As I write this, I know that Brentwood Borough Council has 19 Conservative councillors, 17 Liberal Democrats and three Labour councillors, as we have 12 Conservative councillors elected in the five Epping Forest District Council wards in my constituency.
I am delighted to see the Conservatives remain as the largest party in the Borough of Brentwood. Under the Conservative administration in Brentwood a year ago, things were looking up for the town, with great plans for the Baytree Centre, sterling work on tackling unauthorised development in the Borough, and great team work in tackling National Grid’s pylons proposals.
This work has slowed under the Liberal Democrat/Labour administration of the last year, and I will be keen to see how the next administration – however it may work out – will start things moving forward again for the future prosperity of Brentwood.
Great news too that our amazing Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, has been re-elected. Roger has been a strong figurehead for the police and fire services in Essex, bringing funding in to the county to build and strengthen both wings of the emergency services. I have been very pleased to see how the increase in the number of police officers, and dedication of officers both old and new, has keep crime down across the county, and made major inroads into tackling domestic violence, knife crime and is working hard to reduce thefts from and of vehicles.
Finally, in a local election week which saw 39 councillors in 13 wards elected, I would like to thank the patience and dedication of the Council staff who managed to sort, count and declare thousands of votes in an efficient and professional way.
