Comments on: Amber Valley

By: A Cairns

A Cairns — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:14:06 +0000

Indeed the tories did quite well here and are surely now just about certain to hold on here with the boundary changes so labour would be more sensible to target Erewash.

By: Shaun Bennett

Shaun Bennett — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:05:43 +0000

I can’t quite believe the results in Amber Valley this year. thought I was looking at results from a few years ago at first!

There were a couple of close calls in Belper South and in Ripley, but the Tory performance here was far and away above what most people will have expected.

Ripley was probably considered a definate loss. The only question was how big Labour’s lead would be, so to win that one was particularly impressive.

By: Paul D

Paul D — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:27:12 +0000

Up for election this year –

Alfreton (Lab maj 476)
Alport (C – 512)
Belper C (C – 302)
Belper E (C – 307)
Belper N (C – 72)
Belper S (C – 246)
Crich (C – 306)
Duffield (C – 674)
Heage & Ambergate (C – 401)
Kilburn, Denby & Holbrook (C – 527)
Ripley (C – 40)
Ripley & Marehay (L – 117)
South West Parishes (C – unop)
Swanwick (C – 85)
Wingfield (C – 608)

By: Barnaby Marder

Barnaby Marder — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:38:42 +0000

Most of the wards in the East which are up for election are already Labour-held and those which aren’t are very difficult targets, Ripley being the main exception.

By: H.Hemmelig

H.Hemmelig — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:27:31 +0000

I pretty much agree with Shaun.

Amber Valley will be close, definitely not a push over for Labour. It depends on the wards up for election, which I’m not really up to date on.

My hunch is that the western side of the borough will remain Conservative, including Belper. As in neighbouring Derbyshire Dales, a lot of the LD vote there will be quite friendly to the Tories.

The more industrial eastern side – Alfreton, Ripley and Heanor – will swing back more strongly to Labour, although the BNP and UKIP are also potential factors here too.

I have a lot of family in Amber Valley and have visited regularly all my life.

By: Barnaby Marder

Barnaby Marder — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:08:39 +0000

Not sure Belper E is up this year. Central is though and is a Labour target, though the swing needed isn’t that small. South I think is up for election this year and is clearly a Labour target too, especially if the large LD vote can be squeezed which must be pretty likely.

By: Paul D

Paul D — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:34:19 +0000

2010 results

Belper E – C 1533 L 818 LD 848
Belper S – C 1237 L 840 LD 816

By: Barnaby Marder

Barnaby Marder — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:00:41 +0000

whoops – that was interesting wasn’t it……. 2 of the Belper wards up for election this year were close enough in 2007 to suggest that Labour have a decent chance of taking them this year. It is however quite true Shaun that Labour has underperformed badly in the town for quite some time.

By: Barnaby Marder

Barnaby Marder — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:59:19 +0000

By: Shaun Bennett

Shaun Bennett — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:51:14 +0000

I agree, Barnaby, although the Tories overall control will be on knife edge and will certainly be lost next year.

I’m not sure Labour will gain anything in Belper though. They may do, but equally they may not. Belper has been solidly Conservative in local elections for a while now I believe.

Having said that, I can’t remember off the top of my head how the wards went last year when the general election was on the same day.

I think last years results should be quite a good guide as to what will happen this year in most boroughs. Although there is no general election this time, Labour will do a lot better than recently because they are in oppostion-producing a similar sort of overall picture to the 2010 local elections.