From Uttlesford’s Liberal Democrats, here’s a big “THANK YOU!” to all the district’s voters who put their “X” next to one of our names on Thursday.

The outcome was a greater swing away from the Conservatives than anyone could have anticipated. The main beneficiaries were the Residents for Uttlesford candidates, so “Congratulations!” to their mostly new, 26-strong team. Commiserations and thanks are in order for the thirteen Tory candidates who have served on the Council for many years but were not re-elected.

We Liberal Democrats are on the rise again, adding three new members to our previous team of only four. We welcome Melvin Caton and Ayub Khan (Stansted South & Birchanger), and Mike Tayler (Thaxted & The Eastons). The newbies join the re-elected Lib Dem foursome of Alan Dean and Geoffrey Sell (Stansted North), Martin Foley (Thaxted & The Eastons) and Janice Loughlin (Stort Valley).

So, “Thank You!”, voters of Stansted, Stort Valley and Thaxted & The Eastons for giving us enough votes to elect us to represent you on Uttlesford Council.

Thanks also are sent to the voters for their support in the wards where Liberal Democrats were not elected this time from: Sylvia Barrows, Sara Booth, John Clift, Marion Dyer, Michael Dyer, Simon Ede, Maryanne Fleming, Fred Frindle, Mike Hibbs, John Hudson, Barbara Hughes, Teddy Kimber, Adam Langworthy, John Lefever, David Morgan, Steven Raddon, Sonia Sault, David South, Steffi Suhr, Claire Vintiner and Antoinette Wattebot.

Interesting times are in store for the district. We must wait to see what policy changes the Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) Party has in store. They have a large majority, so can fill all the Administration positions. The Liberal Democrats are again the main Opposition party, so it is our job to hold R4U to account in a constructive manner.

You can read the full district council results here.