Lib Dems win local election in Idle & Thackley - and call for parking charges to be dropped

IDLE & Thackley remains a Liberal Democrat stronghold after the three candidates for the party convincingly won the delayed local election for the ward.

Rachel Sunderland, daughter of late Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, joins Alun Griffiths and Aislin Naylor in representing Idle & Thackley on Bradford Council.

Despite Reform’s decisive wins in many areas across the District in last month’s local elections, the party was unable to repeat that success in a ward that has traditionally voted Lib Dem.

And the three new Councillors told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that one of their main priorities would be to push the Council’s Reform leadership to drop parking charges in Idle.

The Idle & Thackley vote had been delayed following the death in April of Jeanette Sunderland, who had served the Council for over three decades and was up for re-election.

While 87 of Bradford Council’s 90 seats were decided in early May – it is not until now that the full political make up of Bradford was certain.

The victory will be a welcome relief to the Liberal Democrats. Before Thursday’s election the party had just one seat in the Council chamber – Councillor Riaz Ahmed of Bradford Moor.

Aislin Naylor received 2,714 votes, Rachel Sunderland received 2,784 votes Alun Griffiths received 2,746 votes.

They were comfortable ahead of the three Reform candidates, who each received just over 1,500 votes each.

A victory for Reform would have given the party 31 votes, still short of the 46 needed for a majority. As it stands the party remains in charge of the Council with a minority administration.

After the results were announced, Cllr Sunderland said: “We’ve had an incredibly warm response from Idle & Thackley. We’ve had a presence there for a long time, my mum was Councillor for 32 years. This is a great result against a really tough backdrop where Reform has made gains nationally.

“You can’t take anything for granted in terms of votes. We’re Lib Dems, we fight elections. I don’t think we were expecting this, we were hoping for it.”

She said party members from around the region who had known her late mother had come to the ward to help the party in its campaign.

She said it had been a difficult local election for the party – Lib Dem Leader Brendan Stubbs lost his Eccleshill seat to Reform last month, something Cllr Sunderland called a “big loss” for the party and praised him as an agent for this election.

Cllr Sunderland has already had two stints on Bradford Council, most recently between 2019 and 2022.

One the Council’s current make up, she said: “It is a minority administration, there are a lot of new faces. That’s what you get with democracy. Now we’ve got to look ahead to next year and the next elections when things will change again.

“For a long time Labour had a strong majority – they could just push things through. We’re not in that position now. There are fresh faces in City Hall. It means we might be able to move things forward.”

She added: “Thanks to the people of Idle & Thackley for their continued trust and recognition of the work of my mum.”

Asked if the party had expected a victory, Cllr Griffiths said: “We couldn’t predict what would happen, but the mood music was very good. But people have thought they would do alright in these elections only to come a cropper in May.

“From our point of view there was an anxiety due to what had happened in May. What came back from the doorstep was people saying ‘you’re the only people here all year round.”

He described the response from voters as “heartwarming” adding: “It was a real tribute to Jeanette to see how many people from the party who knew her came to work on the election campaign.”

Cllr Naylor said: “A lot of people were in shock because of Jeanette. She had been such a prominent figure in the area for so long.”

Asked what the main issues on the doorstep were, Cllr Griffiths said: “Idle car park. Clearly we want to make sure that happens (removing parking charges introduced by the previous Labour leadership).”

He said they had contacted new Council Leader Stephen Place (Reform, Royds) about whether he would support the removal of parking charges, adding: “We haven’t had a reply from the Leader when we asked him to clarify the position.”

Cllr Sunderland added: “A lot of the concerns raised were concerns from across the District – anti-social driving, use of Nitrous Oxide. There is a very real perception that not enough police are about to tackle these problems. There was the use of green sace brought up, and the age old question of how money is spent.”

Cllr Naylor said: “We had a really positive response from people who know that we are really approachable and work really hard for the area.”