June 14, 2019 9.52 am This story is over 57 months old

Conservative wins North Kesteven Billinghay seat in by-election

They now have the most seats
Conservative candidate Amanda Sanderson. Photo: NKDC

The Conservative party has won their 21st seat on North Kesteven District Council, putting them two ahead of the Lincolnshire Independents overall.

Tory candidate Amanda Sanderson took the second Billinghay, Martin and North Kyme seat following a by-election yesterday (Thursday, May 13).

She polled 320 of the 668 votes cast, with Lincolnshire Independent candidate Tracy Giannasi coming second with 160 votes.

The turnout was 15.97% of the 4,184 registered voters across the six communities.

The candidates line up as the winner is announced. Photo: NKDC.

Prior to the by-election, there had been talk of the Lincolnshire Independents causing ripples in the authority’s leadership just over a month after the recent local elections.

However, even if the group had managed to tie the number of councillors they had with the Conservative party councillors, they still wouldn’t have been able to take control of the authority.

The leadership was elected at the Annual General Meeting of the council on May 15, when Conservative party members were elected to all three main leadership positions before a new group, called the NK Administration and including a Lincs Independent and an Independent on the executive, was formed.

To change the leadership, the opposition would have to call a vote of no confidence which in itself would have taken time.

The council make up is now 21 Conservative (sitting as the NK Administration), 16 Lincs independent, and six independents.

The 16 Lincs Independents and three Independents sit in an opposition group called the NK Independents.

The results in full are:
  • Conservative Amanda Sanderson – 320
  • Lincs Independent Tracy Giannasi – 160
  • Independent Robert Greetham – 72
  • Liberal Democrat Garry Winterton – 57
  • Labour’s Matt Newman – 43
  • Independent Stephen Shanahan-Kluth – 9

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