CHRIS WYNN

After serving for seven years on Derby City Council, former Labour cabinet member Chris Wynn lost his seat in the 2007 local elections. Mr Wynn stood in the safe Conservative ward of Spondon after giving up his seat in Alvaston to allow fellow party member Paul Bayliss to stand. Mr Wynn said he was delighted to see his friend re-take the position he lost last year and he was also "quite happy" with his own result, despite missing out to Conservative candidate Peter Berry by more than 1,400 votes.

He said, "I'm so pleased for Paul and to win by a majority of nearly 400 votes is a fantastic result. He's Alvaston to the core and as the only local candidate he was the best option. He is also a fantastic councillor and will do an excellent job in the ward. I was quite happy with the result in the Spondon ward. Spondon is a ward that Labour, as a party, haven't perhaps done enough in in the past and party supporters were really happy to the see the work we were putting in."

Mr Wynn said that despite the result he did not plan on retiring from politics, although he would take at least a year out, perhaps to visit friends in the African country of Botswana. Mr Bayliss paid tribute to Mr Wynn for stepping aside to allow him to take the seat. He said, "He did it entirely voluntarily, I wouldn't have asked him to do it. He is a close personal friend and a valued colleague. Having him step aside did put more pressure on me but you can only do what you can do."

Mr Bayliss, who had held the Alvaston ward seat from 1996 to 2006, said he would now use his local knowledge to improve the area. He said, "I will be following through with my campaign promises, which focused on local issues like the shopping centre and park. The Conservatives, so far as I can tell, have done nothing in Alvaston and the Liberal Democrats have run an anti-Labour campaign, which was disappointing." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, May/07)