Somewhat belatedly on my part, here is the result for Darent Valley from last Thursday's County Council elections.
Roger Gough (Conservative) 1,677 (48.6%)
Alun Elder-Brown. (UKIP) 897 (26.0%)
Kevin Flack (Labour) 647 (18.7%)
Phil Hobson (Liberal Democrat). 166 (4.8%)
Jim Read (English Democrats). 65 (1.9%)
So this is the start of my third four year term as Kent County Councillor for Darent Valley. Thank you to everyone who supported me; it was particularly gratifying to hold my share of the vote to within 1% of the level achieved in 2009 - when the national political climate, and in particular the popularity of the Conservative Party, was very different from today. It is good that, while the standing of the parties nationally will inevitably influence local election outcomes, many people are prepared to vote on local issues.
The Conservatives held all seven seats in Sevenoaks, including fending off a challenge from Labour in Swanley, but across Kent the picture was a much more complex one. In the West, the Conservatives largely held their ground, with just a handful of losses to Labour, as well as one to UKIP in Tunbridge Wells and one to the Liberal Democrats in Maidstone. From Swale eastwards, however, there were heavy losses to UKIP - including, very sadly, my Cabinet colleague for education Mike Whiting and my deputy Ken Pugh - so that for a few hours around Friday lunchtime Conservative control of the council was in doubt. We were not quite into the world of hanging chads, but the path to a majority was a very narrow one. Eventually, however, there was a Conservative majority of 6. So the new council - with a much smaller Conservative majority and with UKIP as the biggest opposition party - will be very different from its predecessor.
So once again I will be picking up the issues that I have been writing about here. To those who voted for me, thank you again; to those who didn't, I'm here to represent you too.
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