Lib Dems increase seats from 2 to 5, with one big surprise!
May 5, 2007 2:51 PM
Darlington Borough Council now has 5 Liberal Democrat councillors, up from 2 previously.
We won both seats In Hurworth ward, with Malcolm Dunstone and Martin Swainston having comfortable majorities over the Conservatives. While the Conservatives ran a better campaign than in 2005, when Martin first won the seat in a by-election, this was no match for our campaign and certainly no match for the hard work put in by the local Liberal Democrats since that by-election.
In North Road ward, which was previously split with two Lib Dems and one Labour Councillor, there are now two Liberal Democrats (Fred Lawton and Mike Barker) and one Independent (former Lib Dem Steve Jones). They had a large majority over the Labour candidates, who worked hard in the ward during the election.
Our fifth seat came as a complete surprise. Peter Freitag, aged 78, standing on his own in a three-member seat, Park East, unseated one of the sitting Labour councillors. Peter represented this area on the Council in the 60s and 70s, until losing his seat in 1977. Now, 30 years later, he's back.
"I have already warned John Williams and Alan Milburn. I said, 'I'm back - now behave yourselves.'
The results:
HURWORTH WARD
*Martin Swainston (LD) 987
*Malcolm Dunstone (LD) 846
Jones (Cons) 505
Mazurk (Cons) 354
Foster (Ind) 164
Taylor (Lab) 40
Pringle (Lab) 37
NORTH ROAD WARD
*Fred Lawton (LD) 930
*Jones (Ind) 861
*Mike Barker (LD) 836
Richmond (Lab) 401
Nicholson (Lab) 381
Shukla (Lab) 296
Young (Con) 193
PARK EAST WARD
*Hughes (Lab) 558
*Lyonette (Lab) 558
*Peter Freitag (LD) 529
Johnson (Con) 480
Reynolds (Lab) 478
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