The Residents for Uttlesford party is a political party in the United Kingdom. The party was launched in 2014, and formed from a number of residents groups in the area. R4U is based in the Uttlesford administrative district in Essex. The party promotes a localist agenda that seeks to give residents, towns and parishes a greater say in the future of their district. Residents for Uttlesford has elected representation at multiple levels of local government: Uttlesford District Council, and various Town and Parish Councils. These include councils for both towns in Uttlesford, Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow.
Background
For the 2013 UK local elections, Uttlesford residents stood two of their own candidates on an Independent platform. Both were elected - John Lodge to Essex County Council and Joanna Parry to Uttlesford District Council. Following this, in 2014 the local residents groups formed their own party, Residents for Uttlesford, so that they could more easily stand a larger number of candidates across their electoral District. A number of existing councillors crossed the aisle to join the new party when it was launched. The party's model is based on that of the successful Loughton Residents Association elsewhere in Essex, i.e. local representation. The Loughton Residents Association won their first local election in 1981. Outside of Essex another district that has followed a similar model is Epsom and Ewell in Surrey. Frome residents have adopted a similar model in Somerset with their 'flatpack democracy' approach for parish councils.
Electoral history
Residents for Uttlesford fought their first local elections in May 2015, with candidates standing for seats in both the Uttlesford District Council and the Saffron Walden Town Council. They won a majority of the seats on the town council and became the official opposition in the district council. A by-election was held on 16 February 2017 in the ward of Elsenham and Henham of the Uttlesford District Council, following the resignation of the two councillors from that ward who were members of the Liberal Democrats, a UK-wide party. R4U stood candidates for the first time in that ward and won a landslide victory, earning 60% of the votes cast. In the 2019 United Kingdom local elections, the party gained control of the entire Uttlesford District Council after winning 26 out of 39 of the available seats. They also maintained control of the Saffron Walden Town Council, winning 15 out of the 16 seats. The remaining seat was won by the Green Party, whose candidate did not defeat R4U but was elected as the seventh councillor for the seven-seat ward of Saffron Walden Shire, in which only six R4U candidates stood. In October 2019, three R4U district councillors serving in the cabinet, including two who also sat on Saffron Walden Town Council, left the party to join the Green Party.
