LABOUR strengthened its position on Sandwell Council on a day when the Conservatives lost three seats including its leader.

The ruling Labour group, which has held power in Sandwell for all but one of the borough’s 50-year existence, swiped three of the four seats the Conservatives were defending in local elections on Thursday (May 2) – including the party’s leader David Fisher. 

Of the 24 seats up for grabs, 22 were won by Labour with the Conservatives winning one and independent candidate Richard Jeffcoat won in Tipton Green.

The political split on Sandwell Council now sees Labour with 65 councillors, the Conservatives have five with two independents.

Labour’s Dalel Singh Bamra was victorious in the Charlemont with Grove Vale ward over Tory leader David Fisher with Connor Horton winning in Great Barr with Yew Tree. Tory councillor Scott Chapman lost his Friar Park seat to Labour’s Elizabeth Giles.

Conservative councillor Will Gill was re-elected in Great Bridge in what was the only saving grace for the party in Sandwell. 

Independent candidate Richard Jeffocat pulled off a big win and was finally successful at the fifth attempt in Tipton Green where he defeated Labour cabinet member Charn Singh Padda with a whopping 1,630 votes.

Archer Williams, who was elected in Princes End in 2021 as a Conservative was re-elected this time around but as a Labour candidate having switched sides at the end of last year.

Labour council leader Kerrie Carmichael was re-elected in Blackheath – and she was among a string of Labour councillors who kept their seats with resounding wins.

Cllr Carmichael said she was “elated” by the results which saw Labour win 22 of the 24 seats on offer.

“Any other council would kill for that kind of result,” she said. “Obviously I’m disappointed that we’ve lost two seats, a clean sweep would have been nice but we are on an upward trajectory as a council.

“The residents voting for us in this way shows that we are doing a good job. Bring on the general election.”

Cabinet member Peter Hughes retained his Wednesbury North seat. There were big wins for Labour’s Parbinder Kaur in Smethwick, Jenny Chidley in Wednesbury South, Rizwan Jalil in Oldbury, Maria Crompton in Tividale and Ellen Fenton in Bristnall. 

A huge win for Labour’s Nicky Hinchliff in the Abbey ward saw her re-elected with a 1,655-vote majority. Vicki Smith also won comfortably in Cradley Heath and Old Hill alongside a massive win for Sukhbir Singh Gill in the St Paul’s ward. Farut Shaeen was also victorious for Labour in the Soho and Victoria ward and Farzana Haq won in West Bromwich Central.

Amardeep Singh was victorious in Hateley Heath and Caroline Owen was re-elected for Labour in Langley. 

Elaine Giles won in Newton and Pam Randhawa was elected with a 1,484-vote majority in Greets Green and Lyng. Sohail Iqbal, who replaced Wade Taylor as Labour candidate at the last minute, won comfortably for the party in Rowley.

Luke Cotterill won in Old Warley – which had been won by Tory councillor Jay Anandou in 2021 before he quit the party and saw out his term as an independent – in another gain for Labour.

A third of the council’s seats were on the line when polls opened on Thursday (May 2) with residents in each of the 24 wards asked to cast a vote.

The overall turnout for Sandwell was 28.48 per cent. 

FULL RESULTS (winners in bold)

Abbey

Thomas Blewitt (Con) 395

Nicky Hinchliff (Lab) 2,078

Justin Macintosh (TUSC) 126

Roderick MacRorie (Green) 413

 

Blackheath

Kerrie Carmichael (Lab) 1,180

Mike Cooper (Reform) 310

Bob Dunn (Con) 520

Aldo Mussi (Green) 157

Craig Taylor (Ind) 102

 

Bristnall

Gemma Barnfield (Con) 464

Chris Clemson (Reform) 316

Ellen Fenton (Lab) 1,413

Clive Heywood (LD) 224

 

Charlemont with Grove Vale

Dalel Singh Bhamra (Lab) 1,480

Usha Rani Braich (LD) 59

David Fisher (Con) 1,243

Sam Harding (UKIP) 71

Graham Nock (Reform) 256

Jeremy Parker (Green)  135

 

Cradley Heath and Old Hill

Leon Barnfield (Con) 506

Nicholas Bradley (LD) 123

Paul Connor (Green) 211

Cammilla Mngaza (TUSC) 19

Ballie Singh (Reform) 267

Vicki Smith (Lab) 1,340

 

Friar Park

Scott Chapman (Con) 626

Elizabeth Giles (Lab) 1,013

Steve Khuttan (Reform) 204

Richard McVittie (LD) 44

Kevin Priest Green) 50

Colin Rankine (Yeshua) 21

 

Great Barr with Yew Tree

Connor Horton (Lab) 1,507

Adrian Jones (Con) 752

Shareen Khan (Green) 219

Mark Smith (LD) 262 

Margaret Sutton (Reform) 292

 

Great Bridge

Pete Durnell (Reform) 253

Will Gill (Con) 1,278

Khurshid Haque (Lab) 1,035

Awais Qaisar (Green) 173

 

Greets Green and Lyng

Gill Darby (Green) 295

Paul Green (Con) 422 

Ray Nock (Reform) 225

Pam Randhawa (Lab) 1,926

 

Hateley Heath

Jason Glover (Con) 439

Jackie Nock (Reform) 283

Martin Roebuck (LD) 125

Amardeep Singh (Labour) 1,713

 

Langley

Gillian Coleyshaw (Con) 475

Caroline Owen (Lab) 1,523

Ian Plant (Reform) 312

 

Newton

Tony Braich (LD) 154

Elaine Giles (Lab) 1,502

Ravi Sangar (Con) 552

Geoffrey Sutton (Reform) 216

Hannah Valenzuela (Green) 181

 

Old Warley

Luke Cotterill (Lab) 1,412

Hilary Grandey (Green) 249

Karl Leech (Reform) 290

Jeffrey Regha (Con) 619

Bob Smith (LD) 175

 

Oldbury

Richard Gingell (TUSC) 95

Mark Holdroyd (Green) 200

Rizwan Jalil (Lab) 1,714

Wikas Khan (LD) 399

Robert Yardley (Con) 521

 

Princes End

Kelly Cranston (Con) 755

Gary Dale (Reform) 268

Joe Loudon (Green) 53

Archer Williams (Lab)  942

 

Rowley

Saskia Ebanks (Green) 138

Chris Fanthom (Reform) 351

Sohail Iqbal (Lab) 1,080

Laured Kalar (Ind) 265

Satpal Singh (Con) 471

 

Smethwick

Ravaldeep Bath (TUSC) 159

Stephen Emms (Con) 443

Gita Joshi (Green) 340

Parbinder Kaur (Lab) 2,024

 

Soho and Victoria

Parminder Dhesi (Con) 336

Jeremy Rendell (Green) 435

Farut Shaeen (Lab) 2,207

Keith Wilmot (LD) 169

 

St Paul’s

Sukhbir Singh Gill (Labour) 2,928

Patricia Emms (Con) 557

 

Tipton Green

Aaron Emms (Con) 328

Richard Jeffcoat (Ind) 1,630

Charn Singh Padda (Lab) 1,226

 

Tividale

Maria Crompton (Lab) 1,295

Steve Dabbs (Reform) 264

Neil Griffiths (Con) 502

Palwinder Singh (LD) 125

 

Wednesbury North

Jayne Heathcote (Reform) 259

Peter Hughes (Labour) 1,042

Abdul Husen (Ind) 513

Richard Jones (LD) 49

Gareth Knox (TUSC) 16

Mark Redding (Green) 106

Steve Simcox (Con) 517

 

Wednesbury South

Jenny Chidley (Lab) 1,603

Manjit Singh Lall (LD) 143

U’Semu Makaya (TUSC) 39

Connor Marshall (Con) 636

Jack Sabharwal (Reform) 258

 

West Bromwich Central

Sarah Deans (Green) 223

Farzana Haq (Lab) 1,807

Daljit Kaur Nagra (LD) 186

Rafiullah Mohammadzai (Con) 458

Mohammed Rohim (Ind) 439

Robert White (Reform) 261