Local elections: The Borough First Independents delight after securing seven seats

Councillors from The Borough First Independents (TBFI) expressed their delight after the group secured seven seats on the Royal Borough council in last week’s local election.

The umbrella group believes party politics have no place at a local level and instead encourages independents to stand under a set of shared values – integrity, collaboration and respect.

The election saw the group field a total of 10 TBFI candidates – with seven securing seats to more than double their councillor numbers (previously three).

Helen Taylor and Geoff Hill were re-elected in the Oldfield ward with 1,015 and 992 votes respectively.

In the Bray ward, Suzanne Cross was elected, gaining a total of 907 votes.

Meanwhile over in the Clewer & Dedworth East ward Helen Price was re-elected after receiving 1,160 votes and Alison Carpenter was elected with 945 votes.

David Buckley, the leader of TBFI, and Jodie Grove were also elected in the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury ward, with the pair gaining 1,071 and 953 votes respectively.

Councillors Helen Taylor and Geoff Hill expressed their delight over the results on the night.

Cllr Hill told the Advertiser: “Obviously [we’re] absolutely delighted. We want to thank everybody who voted for us and supported us.

“[We’re] looking forward to it with immense pleasure. We’ve got our challenges but I’m sure Helen and I will work hard and represent our residents as we’ve done for the last four years.”

Cllr Taylor added: “[I’m] really really pleased. The support we’ve had from our residents has been wonderful this time round and we really do want to say thank you, we so appreciate it.”

Cllr Hill explained that campaigning against development on the golf club site and campaigning ‘heavily’ against Maidenhead United moving to Braywick Park will be among their plans and priorities.

Infrastructure and social housing will also be among the key focuses, Cllr Taylor added.

Reacting to being elected on the night, David Buckley said: “It’s been a four-year journey, so I’m absolutely over the moon, but I’m grateful for all the help we’ve had and all the residents coming out to show they’ve got a voice again now and to make the decisions they’ve made tonight shows that they’re back in control and it’s not just party politics that leads the way all the time.”

Discussing his plans, Cllr Buckley added: “We’ll sit down and talk to everyone. We’re into collaboration, working together so we’ll see where everyone stands and what their ideas are, and we’ll take it from there.”

Newly elected Clewer & Dedworth East ward councillor Alison Carpenter said she felt ‘overwhelmed’.

She said: “It’s brilliant news, I’m overwhelmed actually. Got a lot more votes than I was expecting.”

Of her plans, Cllr Carpenter added: “This is new to me. I’m looking forward to being part of the independent group on the council and housing is very important to me.

“I think the housing situation in RBWM is shocking with over 800 people on the social housing list, so that’s a big thing for me, but everything – residents [have] been telling us the parking is an issue, pavements, roads – there’s lots to do.”