Labour maintain strong majority in Chorley: Your full council election analysis

The Labour Party have secured a total of 29 seats across the council's newly outlined 14 wards.

This means they now amount to 69 per cent of the council, lower than the 79 per cent they held following the 2019 elections.

In a long day of counting votes at Clayton Green Sports Centre, it was announced that Labour councillors grabbed seats across 12 of the 14 total wards.

And despite fewer seats up for grabs and fewer wards, the Conservatives now make up almost 31 per cent of the authority's total body.

The two main parties continue to take control of the Council, with the Green Party, Liberal Democrats and Independent candidates failing to secure a seat.

There were a total of 122 candidates in the running in this year’s Chorley Borough Council election - with a total of 42 councillors now elected across the 14 wards.

Vote counting wrapped up just before 5 pm, with all results having been announced and declarations made promptly by 5:20 pm.

The new boundary changes meant that every seat was up for the taking in this year's election, with three total seats up for grabs in each ward.

This win for Labour comes as no surprise, with the party holding power of the council since 2012 - meaning they are currently in their ninth year controlling the authority.

It was confirmed that Labour would keep their majority on the council after the results for the Chorley North East ward were announced at around 2 pm, when the party held 24 of the total 42 seats available.

Labour candidates cheered and clapped at the news, as one of the elected candidates, Coun Jenny Whiffen, said : “We are delighted the residents have trusted us to consider their interests and represent them. Thank you to the Labour team who have worked tirelessly to achieve this result.

“I would like to pay a tribute to the other candidates who fought a good campaign. We are proud to serve the people of Chorley and this result means we will remain a Labour council.”

Labour’s key priorities included working to ensure equality opportunities for all residents no matter where they live or their personal circumstances, half a million to tackle climate change and become carbon-neutral by 2030 and ensuring that Chorley builds back from the pandemic as a better, fairer and happier place to live, work and visit.

Conservative opposition leader Coun John Walker had previously criticised the Labour opposition of ‘overlooking’ the rural communities, with the party’s key priorities including rebalancing investments so that rural areas benefit as well as urban, promoting a more cautious approach to council borrowing and speeding up the creation of a local plan to control housing developments.

Two years ago, Labour secured a total of 37 seats, but with a lesser total of 42 seats up for grabs this year, they secured a respectable but fewer 29.

Reacting to the news, council leader Coun Alistair Bradley, who was elected for the Chorley South East & Heath Charnock ward said: "We are delighted with today's result, we have maintained our large majority on the council.

"With the reduction in the number of seats and new spread wards it has been challenging, because there has been more diverse voting from residents, but we have had the faith in Chorley Labour repaid. What we have put into the people, they have now given back to us.

"We have to now meet the challenges they will set for us over the next few years, which will prove interesting with the new make up of the council and new members of both sides.

"Hopefully going forward we can build our majority back up to where we have been previously, because even our candidates who have not been successful were extremely determined and fought excellent campaigns. We are itching for next year's thirds elections because we have had great feedback from our residents, and the Labour party will continue to represent them and the Chorley borough."