Helston has a new councillor and he has plenty he hopes to tackle during his time in office. Guy Foreman was elected to the new Helston South & Meneage seat as one of just two Cornwall councillors for Helston, from the previous three, following a government boundary review reducing the number of councillors from 123 to 87. The division has taken the place of Porthleven and Helston West, and Helston South, as well as the old St Keverne & Meneage division that has been split – St Keverne now joining with Mullion. Both Liberal Democrat John Martin, who was Helston South councillor, and Independent Julian Rand, who served for the last four years in the old St Keverne & Meneage division, have lost their seats.
It s all change at Cornwall Council as the Conservative Group takes overall majority control. For the past four years there has been a Liberal Democrat-Independent leadership at the council, but all that has changed following yesterday s local elections. The Conservatives took 47 seats, polling 37% of the votes. Meanwhile the Liberal Democrat Group took only 14 seats this time, polling 20% of the votes. Independent candidates did one better, taking 15 of the seats, with 17% of the votes. Mebyon Kernow now has five councillors, and polled 5% of the votes. Labour has four seats on the council, with 10% of the vote taken. The Green Party now has its first candidate on the council, after Tamsyn Widdon was elected to Penryn, with the party polling 10% of the votes.