Local elections 2024: Key seats to watch in Rotherham

For a majority, a party will need to win 30 of the 59 seats that make up Rotherham Council.

Currently, Labour holds 32 seats, the Conservatives hold 15, the Liberal Democrats hold four, independents hold seven, and the Independent Conservatives hold two.

In May 2021, Labour retained overall control of the council, but lost 16 seats – and the Conservatives won 20 seats to form the main opposition when they previously held none.

Since the last boundary changes in 2020, the council has been made up of 25 wards, each represented by two or three councillors.

Here are the key battlegrounds for seats in Rotherham

Anston & Woodsetts

The Conservatives won all three seats from Labour in 2021, in a devastating blow to the majority party.

This year, Councillor Timothy James Baum-Dixon will defend his seat for the Tories, as the only remaining Conservative in the ward.

Tory councillor Emma McClure stood down in October 2021, triggering a by-election which was won by Lib Dem Drew Tarmey.

Councillor Tracey Wilson won the seat as a Tory, but left the party and now stands as an independent, citing “significant and irreconcilable differences”.

Three Conservative candidates are no doubt hoping to turn Anston and Woodsetts blue again, but face a challenge from three Lib Dems, two Labour candidates and former councillor Clive Jepson who has thrown his hat into the ring as an independent.

Standing in the ward are: Neelam Alam, Keith Stringer and Carol Stringer for Labour; Timothy James Baum-Dixon, John Michael Blackham, and Karen Smallwood for the Conservatives; Drew Tarmey, Bev Thornley and David Edward Wilson for the Liberal Democrats and Clive Robert Jepson as an independent.

Boston Castle

The town centre ward was won by a full house of Labour councillors in 2021, including the cabinet member for corporate services, community safety and finance Saghir Alam.

Councillor Tabia Yaseeen has recently left the Labour Party, and hopes to be re-elected to her seat as an independent.

With 15 candidates vying for three seats, including an aptly named ‘Phil Potholes’ – can hopefuls from the Greens, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, as well as five independents take the ward from Labour?

In Boston Castle, Saghir Alam, Jeanette Mallinder and Fakhri Saleh will stand for Labour, Tony Mabbott and Aaliya Malik for The Green Party, Piyush Satyawadi, Tina Kumar and Anurag Singh for the Conservatives, Cheryl Lynn Jones for the Liberal Democrats, Chris Bingham -for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and independents Ashiq Hussain, Sam Lilleker, Phil Potholes, Mohammed Ramzan, and Taiba Yasseen.

Dalton & Thrybergh

Councillor Michael Bennet-Sylvsetster stormed to victory in 2021 with 62.5 per cent of the vote as an independent.

Councillor Joanna Baker-Rogers was elected to the second seat in the ward with 512 votes for Labour.

With the difference between the second Labour candidate and the Tory hopeful at just 35 votes, could the Conservatives take one or both of the seats in the most deprived ward in the borough?

Hot on the heels of Councillor Bennett-Sylvester comes fellow independent Jodie Ryalls, and Dalton & Thrybergh could be the second ward in the borough to be held entirely by independents behind Wales.

Standing in the ward are Michael Bennett-Sylvester and Jodie Ryalls as independents, Penny Kay and Paul Stables for the Conservatives, Cora Lancashire and Carol Spencer for Labour, and Jane Watson for the Liberal Democrats.

Wales

Former Labour councillor and cabinet member Dominic Beck won one of two seats in Wales in 2021 with 1,190 votes.

Fellow former Labour councillor Marnie Anne Havard was also elected with 835 votes – but the Conservative candidate was hot on her heels with 793 votes.

Both councillors have left the Labour Party and will defend their seats as independents.

No doubt the Conservatives will be hoping to increase their majority to pick up one or both seats with their two candidates, Cheryl Terese Barton and Jodie Leigh Nicholson.

However, Labour will also be hoping to win Wales back with experienced former councillor Bob Walsh who was unseated from the Rother Vale ward in 2021 and Janet Law.

The Liberal Democrats have stood one candidate, Oliver Boddye, and the Green Party have also stood one candidate, Paul Neville Martin.

Rother Vale

The Rother Vale ward, which includes Thurcroft, Treeton, and Swallownest, lies in the Rother Valley constituency which elected its first Conservative MP in its history in 2019.

However, in the last local elections, the ward was close to becoming Lib Dem yellow as the party’s hopeful lost out to Labour’s Amy Brookes by just 73 votes.

Fellow Liberal Democrat Firas Miro won 38 per cent of the vote, unseating Labour’s Bob Walsh.

Could it be a close race once again?

The candidates standing for Rother Vale are: Terry Adair and Jamie Baggaley for Labour, Tony Hoult and Liam O’Sullivan for the Liberal Democrats, Julie Thorp and Suman Thullimalli for the Conservatives, and Neil Adshead for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

Dinnington

The Conservatives increased their vote share and retained their Dinnington seat following a by-election in July 2023.

The by-election was labelled as ‘crucial’ in a red wall seat, and Julia Hall was elected with a majority of 244.

All three seats in Dinnington are currently held by Conservatives, who will stand for re-election – Sophie Dack, Julia Hall and Benjamin John Whomersley.

They will be challenged by Amanda Marie Clarke, Marshall Anthony Mellor and John Vjestica for Labour, Tony Harrison for Reform UK, Matt Mears for the Liberal Democrats, Ian David Barkley for The Green Party, and Simon Andrew Tweed as an independent