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| Let's put a stop to urban sprawl - Steve Holland thanks Freshney voters for their support |
INDEPENDENT candidate Steve Holland stunned the main parties with a sensational win in Freshney ward in the North East Lincolnshire Council elections.
He unseated the sitting Conservative, Callum Procter - a NELC cabinet member - with his campaign to save the scenic Freshney Valley from a Tory plan for much of it to be buried under concrete as part of a controversial houses-and-roads project.
"This win demonstrates that people don't want precious countryside and wildlife to be lost to yet more urban sprawl,"he declared.
The result was a severe blow to council leader Cllr Philip Jackson who sees the scheme as a way of generating "economic opportunity".
He will now come under pressure not just to shelve the project but to bin it entirely.
Cllr Holland's win is the first time that a 'green' issue has determined the outcome of a poll.
Elsewhere, there was comfort for the Conservatives in seeing off the opposition challenge in wards such as Immingham, Yarborough, Croft Baker and Park where they looked vulnerable.
In the Heneage ward, Labour did manage to take a seat from the Conservatives, and they retained their strongholds in Sidney Sussex, South and West Marsh, but their failure to make any real dent reflects a largely lacklustre campaign.
Nor did the Liberal-Democrats make any headway but at least they had the satisfaction of holding the two seats up for grabs in East Marsh.
* Results in full to follow.
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| One of the Independent candidate's poll leaflets |
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