Hertfordshire County Council leader David Williams has failed to be re-elected. Credit: St Albans Lib Dems The leader of Hertfordshire County Council has lost his seat after the 2021 local election results were announced. Conservative leader David Williams was narrowly beaten by Liberal Democrat candidate Paul de Kort in Harpenden North East. Although the Conservatives were able to retain a large majority on the county council, Mr Williams defeat will come as huge blow to the party. Mr Williams, who is also chairman of the national County Councils Network, polled 2,022 votes which was lower than Mr de Kort s 2,063. Congratulations Paul de Kort @pauldekort1 elected Lib Dem county councillor for Harpenden North East division pic.twitter.com/46ef7n1wJi St Albans Lib Dems (@StAlbansLDs) May 8, 2021
Smooth ride so far in ‘difficult and very unusual’ elections
After many months of planning, election officials and political representatives have told LGC this year s difficult elections have gone smoothly so far with 10% of the results in, and have praised exhausted election teams on the ground for their hard work.
Although there had been fears that many people would be put off from voting this year by concerns about contracting coronavirus at polling stations, Peter Stanyon, chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, told LGC that the feedback so far from returning officers is that turnout is pretty much what it would normally look like for local elections .
Lisa Scriven
- Credit: Lisa Scriven
We meet the candidates from the Conservative Party standing for election at county and district level on May 6.
Annie Brewster - Harpenden Rural (County)
Annie Brewster
- Credit: Annie Brewster
Annie has served her community for over 15 years being a parish, district and county councillor. She was Mayor of St Albans City & District 2013/14 and was responsible for the development of the new Museum + Gallery in St Albans.
She is a champion of safe cycle routes and supports appropriate 20mph schemes. She recently won funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner to explore speed cameras on the Redbourn Road and have funded all new village speed indicator smiley face devices. Battles won include reinstating the Redbourn school bus service and securing free bus travel to KWS for all Wheathampstead pupils.
Exclusive: Labour offer to ‘work with’ government to allow remote meetings
Labour is offering to work with the government to find the parliamentary time to pass legislation allowing remote council meetings to continue after current arrangements come to an end.
In recent months, sector bodies have urged the government to allow virtual meetings to continue to take place after coronavirus regulations permitting them lapse on 6 May. But they have been told a backlog of legislation means it is not possible to find the parliamentary time to do this.
The government s decision last month not to extend the emergency legislation - while MPs will be able to continue to participate remotely in the democratic process - caused outrage across the local government sector.
Exclusive: Racecourse, church and theatre proposed for council meetings
A church, a theatre, a racecourse and a school hall have all been put forward as potential new venues to accommodate large numbers of councillors for socially distanced meetings when councils are set to return to face-to-face meetings next month.
Councils are being pushed into considering drastic measures in order to ensure they can hold meetings that adhere to social distancing guidelines while also enabling all their councillors to attend. In some cases, specialist sound equipment is being sought to make sure members can be heard in large scale venues that were not designed for such occasions.