Momemtous Day For The Conservatives In East Cambs At County Council Elections

EARLY signs in the East Cambridgeshire county council elections showed a momentous day for the Conservative Party with a number of high-profile gains.

Results have come thick and first over the course of this afternoon (Friday) and signs point to the Conservative Party tightening their grip on Cambridgeshire County Council led by results in East Cambs which saw three gains for the party.

News of the first gain of the day came in the Soham and Fordham Villages as Conservative candidate James Palmer swept his way to a seat on the county council at the expense of the Lib Dems, after polling almost 32 per cent of the vote.

The other seat in the two councillor constituency was taken by Conservative John Powley who secured re-election with 26.03 per cent of the vote. Turnout in the areas largest constituency came in 31.95 per cent, almost 20 per cent down on the 2005 elections.

Shortly after the news from Soham it was announced that Fred Brown had taken the county council seat for the Littleport division with more than 54% of the vote.

Cllr Brown's closest competitor was Liberal Democrat candidate Aaron Broadley who polled 37.9 per cent of the vote. Turnout for the vote was slightly more than 28 per cent.

There were holds for Liberal Democrat candidates in both Ely seats but the Conservative candidate David Brown, swept to success in the Burwell division with just 31 votes seeing him to the seat ahead of Hazel Williams. Turnout in the ward was down by around 20 per cent on the 2005 elections to 44.65 per cent.

Elsewhere there were holds for Philip Read in Sutton and Bill Hunt in Haddenham while Mathew Shuter held his seat in Woodditton.

The story nationally was a similar one for the Conservatives with a number of council's changing hands at the expense of the two other main parties.