The Bradley Stoke Journal

The Conservatives are this morning celebrating a remarkable clean sweep of all the District and Town Council seats in Bradley Stoke.

The town’s five seats on South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) are now held by Conservatives after Ben Walker beat Jon Williams (Liberal Democrat) by a comfortable margin of 139 votes in Bradley Stoke North.

Bradley Stoke Central & Stoke Lodge was held with large margins by Brian Hopkinson and Sarah Pomfret, while John Ashe and Robert Jones comfortably held Bradley Stoke South.

Reflecting a national trend, Liberal Democrat candidates were beaten by both Labour candidates in Bradley Stoke Central & Stoke Lodge and by one of the two Labour candidates in Bradley Stoke South.

In South Gloucestershire Council as a whole, the Conservatives gained one seat, Labour gained six seats and the Lib Dems lost seven, leaving the overall picture unchanged, i.e. no party with an overall majority but the Conservatives having the most seats.

Conservative candidates won all 15 seats on Bradley Stoke Town Council, gaining two seats from the Lib Dems and one held by an independent. Jon Williams (Lib Dem), a Town Councillor for more than 17 years (excepting an 18 month break in 2007/08) failed to gain re-election, losing out to Keith Cranney in the Stoke Brook ward.

Photos from the count at the Leisure Centre: album; slideshow

Full results: Local Election (SGC)

Bradley Stoke has seven polling stations open today for voting in the 2011 District & Town Elections and the national AV Referendum.

The local polling stations (open until 10pm) are:

• Brook Way Activity Centre
• Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road
• Holy Trinity Church, Broad Croft
• Baileys Court Activity Centre
• Evangelical Church, Baileys Court Road
• St Joseph’s Centre, Juniper Way
• Church of Christ the King, Mautravers Close

Voters in Bradley Stoke are choosing representatives for both Bradley Stoke Town Council and South Gloucestershire Council, in each case for a four-year term.

For information about the local candidates and their parties’ manifestos, visit our Bradley Stoke Local Elections 2011 page.

The Journal will be reporting LIVE from tonight’s count at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre, starting at around 10:30pm.

Four former-Mayors are amongst seven current Bradley Stoke Town Councillors who have chosen not to stand for re-election on Thursday 5th May.

Cllrs Julian Barge (Mayor 2003/04, 2005/06 & 2007/08), Ronnie Conway-Haskins (2006/07), Mark Forsyth (2009/10) and Sandra Hobson (2005/06) have all chosen not to contest the upcoming Town Council election that sees a total of 29 candidates fighting the 15 available seats.

Cllr Barge, a Town Councillor since 1999, currently represents the Conservative party, having defected from the Liberal Democrats in 2006 when he accused his former party of “negative and sometimes nasty campaigning”. He was Mayor at the time of the Council’s very public bust-up with the Northavon Bowls Club in 2008, which ended with the club being disbanded and landed the Council with an ongoing £7,200 p.a. bill for the upkeep of the Baileys Court bowling green, previously paid by the bowlers.

Cllr Conway-Haskins has been a Town Councillor since 2003, initially as a Liberal Democrat – until a row in a row over a wrongly attributed quote led to her resigning from the party and becoming independent. She says she is giving up because she feels she has already given enough to the community (having previously been a Councillor in Newton Abbot) and because of deteriorating health.

Cllr Forsyth (Conservative) has been a Town Councillor since 2007. He has chaired the Council’s Finance Committee for a number of years and may be best known to residents for his multi-lingual “meine Damen und Herren” addresses over the PA at the annual fireworks display.

The fourth retiring Mayor is an ex-call girl (BBC, 2004) – read on »

Conservative Jack Lopresti has run out the clear winner in the vote for the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency.

Labour’s candidate Ian Boulton defied the bookies’ odds to clinch second place by a narrow margin over Peter Tyzack of the Liberal Democrats.

Full result:

• Jack Lopresti (Conservative) 19,686
• Ian Boulton (Labour) 12,772
• Peter Tyzack (Liberal Democrats) 12,197
• John Knight (UKIP) 1,506
• David Scott (BNP) 1,328
• Jon Lucas (Green Party) 441
• Ruth Johnson (Christian Party) 199
• Vote Zero-None-Of-The-Above 172

Photos from the count: album; slideshow (PicasaWeb)

How the count unfolded at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre

A sterling performance by the count team from South Gloucestershire Council saw the result declared by just after 1:15am, well in advance of the 4am estimate of the Press Association. This was despite the constituency registering a massive 70.1% turnout, compared to the national average of around 65%.

Ballot boxes began arriving at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre within minutes of the polling stations closing at 10pm and the majority had been delivered within the first half hour.

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Bradley Stoke has seven polling stations open today for voting in the 2010 General Election.

Voters have a choice of eight candidates vying to be the first Member of Parliament for the newly-created Filton and Bradley Stoke (FABS) constituency.

The local polling stations (open until 10pm) are:

• Brook Way Activity Centre
• Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road
• Holy Trinity Church, Broad Croft
• Baileys Court Activity Centre
• Evangelical Church, Baileys Court Road
• St Joseph’s Centre, Juniper Way
• Church of Christ the King, Mautravers Close

Bradley Stoke Mayor Mark Forsyth (Conservative), pictured acting as a teller outside the polling station at the Brook Way Activity Centre, told The Journal that he had seen a healthy stream of voters throughout the morning, which he attributed to the interest generated by the televised Prime Ministerial Debates.

The Journal will be reporting LIVE from tonight’s constituency count at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre, starting at 10pm.

Officers at South Gloucestershire Council have said that they are unable to predict when the result will be announced but the Press Association estimates it will be at around 4am.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest gossip, news and photos.

More Information: FABS General Election 2010 (The Journal)

The closely-fought battle for the newly-created constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke (FABS) has seen Jack Lopresti (Conservative) edge back into a small lead, according to the Electoral Calculus website.

The political prediction website had previously given Liberal Democrat candidate Peter Tyzack a tiny 0.15% lead – on the back of the national ‘Clegg Effect’, which peaked after the second televised Prime Ministerial Debate.

The latest figures, compiled on 2nd May, predict a 2.88% victory for Mr Lopresti.

A similar change has been reflected in the odds offered by bookmakers Ladbrokes, with Mr Lopresti shortening to 2/5, Mr Tyzack lengthening to 5/2 and Ian Boulton (Labour) also lengthening to 10/1 (but as long as 41/1 on Betfair).

The Bristol Evening Post still sees the seat as a three-way marginal but The Guardian reckons that the ‘Glegg Effect’ may have turned the contest into a two horse race [PDF, 715KB] with Labour supporters “facing a tough decision” that could swing the result either way.

The Bradley Stoke Journal will be reporting live from the count at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre on Thursday night.

More information: FABS General Election (The Journal)