Local Election 2026. Baslidon and Essex

 

The local elections have been said to be a triumph for Reform UK PLC.  That's not the whole picture.  In Billericay, the Conservatives retained their seats. Not my ideal, but not the worse that could happen.  In Baslidon, Reform took 11 of the 14 seats, which is no surprise, as the Labour led council was very unpopular and apparently chaotic.

We will now see how the council responds to the planning applications that are going through, particularly in Billericay, where they had been rubber-stamped.  This led to an unreasonable amount of development, with no improvements in infrastructure.

Here's the new numbers 

Labour	12
Conservative	12
Reform	11
Independent/Other	7

Essex, meanwhile was won by Reform UK PLC, convincingly.

 

Party	Seats	Notes
Reform UK	53	Gained control of the council.
Conservative Party	13	Lost long‑held majority.
Liberal Democrats	5	Minor representation.
Independent	2	Includes non‑party councillors.
Green Party	1	Single seat.
Labour Party	1	Single seat.
Residents for Uttlesford (R4U)	1	Local party.
People’s Independent Party (PIP)	1	Local party.

 I can only hope we do better than Kent, where Reform made a complete mess.

How will the new council deal with the problems that they have.  The main issue for Essex that I see day-to-day is the awful state of the roads, but I suspect that that is not the worse problem they have.  I expect the Essex part of my council tax to rise by the maximum allowed next year, and for things in Essex to get slightly worse.