Casual Vacancies Declared in Three Ealing Council Seats
By-elections in Hanger Hill, Northolt Mandeville and South Acton to be held
Jonathan Oxley (right) with Cllr Athena Zissimos is the first candidate to be announced for the by-elections
September 3, 2024
By-elections in Hanger Hill, Northolt Mandeville and South Acton to be held
By-elections look set to be held next month in three Ealing Council seats in wards where councillors have been elected as MPs.
It is understood that new councillors will be chosen on Thursday 10 October in Hanger Hill, Northolt Mandeville and South Acton wards.
Callum Anderson, Deirdre Costigan and Gregory Stafford now sit in the House of Commons after winning their seats at the General Election on 4 July.
Callum Anderson, who held South Acton for Labour, won Buckingham & Bletchley while Ealing Council Deputy Leader Deirdre Costigan was the Labour councillor for Northolt Mandeville and now represents Ealing Southall in parliament.
Gregory Stafford won Farnham & Bordon as his brother Alexander was ousted in Rother Valley. He represented the Hanger Hill ward.
It is not compulsory for a councillor to resign having been elected as an MP but most choose to do so.
Notices of a Casual Vacancy in all three wards was issued by the council on 27 August. A by-election should be held within 35 working days of a vacancy being declared.
The areas of South Acton and Northolt Mandeville have traditionally elected Labour councillors and the party is expected to retain these seats. Hanger Hill on the other hand looks poised to be a close contest.
At the last local election, the three seats were divided between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats with Fabio Conti and Gregory Stafford winning for the former and Athena Zissimos being elected for the latter in what had, up until then, been regarded as a safe Conservative seat.
The Liberal Democrats were quick out of the blocks announcing Jonathan Oxley as their candidate. He lives locally with his family including two daughters, and was previously interim Chief Executive of Ofcom.
In the 2022 local elections he missed out on being elected as a Hanger Hill councillor by just 122.
He said, “I have seen first-hand how hard Liberal Democrat Councillor Athena Zissimos works for residents and I have continued to listen to residents’ views in Hanger Hill. If elected I will look to improve the lighting in the Mock Tudors, reduce begging on the gyratory and
tackle drug dealing in Hanger Hill by working with the local police. Many people I have spoken to say they are fed up with the ‘missing in action’ Conservatives who are rarely in Hanger Hill and instead looking to become MPs elsewhere.”
The other parties have yet to make announcements on their candidates in the by-elections.
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