THERE were no surprises in the Dudley North local elections as the two main parties retained all their seats.

Despite Labour retaining the parliamentary seat in the general election, Sedgley, Upper Gornal and Woodsetton and Gornal wards retained Tory candidates.

Tim Wright was once again triumphant in Gornal with 2,815 votes, with Labour’s Stuart Turner trailing in second place with 2,164 votes, while Philip Rowe took 1,164 votes for UKIP, 680 votes went to Liberal Democrats’ Michael Jones, while Kevin Inaman for the National Front scored 332 votes.

Over in Upper Gornal and Woodsetton, Doreen Ameson thanked her 2,471 voters for her re-election, just ahead of Labour’s Adam Aston who took 2,221 votes, UKIP’s Martyn Wright who polled 997 votes and Inderjit Paul who scored 624 votes for the Liberal Democrats.

And in Sedgley, new councillor Tina Westwood was chosen by 3,430 voters to fill the empty Conservative seat left by John Perry.

Daughter of fellow Sedgley ward cllr David Caunt, Mrs Westwood was chosen ahead of Labour’s Keiran Casey who took 2,202 votes, UKIP’s Paul Byrne who polled 891 votes and Ade Woodhouse of the National Front who picked up 234 votes.

Speaking about her new role, Mrs Westwood said she was “very pleased and happy” to be chosen and pledged to work hard in the ward by tackling anti social behaviour and increasing youth facilities in the area.

Meanwhile the Labour Party retained its seats in all the other wards in Dudley North.

Labour’s Alan Finch kept his Castle and Priory seat with 2,762 votes , fighting off competition from his nearest rival, Tory candidate Glenis Simms who polled 1,858 votes, as well as UKIP’s Bob Dudley who managed 941 votes and Leighton Bruce who pulled 708 votes for the Liberal Democrats.

Sue Ridney dedicated her re-election in Coseley East, after polling 2,055 votes, to her mum, who recently passed away.

Tory candidate Star Etheridge scored 1,590 votes, BNP’s Kenneth Griffiths took 784 votes, Stephanie Kerrigan managed 640 votes, while UKIP’s Pete Hillman took 581 votes.

Khurshid Ahemed remained in-situ in St James’s ward polling 2,030 votes ahead of Tory Ian Jones, who scored 1,725, UKIP’s Roger Scott-Dow who took 1,285 votes and Liberal Democrats’ John White who scored 853 votes.

Over in St Thomas’s ward, Labour’s Steve Waltho was re-elected with Dudley North’s largest majority.

Cllr Waltho safely polled 2,897 votes, ahead of Conservative Bill Etheridge who took 1,188 votes, UKIP’s Phil Wimlett who was just behind with 1,163 votes and Giovanna Faulkner, who scored 657 votes.

The news of Mr Waltho’s success came just hours after his wife Lynda lost her parliamentary seat over in Stourbridge.

Cllr Watho said he was delighted at the “amazing majority” and put his success down to “the savage decision to cut funding from St Thomas’s Community Network” which was a “key issue” with voters.

Adding: “I promise I will keep fighting to get replacement funding for them.”

For a full breakdown of votes cast in the whole of the Dudley Borough go to the local elections section of this website.