Politics

Government works on a number of levels. Parish councils were formed in England under the Local Government Act 1894. Before this date a variety of groups based around ecclesiastical parishes had responsibility for these matters, in a system of local government that originated in the feudal system of the 8th century. They are the first tier of local government, they have fairly limited powers but do have a reasonable amount of influence and are the level of government that is closest to the community. Local government is the collective term for local councils or local authorities. Local councils are made up of councillors who are voted for by the public in local elections and paid council staff who deliver services. The central government looks after national affairs, such as health, defence, foreign policy and the environment. The government is responsible for the general welfare of citizens and gives protection to the most vulnerable in society.

Parish Council <> City Council > Parliament <> European Parliament
Current MP for Peterborough

Eye Parish Council is, amongst other things, responsible for the Leeds Hall, allotments, cemetary and the war memorial. They are consulted on local Planning Applications, Highway/Road Safety issues, long term planning and wider community involvement strategies. The council has monthly meetings in the Leeds Hall and an Annual General Meeting once a year. Councillors themselves are not paid and the parish council makes decisions on behalf of the people in the parish and is funded from the council tax.

Peterborough City Council is a unitary authority and is responsible for education, highways, transport planning, passenger transport, social care, housing, libraries, leisure and recreation, environmental health, waste collection, waste disposal, planning applications, strategic planning and local taxation collection.

City Councillors – City Councillors are elected to represent their ward in the City Council. Eye and Eye Green is split over two wards. Eye itself is in the same ward as Thorney and is represented by two councillors. Eye Green is in the Newborough Ward which is represented by one councillor.

Current ward City Councillors

Eye, Newborough and Thorney

Election for Eye, Newborough and Thorney (Population: 6,825. Area: 9,536 hectares)

2023
One seat is up for election

  • Michael Alexander (Green Party)
  • Annie Geraghty (Liberal Democrats)
  • John Shearman (Labour Party)
  • Steve Allen (Conservative Party)

2022
One seat was up for election

  • Michael Alexander (Green Party) 285
  • Annie Geraghty (Liberal Democrats) 153
  • Kim Lewis (Labour Party) 549
  • Rylan Ray (Conservative Party) 1,269

2021
One seat was up for election

  • Michael Alexander (The Green Party) 197
  • Annie Geraghty (Liberal Democrats) 84
  • Emma Goldberg (Labour and Co-operative Party) 427
  • Nigel Simons (Conservative Party) 1,656

Turnout: 32.47%

2019
One seat was up for election

  • Michael Alexander (Green Party) 172
  • Steve Allen (Conservative Party) 1,254
  • Mary Herdman (Social Democratic Party) 187
  • Wendy Smith (Labour Party) 325
  • Christopher Stow (Liberal Democrats) 84
  • Ian Walls (UKIP) 351

Turnout 33.26%

2018
One seat was up for election

  • Michael Alexander (Green Party) 105
  • Richard Brown (Conservative) 1,252
  • Christian Defeo (Labour and Co-operative) 666
  • Layton Mills (UKIP) 214
  • Callum Robertson (Liberal Democrats) 70

Turnout: 32.61%

2017
One seat was up for election after the resignation of David Sanders.

  • Nigel Simons (Conservative) 1,018 52.3% (+17.4)
  • Christian DeFeo (Labour) 555 28.5% (+15.2)
  • Mary Herdman (UKIP) 279 14.3% (-7.5)
  • Michael Alexander (Green Party) 61 3.1% (-6.4)
  • Callum Robertson (Liberal Democrat) 35 1.8% (+1.8)

Turnout: 27.29%

2016:
Three seats  were up for election

  • Michael Alexander (Green Party) 356 votes
  • Steve Allen (Conservative Party) 1,000 votes
  • Richard Brown Andrew (Conservative Party) 869 votes
  • Carl Matthew Harper (Labour Party) 496 votes
  • David Neil Harrington (Independent) 764 votes
  • Mary Herdman (UKIP) 812 votes
  • Scott Johnson (Labour Party) 299 votes
  • Layton Mills (UKIP) 667 votes
  • David Sanders (Conservative Party) 1,299 votes
  • Mohammed Yasin (Labour Party ) 217 votes

Eye and Thorney merged with Newborough Ward in 2016

Previous Election Results for Eye and Thorney (Population: 6,138. Area: 3,300 hectares)

2014:
Two seats were up for election after the resignation of Councillor Dale McKean.

  • Marc Boylan (Labour) 327 votes
  • Richard Brown (Conservative) 773 votes
  • Carl Harper (Trade unionist and socialist coalition) 81 votes
  • Mary Herdman (UKIP) 763 votes
  • Haggai Odep (Labour) 213 votes
  • Fiona Radic (Green) 180 votes
  • David Sanders (Conservative) 1,008 votes

Turnout: 38%.

2012:

  • Dale McKean (Conservative) 694 votes (45%)
  • Graham Murphy (Independent) 374 (24%)
  • Ciaran McManus (Labour) 225 (15%)
  • Mary Herdman (UK Independence Party) 186 (12%)
  • Les Lazell (Green Party) 60 (4%)

Turnout: 32%

2010:

  • David Sanders (Conservative Party) 1527 votes (49%)
  • Howard Fuller (Independent) 806 (26%)
  • Ron Graves (Labour Party) 407 (13%)
  • Richard Olive (Liberal Democrats) 386 (12%)

Turnout: 69.2%

2008:

  • Ann Sylvester (Labour) 154 (9%)
  • John Bartlett, (Independent) 746 (40%)
  • Raymond Dobbs (Conservative) 941 (51%)

Turnout: 43%

2006:

  • David Sanders (Conservative) 1229 (76%)
  • Lynne O’Brien (Labour) 388 (24%)

2004:

Two seats were up for election

  • John Bartlett (Independent) 861 (45.1%)
  • David Sanders (Conservative) 838 (43.9%)
  • Stephen Holmes (Conservative) 66.7
  • Mary Herdman (Independent) 496
  • Zalgul Bishrey (Labour) 212 (11.1%)
  • Winifred Evans (Labour) 184

2002:

  • David Sanders (Conservative) 1007 (69.2%)
  • Stephen Lawrence (Labour) 448 (30.8%)

Newborough Election Results (Population 2,845. Area: 4,011 hectares)

Newborough ward became part of Eye and Thorney in 2016.

2014:

  • Ray Dobbs (Conservative) 263 votes (28.4%)
  • David Harrington (Independent) 570 votes (61.5%)
  • Bonita Yonga (Labour) 94 votes (10.1%)

Turnout: 43%

2010:

  • David Harrington Ind 706 (46.8%)
  • Richard Brown C 650 (43.1%)
  • Zayaer Malik Lab 153 (10.1%)

2006:

  • David Harrington Ind 461 (49.5%)
  • Neville Sanders Cons 416 (44.7%)
  • Peter Ward Lab 54 (5.8%)

2004:

  • Neville Sanders Ind 471 (54.0%)
  • Simon Potter Ind 265 (30.4%)
  • Wendy Henderson Lib 86 (9.9%)
  • Marie Stonham Lab 51 (5.8%)

2002:

  • Neville Sanders Cons 571 (80.8%)
  • Christopher Whitworth Lab 136 (19.2%)