'We begin a new era for Cherwell' - Lib Dems look to form council after Banbury election success

The Liberal Democrats party became the biggest party represented at Cherwell District Council with 17 councillors, following the election.

Despite gaining seven seats from the Conservative minority administration, the Lib Dems are still eight seats short of the 25 seats needed to form a majority council.

This means that the party will need to form a coalition with other parties in order to take control of the district council.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats group in Cherwell, Cllr David Hingley, said: “This is a significant moment for us as we now hold the position of the largest party on Cherwell District Council for the first time in our history.

“With this distinction comes the strongest mandate to form a new administration. Voters have made us the largest party, but no party holds a majority.

"We understand that we will need to work constructively with other parties to take the council forward through an important period: supporting residents through a cost-of-living crisis, facing significant financial challenges as a council, and finalising the local plan that will shape development in our area.”

The Conservative group lost their majority at the 2023 election after 23 years of overall control of the Cherwell District Council.

However, because of a failure to form a coalition council between opposing parties, the Conservatives remained in control.

The Liberal Democrats party has said that they will be inviting councillors they see fit to form a new coalition council over the next few days and weeks.

Cllr Hingley added: “We believe it’s in the interest of residents that we invite councillors who share our values and goals to talk with us about how best we might work together as we take Cherwell into a brighter future.

“In forming a new administration, we begin a new era for Cherwell, working in ways which best benefit our residents”.

Since its formation in 1974, Cherwell District Council has remained under Conservative control, save for two years between 1996 and 1998, when Labour held administration.

The current leader of the council, Cllr Barry Wood, has served as the leader of the Cherwell for the Conservatives since 2004.

At Friday’s election results, he said: “We walked in here today expecting to lose some seats because of the national position, but we did not expect to lose as many as we have.

"We are in a way not overworried because the margin of loss was a hundred votes here and a hundred votes there, so it's not as bad as it looks, and so the national electoral cycle will move again and the Conservatives will return to power again.

"As in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. That’s the way it works.”

Following last week’s election, the makeup of the council now consists of 17 Liberal Democrats councillors, 13 Labour councillors, 11 Conservative councillors, four Green Party councillors and three independent councillors.

Labour parliamentary candidate for Banbury, Sean Woodcock said: “This is a fantastic set of results for Labour in the Banbury Constituency and a just reward to all those who worked so hard for the party over recent weeks.

“In the district council elections too we had some stunning results with big wins in Banbury and in Chipping Norton for Geoff Saul.

“It was disappointing after so much hard work to come so close in Banbury Calthorpe and Easington, missing out on electing Anne Cullen by just 21 votes. But we saw big increases in the Labour vote in Deddington and Charlbury & Finstock.”