The Conservative party have taken control of Staffordshire County Council in the local elections. The party also won in all but one of Lichfield & Burntwood’s wards.
Eight wards make up the Lichfield and Burntwood area with Conservatives winning all but Burntwood South which went to independent candidate, Paul Dudley Atkins. Mr Atkins took 46% of the vote for the ward, with Conservatives in second with 37%.
Labour previously held the area with 38% though the Conservatives were close behind with 37%. Now, the Conservative Party hold a 53% majority while Labour fell to 14%, one percentage point behind the Liberal Democrats.
Amidst a low turnout of only 40% compared to last year’s 66%. The lowest turnout was recorded in the Burntwood North ward where only 34% of voters made it to the polling station.
Another key feature of these local elections was the emergance of the BNP. The nationalist party took 8% of the vote in Lichfield City North, representing a total of 337 votes.
The County Council has always been held by Labour except for once when the Conservatives won in 1977. The shift in control is part of a national move of power from the Labour party who, at the time of writing with 7 out of 34 council results declared, have lost 4 councils.
