The results for the Derbyshire County Council elections in our local divisions are now in.
Simon Spencer wins Dovedale making it a Conservative hold. Best wishes to former Cllr Ray Caswell who did not stand for re-election. The count was:
Dovedale (including Alsop and Parwich)
Simon Spencer, Conservative – 2321
Colin Swindell, Labour – 1000
James Jennings, Liberal Democrats – 813
Garry Purdy, Conservative has taken Wirksworth from Irene Ratcliffe the Labour incumbent. Congratulations to Garry, but also commiserations to Irene Ratcliffe, who has worked hard for the division also representing the County Council on the Peak Park Board. The count was:
Wirksworth (includes Ballidon)
Garry Purdy, Conservative – 1679 votes
Irene Ratcliffe, Labour – 1394 votes
Josh Stockwell, Green – 698 votes
In both divisions it would appear there was a massive drop in turn out from around 68% in the 2005 elections to less than 45% in the current election (not official figures).
To find out more about the results for other Derbyshire divisions see the County Council’s website (do have a look at their map and virtual council chamber) and for the results nationally see the BBC website.
The European Parliamentary election results are not due to be announced until Sunday night (see UK website for the European Parliament).
PARWICH.ORG 
A hearty well done to Colin Swindell, for coming second in a division where at the last elections Labour did not even field a candidate and give the national trend against Labour.
This must be one of the few places where there was a swing from Conservative to Labour.
All the Derbyshire County Council results are now in, with a strong swing to the Conservatives who have a small overall majority of 2 councillors. This overturns Labour’s successful 30 years of control of the Council.
Irene Ratcliffe, the out going Councillor for Wirksworth will also as a consequence of the election have to step down from the Peak Park Authority where she is Deputy Chair of the Authority. However she has taken the time to assure us that the matters raised in her visit to Parwich in January for the Park Authority will not be lost as a result of these changes:
In response to congratulations to the successful candidates, along with a request for their ideas for the future, we received the following from the incoming Councillor for the Dovedale Division:
Similarly from the incoming Wirksworth Councillor: