>Rossendale Council, the Conservatives have five, the Green Party has three and there are two independents.

High-profile Conservative Jennifer Rigby failed to be elected in Britannia and Lee Mill ward. She had previously been a key member of the Rossendale Conservative opposition group's younger leadership.

Former Conservative group leader David Foxcroft did not stand in this year's election for family reasons.

But another younger Conservative, Scott Smith, was elected at Whitworth, along with Community First's Alan Neal and Michael Royds.

Big topics leading up to the campaign include town centre and market regeneration schemes in Haslingden, Bacup and Rawtenstall; leisure centres and swimming pools, council finance, green spaces, transport and renewable energy, such as wind farms.

Labour Coun Alyson Barnes was elected at Goodshaw & Cribden. Speaking as counting was under-way, she said: "Generally people are fed-up with the government. Locally, we've had council ward boundary changes and all-out election which, we think, may slightly reduce the number of Labour councillors. The Green Party could see a few councillors elected today.

"It is hard to see how recent Conservative attacks on Rossendale Council have worked? I'm not convinced the Tory attacks resonated with people.

"In my experience, residents expect councillors to work together in general. Residents are not very interested in party politics at local level. Unfortunately I think the Conservatives are slinging mud around at the moment and going some sticks. But I don't think electors like it or that it's effective.

"Rossendale town centres have been lifted-up a bit with different projects and there's been some acknowledgement of that by voters. But I also have to say that we've been working on town centres for years, before the recent government levelling-up and other grants came along.

"The state of the roads is a big issue. People cannot understand why they're in such a bad condition with potholes. People go abroad and see infrastructure in other countries in decent condition. They see transport systems working abroad. But national government here has cut funding so much that everything is falling apart."

Conservative Scott Smith, who led some of the recent controversial accusations against Labour councillors, said: "We fought a very strong locally-based campaign, raising issues we think matter to residents.

"It's looking like a difficult day for the Conservative Party nationally but we are still hopeful to retain a strong representation on Rossendale Council.

"All the normal local issues came up on the doorstep in our campaign. But we think our campaign was more locally based through different towns and villages. So we might get some interesting local results."

Three Green Party councillors were elected at Whitewell & Stacksteads. They are Julie Adshead, Bob Bauld and John Payne. Labour's Jackie Oakes, previously Rossendale Council's deputy leader, came fourth and failed to gain a seat there.

The Greens were quietly optimistic about some successes. But they also criticised the move to elections once every four years.

The Greens previously had one borough councillor, Julie Adshead. Speaking as counting was underway, she said: "The Green Party fielded 30 candidates in all Rossendale council wards, which we are ready pleased about.

"This local election represents a really important new phase for the Greens in Rossendale and we are confident about the future."