The Tories gained seats in key wards including Twickenham Riverside.
By Drew Nicol and Rachel Jenkins
The Conservative Party secured a decisive victory in yesterday’s local elections to retain control of Richmond Council for a second term.
The final results, announced at 9am this morning, gave the Conservatives a convincing majority of 39 – 15 over the Liberal Democrats – the only other party to gain a seat in the borough.
The turnout for Richmond was averaged at 46.13% over 18 wards, which is higher than the national average of 30 – 35%, but significantly lower than in previous elections with 72.92% in 2010 and 51.1% in 2006.
Leader of the council, Lord True, said: “It is a very good result for our Conservative Party over the past four years, we kept our promises, and we introduced more school places and kept taxes down.
“We have put forth a positive campaign and our opponents were very negative.
“And I would like to say a big thank you to East Sheen for voting for me.”
Lord True, who represents East Sheen, enjoyed one the biggest successes for the Conservative Party in the borough, with a total of 2,159 votes.
Although a significant majority, it is 1,066 fewer votes than Lord True achieved in the previous election.
His fellow East Sheen councillors Brian Marcel and Robert Thompson also achieved huge success with 2,128 and 1,995 votes respectively, compared to the highest Lib Dem count of only 790.
Hotly fought over wards such as Twickenham Riverside played a crucial role as the Conservatives were able to regain the seat lost to UKIP after Councillor Scott Naylor defected to the party last year.
Conservative councillor Helen Hill, who won a crucial seat in the ward, said: “We are thrilled, Twickenham Riverside will have a council that cares.”
Benedict Dias, who also won a Conservative Twickenham Riverside seat, said: “When you consider UKIP the result speaks volumes.”
The election required several re-counts for closely contested wards.
Whitton was the last of six wards to end in a split majority between two Conservative and one Liberal Democrat candidate.
Leader of the opposition, Councillor Stephen Knight, said: “It is more than we had in 2002.
“For us it is in the backdrop of Liberal Democrats not doing well so it is still an achievement for us.”
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