Tories keep hold of town's seats

All but one of the 12 divisions across the Wychavon District, which includes Evesham, Droitwich and many of the areas on the edge of Worcester, remained in Conservative hands following last Thursday's (May 6) local elections as the party claimed 45 seats.

Worcester City Council leader Marc Bayliss was comfortably elected in Bowbrook for the Conservatives taking over from county council cabinet member Tony Miller who switched divisions to Ombersley following the retirement of former council chairman Peter Tomlinson.

There will be two new faces representing Evesham with Wychavon councillors Peter Griffiths and Emma Stokes winning in the respective Evesham North West and Evesham South divisions.

Peter Griffiths takes over from veteran Tory councillor John Smith who has retired and Emma Stokes takes over from Bob Banks in the Evesham South division.

Dan Boatright was elected for the Liberal Democrats in Pershore taking over from party colleague and former group leader Liz Tucker who has represented the town since 2005.

The two divisions in Droitwich remained in Conservative hands with Richard Morris re-elected in Droitwich West - 764 votes ahead of Labour - and current council chairman Bob Brookes re-elected in Droitwich East by a whopping 1,657 vote margin.

The county council's deputy chairman Adrian Hardman was re-elected in Bredon again and Liz Eyre was re-elected in Broadway.

Elsewhere in the Wychavon district, Alastair Adams was re-elected in the Littletons whilst Upton Snodsbury district councillor Linda Robinson now represents the area on both Wychavon District Council and Worcestershire County Council after winning the division for the Conservatives.

She takes over from long-standing councillor and planning committee chairman Rob Adams who had represented the division since its creation in 2005 but announced he would be retiring before the election.

Laura Gretton also won in Harvington for the Conservatives.