by Alan Smith

There was a slight setback for the Conservatives in the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council elections.

Despite a significant swing to the Tories in the General Election and the failure of a Clegg breakthrough on the national stage, in Tunbridge Wells the Lib Dems actually did rather well.

Of the 16 seats being contested, not only did they hold onto the two seats they were defending, they also took two seats from the Conservatives.

Francis Rook (Lib Dem) triumphed over the sitting Tory in Benenden and Cranbrook, beating Peter Davies by 1900 to 1727 votes.

A second victory followed in St John’s ward, where Lib Dem Trevor Poile beat Tory Chris Woodward by 1639 votes to 1577.

Cllr Rook, a parish councillor and Cranbrook businessman, said: "Naturally I’m delighted. But the way the Conservative administration has plundered Cranbrook of its assets has been disgracefiul and its not surprising that people are very angry with them."

However, the Conservatives remain firmly in control. They went into the election holding 44 out of 48 seats and they emerged after the votes were counted on Friday with 42 seats. The Lib Dems hold the other six seats.

Candidates from the Greens, UKIP and independents stood in some wards but failed to make any significant progress.

Labour candidates stood in only six of the 16 contested seats. Their strongest showing was from Diane Hills in Southborough and High Brooms. With 1375 votes, she trailed just 138 votes behind Tory Colin Bothwell. In the other five seats, they were beaten into third place.

Counting of the votes was postponed until 11am on Friday and the results weren’t announced until around 2.30pm.