Lib Dems hold Goldsworth East seat but fall agonisingly short in Goldsworth West

Woking Liberal Democrats are celebrating the election of James Sanderson as the new councillor for Goldsworth East - but campaigners were left disappointed as the Goldsworth West seat was lost by just 18 votes

Goldsworth Park has always been a closely fought contest between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party and Thursday October 8th proved no different. The by-elections were prompted by the resignations of Lib Dem stalwarts Denzil and Amanda Coulson who have started a new life for their family overseas.
The closely fought campaign involved tens of thousands of leaflets, hundreds of doors knocked and many, many telephone calls from all parties. Turnout was therefore disappointing at just 28.58% in Goldsworth East and even less, at just 24.98% in Goldsworth West.

Speaking after the result former mayor Tina Liddington, who missed out on being elected by just 18 votes said "we had a very positive response on the doorstep but ultimately just fell short of getting a few more people out to vote. I would like to thank my campaign team who supported me throughout, we must build on this result for the next election in May."

Newly elected Cllr James Sanderson added, "I would like to thank the voters of Goldsworth East for placing their trust in me. I have a number of pieces of casework that people raised on the doorstep and I look forward to being a proactive and responsive councillor for local residents."

The results in full were as follows;

Goldworth East

Butcher, James Dominic - Labour 262 votesElbaraka, Sonia Sadia - Conservative 562 votes
Read, Timothy Martin - UKIP 154 votes
Sanderson, James Richard - Liberal Democrats 594 votes - ELECTED
Goldworth West

De Leon, Troy - UKIP 97 votes
Liddington, Chritina Judith - Liberal Democrats 349 votes
Rana, Chitra - Conservative 367 votes - ELECTED
Shaheen, Robina - Labour 105 votes