Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Jon Cooper
Derbyshire Reform UK councillors have been celebrating after clinching two vacant Staveley-North seats on Chesterfield Borough Council and one vacant Woodthorpe seat on Staveley Town Council in two by-elections.
The two Chesterfield Borough Council Staveley-North ward seats and the single Staveley Town Council Woodthorpe ward seat, all in Staveley, became available after the sad deaths of Labour Borough Councillor Stephen Lismore and Liberal Democrat Borough and Town Councillor Paul Jacobs.
Reform UK’s Steven Barlow, swept to victory with 490 votes and Reform UK’s Dawn Taylor also amassed an impressive 430 votes as they were both crowned as the two new Chesterfield Borough Council Staveley-North ward councillors after a by-election on May 7.
Elsewhere, Reform UK’s Paul Taylor, won 231 votes to take the vacant Staveley Town Council Woodthorpe ward seat in the second of the two by-elections on the same date.
Reform-controlled Derbyshire County Council’s newly-appointed Deputy Leader, Cllr Stephen Reed, said: “It’s great news and it reflects that people want change and Reform is that change.
“Now we need to get [Prime Minister Sir Keir] Starmer out and with results elsewhere it is the biggest indictment of him and everything that has been going on in the country.”
Thirteen candidates stood in the by-election for the two vacant Staveley-North ward seats on Chesterfield Borough Council from various political parties including Reform UK, Conservative, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and the Independents along with a Chesterfield Independent – Localism Not Globalism candidate.
Newly-elected Reform UK Chesterfield Borough Cllr Dawn Taylor for one of the two Staveley-North seats is also a current Derbyshire County Councillor for Staveley.
Six candidates stood in the by-election for the single vacant Woodthorpe ward seat on Staveley Town Council including candidates from various political parties including the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Staveley Community Independents, the Greens, Reform UK and Staveley Matters.
Chesterfield Borough Cllr Tom Snowdon was particularly disappointed after he saw his late friend and fellow Lib Dem Paul Jacobs’ vacant seats for both Staveley-North and Staveley Woodthorpe lost to Reform UK.
He said: “I am really disappointed with the result. As a local party we had put in an awful lot of work into the by-elections and it demonstrates the way politics, locally and nationally, is changing and we have an awful lot of work to do to make sure we get hard-working candidates elected for local communities.”
Labour-controlled Chesterfield Borough Council’s political make-up is now 27 Labour councillors, eleven Liberal Democrat councillors and two newly-elected Reform UK councillors after both Labour borough councillor Stephen Lismore and Liberal Democrat borough councillor Paul Jacobs had sadly passed away leaving the two Staveley-North seats vacant.
Staveley Town Council, which has no single party in overall control due to a close split between largely Labour, Community Independents and Liberal Democrats alongside a smaller number of Staveley Matters councillors, will now be joined by newly-elected Reform UK Staveley Town Cllr Paul Taylor.
The turnout for the Chesterfield Borough Council Staveley-North by-election was 34.21per cent and the turnout for the Staveley Town Council Woodthorpe by-election was 32.61per cent.
Both former Chesterfield Borough Cllr Stephen Lismore who sadly died aged 71, on February 7, in Cogne, in Italy, during a climbing accident, according to the council, and former Chesterfield Borough and Staveley Town Cllr Paul Jacobs, who sadly died on February 21, were highly respected and regarded by colleagues.
Liberal Democrat Chesterfield Borough Cllr Maggie Kellman said: “I am proud of the hard work put in by Liberal Democrats across Staveley throughout the election campaign.
“We will always miss the late Paul Jacobs who worked tirelessly to spread the message of the Liberal Democrats, subsequently winning seats on both Staveley Town Council and Chesterfield Borough Council.
“But I know we did him proud. We may not have won the seats this time. But we were a close second. And the results show that the Liberal Democrats are emerging as the leading opposition against Reform in local politics. I know my colleagues are ready for the challenge and will continue to work hard for their communities every single day.”
Elsewhere, local elections took place on May 7 for many English councils and the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments with early results showing that Reform UK had been making major gains, Labour had suffered heavy losses while the Conservatives had suffered significant losses, and the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party had enjoyed some successes.
Chesterfield Borough Council’s full schedule polls to elect all of its 40 borough councillors are every four years and they are not due to take place until 2027.
Other than the by-elections for the two vacant borough council Staveley-North ward seats and the single vacant Staveley Town Council Woodthorpe seat, the authority’s Chesterfield Borough Council’s Returning Officer has not overseen any other scheduled elections on May 7.
Comments were sought from Labour Chesterfield Borough Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, and Deputy Leader, Cllr Amanda Serjeant, but they had not responded at the time of publication.
