Three councillors will have to give up their places on Reading Borough Council after being defeated in the 2022 local elections last week.
Areas of Tilehurst and East Reading were the key battlegrounds in the all out council elections that took place on Thursday, May 5.
Possibly the most high profile councillor to exit will be David Stevens, who served as the borough’s mayor during the 2020-2021 municipal year, the ‘year of the pandemic’.
In January, Mr Stevens defected from the Conservatives to Labour.
READ MORE: Reading Borough Council all out election 2022 results in full
At the time, Reading Conservative leader Jeanette Skeats announced he had not been selected as a candidate for the new Caversham Heights ward.
She said: “This highly regrettable decision was taken despite David serving as a Thames ward councillor for nearly 18 years with great distinction, during which time he gained the respect of colleagues and Councillors on all sides of the chamber.
“David’s commitment to residents and his loyalty, both to the Conservative Party and to the Borough Council, has been invaluable. His experience, attention to detail and his good nature will all be sorely missed.”
Mr Stevens stood for Labour in the hotly contested Kentwood ward in Tilehurst.
The Labour party was able to gain one seat in Kentwood from the Conservatives, but Mr Stevens was not among them.
Ultimately, he came in fifth place in the election, receiving 1,091 votes, with only the candidates with the top three highest amount of votes getting elected.
Also in Kentwood, councillor Jenny Rynn, a Conservative, was unable to to keep her place on the council.
Earlier this year, then-councillor Rynn questioned what had happened to the ReadyBike project.
The bikes are either in storage or have been donated to local businesses.
Cllr Rynn had stood for re-election, but received 1,105 votes, coming in fourth place.
Prior to the election, Kentwood was represented by two Conservatives and one Labour councillor.
Now, it is represented by two Labour councillors, Glenn Dennis and Mark Keeping, and incumbent Conservative cllr Raj Singh.
READ MORE: Historic 2022 elections in Reading see Labour tighten grip on council
Over in Redlands ward, Green councillor Jamie Whitham was unable to retain his seat.
Mr Whitham was first elected as a councillor in 2012, standing as the Green candidate for the Reading West constituency in the 2017 and 2019 general elections.
Although there was no change to the political makeup in Redlands, with it being represented by two Green and one Labour councillor, Mr Whitham will have to leave the council after he came in fourth place with 1,156 votes.
He was beaten by Labour candidate Will Cross, coming in third place with 1,193 votes.
Mr Whitham’s fellow Greens David McElroy got 1,246 votes and Kathryn McCann received 1,308.
Mr Cross was able to keep a seat for Labour in Redlands after councillor David Absolom stood down ahead of the election.
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