The headline results of the local elections in England are clearly bleak for Labour and rosy for the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats are, in effect treading water, while the Greens and independents have made some gains in terms of numbers of councillors.
But these are the aggregate council results. The top-level masks so many discrepancies. When listening to so much of the media coverage about these local elections, many candidates and councillors must get disheartened. They campaign as vigorously as possible, only for everyone to obsess about what the results mean for Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson.
The focus has been on how the “red wall” in the north of England is continuing to crumble. Labour lost control of Sheffield City Council and of Durham County Council for the first time, while the Conservatives have gained control of Northumberland County Council. But by zoning in on these, we miss that Labour had either no or only small losses in Gateshead Council, Liverpool C
Elections 2021: New party in Basildon oppose high-rise plan
Published
image captionPlans for Basildon town centre would see several high-rise apartment blocks
A new political party has been formed for the local elections to oppose the £600m redevelopment of a town centre.
The Basildon Community Residents Party has candidates in seven borough council wards for the 6 May election.
A new masterplan for the town was approved by the authority, which is run by an alliance between Labour and seven independent councillors.
But with a third of the council s seats up for election, control of the authority could change.
image copyrightReuters
image captionThe plans would see the redevelopment of the Eastgate shopping centre and the town retail units
Higher parking fines sought in tourist hotspots as restrictions ease lgcplus.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lgcplus.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Danielle Botcher was shopping when daughter dropped a cracker at Essex Tesco
The 28-year-old said she was confronted by enforcement officers and fined £100
She claims officer told her she had purposefully left the cracker on the ground but the mother-of-two says she did not see it there and would have picked it up
Basildon Council later overturned fine and apologised but Ms Botcher says she chose to speak out to encourage others to challenge fines they feel are unfair
A YOUNG couple who lost their jobs have been sleeping rough in a car for more than a year. Emily Gribbin, 21, and Brandon Wood, 22, have been living in their Skoda Fabia and battling through the pandemic with no money to their name. The pair, who lost their jobs as they couldn’t afford to pay for petrol to get to work, have been washing in nearby shops and relying on weekly food parcels. Now the couple are accusing Basildon Council of failing to help them in their struggle. Officers are understood to have visited their car, in the town’s Matalan car park in Cricketers Way, but the pair were out on a walk at the time.