Riverside Returns Familiar Faces In Local Election

Labour did not convince voters while Greens, Lib Dems polled badly

Sitting Riverside councillors Sam Hearn, Paul Lynch and Felicity Barwood were celebrating their victory last night after being re-elected. The result for Riverside was the last Chiswick ward to be declared and came sometime after 6 pm but the councillors felt the wait was worth it.

The result saw Grove Park's Sam Hearn topping the poll with 1,615 votes, followed by Felicity Barwood at 1,572 and former Mayor of Hounslow, Paul Lynch at 1,560.

The three Labour candidates polled about half the votes of the Tories, while Independent candidate Andy Murray in his first election received 623 votes, coming in 8th place, ahead of the Green Party's Daniel Goldsmith.

The only UKIP candidate in Chiswick, Simon Mabbutt polled 346 votes, while the anti-Liberal Democrat backlash came against Phyllis Van der Esch, who came bottom of the poll with 317 votes.

Veteran councillor Paul Lynch said he was extremely grateful that the people of Riverside had put their confidence in him and his party colleagues. He said the independant candidate Andy Murray had put up "a very good effort" in his first attempt running for election and had given a "new perspective" for people to consider.

He said the UKIP candidate had not seemed to make much impact on the voters and he noted that the Green Party had take some of the support away from the Liberal Democrats on the ward.

Cllr Lynch said there was one amusing moment when a group of students from Chiswick School thought he was the film director Richard Attenborough, as they were fans of the film Jurassic Park.

Asked what he would focus on during his next term as councillor he quipped: "I shall attempt to go on resembling Richard Attenborough as long as I can".

Andy Murray said: "As one of the only 2 independents standing across the borough, I would naturally have preferred that voters chose the person, not the party.

"Given that many of those I encountered on the doorstep struggled to name one of their local Councillors, this suggests to me that parties' tribal appeal is still strong, but this is of much less importance on a micro level, when a resident has a need that should be addressed.

"I would like to see a lot more engagement between Councillors and the electorate across the borough, and, now that our current local Councillors have been re-installed, I would like to see them repay that vote of confidence with a commitment to do so in Chiswick as well. "

Election Result May 22nd 2014

No Change

May 23, 2014