Essex County Council has a new official opposition group – and it is led by Cllr Chris Pond of the Loughton Residents Association (LRA).
Cllr Pond was the only non-Tory to win a county council seat on May 6, picking up 66 per cent of the vote in Loughton Broadway.
On the district level, his group excelled as the LRA marked 40 years of existence by dominating the vote in all seven of the town’s wards.
“The Loughton Residents Association is regarded as the authentic voice of Loughton, who always stand up for Loughton in larger assemblies, particularly the district council and of course the Essex County Council”, Cllr Pond said. “We couldn’t have had a more ringing endorsement.”
As well as the LRA’s excellent district results, Cllr Chris Pond is now the leader of Essex’s official opposition group.
He leads a group of ten non-aligned councillors including: himself, one Rochford District Residents councillor, two representatives from Residents for Uttlesford, two from the Canvey Island Independent Party, one Green, and three independents.
The group is now larger than both of other 'major' parties, the Liberal Democrats and Labour, who have eight and five councillors respectively.
The Conservatives hold a massive majority, with 52 seats on the County Council while the Conservate candidate for Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst also won re-election on May 6.
“We represent the four corners of the county between us, we’re the second larges group and we hope to be and hope to speak up for communities up and down the county”, said Cllr Pond.
With so many parts of Essex represented, the group will not take a ‘party line’ on any matter, he explained, but would work together to ensure all the communities represented are best served by their councillors.
Cllr Pond added: “It’s an umbrella organisation for people of disparate views. We don’t expect to have a whip on anything. We are not a political party. We are a group of independent minded councillors so we will meet and discuss things, decide how we are going to play but utmost in our minds are the individual needs of our communities.”
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