Reflecting on last week’s local election results, I wholeheartedly thank the residents of Furnace Green for re-electing me.  I’m very proud to represent such a special neighbourhood and we had by far the highest turnout in Crawley at 43%, which I view as a positive indication of being Crawley’s most engaged ward.

Unfortunately, the election turnout was generally down across Crawley.  The next highest turnout was in Pound Hill South and Worth at 37%, where I was pleased to see Craig Burke elected as Crawley’s newest Conservative Councillor.

However, after that, the turnout drops further and in the four wards that had Labour’s highest majorities, Broadfield, Bewbush, Langley Green, and Northgate & West Green, the turnout ranged from just 23% to 27%.  What was apparent is that where turnout was higher, it was the Conservatives that saw higher votes.

Nationally, it was the worst set of Conservative local election results since 1995, losing one in three seats we were defending.  While disappointing, it wasn’t a huge surprise being mid-term after thirteen years in government and broadly in line with national predictions.

However, in Crawley we continued to buck the national trend.  We did lose one of the five seats we were defending but we held the other four and narrowed the gap in Ifield.  The one seat we did lose was Pound Hill North & Forge Wood.  It is disappointing to lose such a good councillor in Richard Burrett from Crawley Borough Council, but he remains as County Councillor for Pound Hill and will continue to stand up for residents.

Labour flooded Pound Hill, Furnace Green and Three Bridges with dozens of party activists from London.  Despite this, we held Pound Hill South, Furnace Green and Three Bridges, where Cllr Brenda Burgess had an excellent swing of nearly 8% from Labour compared to last year.  Despite Labour bragging, the reality is these election results show no endorsement whatsoever of their poor local record.  It remains the fact that in Crawley, only the Conservatives are able to stand up to Labour, as they seek to ruthlessly tighten their grip on power. 

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

10th May 2023