AN election win by a Barnoldswick councillor helped the Conservatives take control of Lancashire County Council.
As results from Thursday’s elections were announced, the Tories achieved the outright 43 seats they needed for an overall majority at 2pm on Friday when Barnoldswick's Jenny Purcell (Cons) won one of two places in Pendle Rural with 3,911 votes.
The Conservatives went on to claim 46 of the 85 seats as Labour was a distant second with 30 seats.
Liberal Democrat David Whipp, of Barnoldswick, won the second seat in the two member Pendle Rural division, edging out Conservative Paul White by a margin of 80 votes, 3,485 votes to 3,405.
Cllr Whipp was the last council member to occupy the old West Craven seat, as this area now falls under the newly created and much larger and Pendle Rural division.
There was a lot of interest the elections across Pendle compared to the rest of the county, as turnout in Pendle was 53.14 per cent compared to 37.4 per cent for all of Lancashire.
Pendle Rural
Wayne Blackburn (Lab) 959
Ian Lyons (Ind) 1,010
Jenny Purcell (Cons) 3,911*
Mary Thomas (Lib Dem) 2,361
David Whipp (Lib Dem) 3,485*
Paul White (Cons) 3,405
Jane Wood (Green) 603
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