The St Ann’s ward by-election on Thursday April 10 saw Green Party candidate Ruairidh Paton secure the win with 1,059 votes, almost doubling second-placed Labour candidate Stephen Tawiah’s 589.
The new councillor described the win as a “historic victory” and thanked his party and residents for believing that “St Ann’s deserves better”.
The St Ann’s by-election was triggered by the sudden resignation in February of Labour councillor Tammy Hymas, who voiced strong criticism of both the new government and the local Labour administration.
Newly-elected Cllr Paton has said that his priorities include housing and parks, with a focus on people being priced out of the borough.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Paton called on the council to lobby the government for rent controls and said he would be pushing his fellow councillors to support him.
Cllr Paton said he had himself been forced to move house six or seven times because of rent increases.
“A landlord can choose to increase the rent 30% to 40% in some cases, that’s come up a lot,” he said. “That experience of not feeling you have control of your home, especially if you’re a renter.”
Cllr Paton said homeowners in St Ann’s also feel strongly about the issue, with many having adult children still at home because houses in the area aren’t affordable.
He added that residents in Chedworth House in West Green Road had complained about increased service charges, but the buildings were not clean and were in need of repair.
“That’s something I want to light a fire under the council about,” he said. “If people are paying more, at least the service can be up to scratch and what people want it to be.”
Frustration around Chestnuts Park losing its Green Flag status and people wanting more collaboration on how money is spent on the park also came up on the campaign trail, he said.
Cllr Paton explained that the charity that runs the park’s community centre, Bridge Renewal Trust, did not have a long-term lease, which limited what it could do.
“I definitely want to support them to make sure they have the money they need to put on the services they have, which includes a foodbank,” he said.
Cllr Paton also spoke on the wider problem of people feeling disempowered locally. “There’s justified anger and frustration and it will be an interesting shift for me from being a resident to being a representative.
“I’m always going to have the approach that I feel these things too, I’m also angry and frustrated, I also live here.”
The new Green Party councillor added that he was interested in instilling power in residents to “take action themselves”, an approach he said that differed from Labour.
He added: “I don’t want people to see me as just a service, I want people to see me as someone who is working alongside them to fix the issues they’re facing.
“Let’s find out what we can do collectively to solve issues, and my aim here is not just to help, it’s to connect people.
“I’m not going to be around forever and really what I’d like is for all my work to end in a place where people can take action themselves and feel better connected.”
The full results are as follows:
- Ruairidh Paton (Green Party): 1,059 votes
- Stephen Tawiah (Labour Party): 589 votes
- Calum McGillivray (Conservative and Unionist Party): 83 votes
- David Beacham (Liberal Democrats): 70 votes
- David Stratford (Reform UK): 69 votes
- David Kaplan (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition): 34 votes
- Tony Hunt (Communist League): 8 votes
