There will be eight fresh faces on Wokingham Borough Council following the Local Elections this year. That’s because seven councillors elected in 2016 chose not to run for another term this year, and one incumbent councillor was defeated in the election. In Wokinghan Borough, councillors are elected for four year terms. However, because elections were postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, those councillors elected in 2016 got to serve another year. Here is a look at the eight fresh faces that will be taking up places on the council.
Philip Cunnington, Conservative councillor for Norreys ward Philip Cunnington was the first of the new councillors that were announced at the election count on Saturday, May 8.
ELECTION 2021
The biggest election in our are this year will be the Wokingham Borough elections. Credit: Ben Walker/ New Statesman (Ballot: File Photo)
Voters up and down the country are going to the polls for the Local Elections this year. The biggest elections in our area are the Wokingham Borough elections, where voters throughout the borough will be selecting their ward councillors. There is a total of 18 seats up for grabs spread across the town itself, the Reading suburban areas of Earley, Woodley and Shinfield, and Wokingham’s satellite villages such as Twyford, Finchampstead and Hurst. There are a total of 54 seats on the council. The Conservatives are currently in charge with 31 councillors, a majority of 23. The second biggest party is the Liberal Democrats, with 15 candidates. The Labour Party currently has 4 councillors, and there are three independents. Councillors are elected for 4 year terms. Incumbents this year were last elected in 2016. There were meant
The leader of the Wokingham Conservative Party has made an emphatic appeal to voters ahead of the council elections. Cllr Halsall is now up for election in his ward of Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe, which he has represented since 2011. He has led Wokingham Borough’s administration through the pandemic. In an appeal to voters, Cllr Halsall said: “The Council is the golden thread that runs through our Borough, the indispensable partner for our residents and businesses. Diversity, Equality, Antiracism and addressing need must be at the heart of everything we do and of the example we set. No rational person would take any other point of view.
File photo dated 06/05/10 of a voter placing a ballot paper in the ballot box. More than half of people say climate change will influence the way they vote in the next general election, a survey suggests..
The three main parties are contesting all 18 seats up for grabs this election in Wokingham. Voters in the borough go to the polls on Thursday, May 6, although many are expected to vote by post due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It will see all three of the Wokingham party leaders try to cling onto their seats on the council. John Halsall, the incumbent borough council leader for the Conservative party, will be fending off Liberal Democrat challenger Martijn Andrea and Labour candidate Stuart Cranier in Cllr Halsall’s current seat of Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe. Last election, in 2016, Cllr Halsall received a majority of 704 votes, winning 930 votes in total.