A BY-election has been called for the vacant seat on Warrington Borough Council following the tragic death of popular Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Oliver.
His party called the by-election at Poulton North just 19 days after Cllr Oliver’s funeral.
Liberal Democrat leader Ian Marks admitted: “It was a difficult choice to decide whether to call another by-election or leave the seat vacant until the elections next May.”
The move has surprised both Labour and Conservative councillors.
Conservative Cllr Paul Kennedy said: “I am somewhat surprised and very disappointed that there is to be another by-election in Poulton North, given that there will be a scheduled election there in just a few months time in May.
” I suppose my only hope is that only one candidate puts their name forward so that there will be no election, but I rather sense that that will not be the case.”
If a contest takes place it is thought the date will be around November 17 – and it would be the third at Poulton North since May.
Cllr Oliver (pictured) lost his seat at the May elections but then won it back again at a by-election on July 28, following the resignation of former Liberal Democrat executive board Sharon Wilson, because of work commitments..
He polled 1,106 votes compared to Labour’s Ashley Pemberton, 895 – a comfortable majority of 211. The Conservatives came third with 190 and the UK Independence Party fourth with 97.
Cllr Marks said: “When Colin Oliver regained a seat on the council at the by-election in July we were all delighted, none more so than Colin himself.
“We never dreamed that this event would be overtaken by his tragic death.
“It was a difficult choice to decide whether to call another by-election or leave the seat vacant until the elections next May. We thought about what Colin would have wanted and talked to his widow, Chris.
“We have talked to our parish councillors and members on the patch. We also need to consider the residents of Poulton North. They deserve to be represented by three councillors rather than have a vacancy for the next seven months. After listening to everyone we have decided to call a by-election and have done it sooner rather than later to avoid the run-up to Christmas. We will be choosing our candidate soon.”
4 Comments
As a mark of respect and for all the mud slung by Labour they should not stand. If we get a person half as good as Colin was then the area wins.
What a ridiculous comment! If it is uncontested, then the Lib Dums will say in May that nobody could be bothered about Poulton North. This is a shameful waste of public money. First off, Sharon Wilson gets forced out to give Colin another go and now they can’t wait until an election that would happen in May anyway. That isn’t serving the public, but it does serve the self-interest of the Lib Dems and that is simply unacceptable.
What an absolute disgrace to call another by-election and at what cost to the Council Tax Payers of Warrington. If the Lib/Dems hold on to the seat it will not alter the polityicasl control at the Town Hall and could surely have waited until the May 2012 elections. Just shows how the politicians hold the electorate in contempt!
As a mark of respect one would have thought that Colin’s Wife would have been allowed time to grieve without being bothered by the point scoring ploys of party politicians! Colin had portrayed himself first and foremost as a ‘man of the community’ rather than merely a toe-the-line party politician. When Colin lost his seat at the last May elections he said himself that he thought the vote had reflected dissatisfaction with some of his party’s general policies, and he stated quite clearly his own personal stance as being in opposition to these policies. If his own party’s leaders had not let him down by their repeated U- turning antics Colin would probably not have lost in May and had to go through another campaign to regain his seat. It appears it was for his own personal views, and the strength of his commitment to the community that the people of people of Poulton North were able to disregard party politics and vote for the person rather than the party. Thus Colin was restored to office. Having once achieved this state of enlightenment I somewhat doubt that the voters in Poulton North will regress to party political haggling. It seems more likely that the next councillor elected to represent their community will be chosen, as Colin was, not for their membership of any political party but for the personal qualities of the candidate and their commitment to the community.