Election results round-up for Rye and Battle

The election count in progress in the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill

THE results of the East Sussex County Council elections for the Rother area were announced at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill this morning (Friday).

Cheers rang out through the auditorium as Cllr Kathryn Field was re-elected to the Battle and Crowhurst Division.

Cllr Field comfortably beat her closest rival, Conservative candidate Pam Doodes, by 510 votes, with a total of 1,131 people casting their votes for the Liberal Democrat.

Cllr Field will have served as a county councillor for 25 years by the end of this term.

Over in Northern Rother, three candidates jostled to fill the traditional Tory seat which had been left vacant by the departed Peter Jones.

Conservative Cllr Angharad Davies took the division, winning 1,222 votes.

Meanwhile it was business as usual in Brede Valley and Marsham, Rye and Eastern Rother and Rother North West divisions, with Conservatives Cllr Carl Maynard, Cllr Keith Glazier and Cllr John Barnes retaining their seats.

UKIP candidates fared well in the Rother area, with Rother’s first ever UKIP county councillor picking up one of two vacant seats in Bexhill King Offa.

UKIP came second in four divisions in Rother - Bexhill East, Brede Valley and Marsham, Northern Rother and Rother North West.

Meanwhile over at Wealden, the Hailsham and Herstmonceux Division (which includes Ninfield and Hooe) was won by Lawrence Keeley (UKIP) and Bill Bentley (Cons).

The 49 county council seats are divided up as follows: Conservatives 20, Liberal Democrats 10, Labour 7, UKIP 7, Independents 5.

A full list of results are currently available on the Rye and Battle Observer and Bexhill Observer websites.

For a full report of the day, including reactions from candidates, please see next Friday’s Rye and Battle Observer.