It is only the second time the town town has been under Tory control. Cllr Mark Ingall who has represented Bush Fair since 2016 took to Twitter to voice his “disappointment” at losing his seat and his party’s performance on the night. He said: “I am proud to have served as a Labour Councillor and proud to have represented Bush Fair.” Labour held on to just one of the seven seats it was contesting and the Conservative now have 20 seats on the council compared with the 12 held by Labour. In total, the Tories gained 12 of the 13 seats being contested in Harlow in Thursday s election.
By Lewis Berrill @LewisBerrill Chief reporter - east London and west Essex
Cllr Danny Purton died last week. Photo: Harlow Council Tributes have poured in for a ‘passionate’ serving Harlow councillor who died last week. Councillor Danny Purton, a Labour councillor for the Mark Hall Ward, passed away on the night of Friday, April 30 following a short illness. Mr Purton was the council’s cabinet portfolio holder for environment and was first elected as a councillor for Mark Hall in February 2015 and was re-elected in May 2018. “We were all saddened to hear the news that Councillor Purton had passed away,” said Brian Keane, chief executive of the council.
Cllr Frances Mason passed away in the early hours Saturday, December 5. The 62-year-old was first elected to the district council in December 2018 and won re-election to serve Toddbrook in May of last year. The Labour councillor also worked on the Essex Police and Crime panel, Harlow Occupational Health Service, the Safer Harlow Partnership and was a member of the welfare panel. A spokesperson for Harlow Labour said: “Frances was a formidable intellect, a campaigner for equality and fairness, detailed in her approach and an unsurpassed hard worker. She had a great sense of humour. She was kind and her compassion shone through in everything she did.