THE Conservatives won the county council seat they were fighting in Chelmsford – but saw its majority plummet from a resurgent Reform UK. Susan Dobson won the Stock division for the Tories with 1,304 votes – 46 per cent of the vote share.
That was down from its share of almost 70 per cent when the seat was contested in 2021. Reform UK – which did not fight the seat in 2021 – won 977 votes – 35 per cent of the vote share.
The Tory’s Gillian Swain won the South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting ward on Chelmsford City Council with 838 votes – or 81 per cent of the share. Chelmsford City Council Tory group leader Roy Whitehead described the Chelmsford City Council result as a “landslide” but described the county council result as “worrying”.
He said: It’s the last election for the county council before May’s elections. I think Reform UK took it as a test case. Nigel Farage was here in two or three places. It’s our belief it was a test for next May.
“As you can see they got a lot of votes compared to last time when again we had a very large majority. It is worrying. But nonetheless because they had people in all the areas whether or not they’ll have the same resources next time around in May I don’t know. It was taken very seriously by Reform and there was lots and lots of activity.”
The by-election was triggered by the death aged 85 of Ian Grundy who represented the area on Chelmsford City Council and Essex County Council. Councillor Grundy, who had lived in Stock for more than 24 years, had been receiving treatment for cancer when he died.
He was first elected to Chelmsford Borough, now City Council, in 2003. He had served in the cabinet and been responsible for the Safer Communities portfolio.
Councillor Grundy had represented the Stock division at Essex County Council since he was elected in 2011. He served as the cabinet member for highways from 2017 to 2018.
