Councillors elected to represent the new, unified Jesmond ward have pledged to focus on potholes, parking pressures and the state of the area’s back lanes following last week’s local elections.

James Coles, Peter Allen and Philip Browne were all re-elected to Newcastle City Council, but this time to represent the newly expanded ward, which now covers the whole of Jesmond following boundary changes. The Liberal Democrats secured all three seats in the ward, ahead of Green, Reform UK and Labour candidates, as part of an election that left Newcastle City Council under no overall control.

The three councillors had previously represented North Jesmond before the former North and South Jesmond wards were merged into a single ward.

Speaking to JesmondLocal after the election results, Philip Browne said the Liberal Democrats would prioritise a series of highly local issues that repeatedly came up during campaigning. “Our priorities for Jesmond are in line with those on which we have campaigned over the last few weeks,” he said.

“That means fixing potholes, road surfaces and pavements properly, addressing the parking logjam in Jesmond, dealing with the state of the back lanes, improving our parks and play parks, fixing the bridges in the Dene and getting the café in Exhibition Park reopened.”

Browne added that residents had raised a wide range of other concerns during conversations on doorsteps across the ward. “What I’m really excited about is that Peter, James and I were returned as a team, which helps enormously to deliver improvements for all the residents of Jesmond,” he said.

Peter Allen said the new political balance at the Civic Centre could lead to a more collaborative style of decision-making. “It could well take until the Council’s Annual Meeting on May 27 for the administration and direction of the Council to become clear, as no party has an overall majority,” he said.

“We’re ready to work with others who share our values and vision for the future of Newcastle. The electoral arithmetic means that a more collaborative and inclusive approach will be needed to tackle the issues facing our city.”

James Coles said campaigning across the newly unified ward had felt more natural than under the previous arrangement. “With the new boundaries and the creation of a single Jesmond ward, it was a relief of sorts to campaign on issues across the more ‘natural’ boundaries,” he said. “It was always strange that boundaries changed from one street to the next when issues were similar and should have been handled in a unified manner.”

Coles also said he had been surprised by what he described as a limited Labour campaign locally. “Most obvious to me was the apparent lack of any campaigning by the Labour Party,” he said. “I think you can see it across the city, but we were all quite surprised by how little canvassing there was by the largest party in the city before the election, especially considering that until recently there was quite a lot of Labour representation across the two old Jesmond wards.”

He said the Liberal Democrats’ victory reflected voters’ confidence in the work already carried out by councillors in North Jesmond over the last two years. “The results demonstrate that residents trust us with the issues most important to them,” he said. “We’ve been very active for the past two years in North Jesmond and we’re looking forward to being able to roll that out across the new ward.”