Ian, Ania and Bob

East Chesterton

East Chesterton has grown out of the old village that it once was, with two primary schools (The Shirley School and Chesterton Primary) to house its growing population as well as a new train station. As Cambridge grows, East Chesterton is set to grow further and we need to ensure development works for all residents, old and new.

East Chesterton is represented by City Councillor Bob Illingworth and County Councillor Ian Manning (Chesterton Division).

Our 2026 City Council Candidate for East Chesterton is Ania Bobrowska - you can find out more about her here.

The results of the 2025 local elections in East Chesterton are as follows:

PartyCandidateVotes 
 Liberal DemocratsBob Illingworth 🏆87133%
 LabourSarah Haithcock75629%
 GreenSarah Nicmanis47818%
 Reform UKMike Nicolson30111%
 ConservativeSteven George2259%

Local contacts

Cllr Bob Illingworth
City Councillor for East Chesterton
bob.illingworth@cambridge.gov.uk

Cllr Ian Manning
County Councillor for Chesterton
ian.manning@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Ania Bobrowska
City Council Candidate for East Chesterton
ania.bobrowska@cambridgelibdems.org.uk

Results of last year's local elections here - LD 871, Lab 756, Green 478, Reform 301, Con 224

The Lib Dems are winning in East Chesterton - and can beat Labour again here this May.

The Liberal Democrats are winning here in East Chesterton- and can beat Labour in this year's city council elections and overtake them as the largest party on the City Council.

In last year's city council by-election, it was a two-horse race between the Lib Dems and Labour with only 115 votes in it. Cllr Bob Illingworth was elected with 871 votes to Labour's 756.

Only the Lib Dems can beat Labour in East Chesterton this May. A vote for the Green Party, Conservatives or Reform risks keeping Labour in power for another year and continuing their record of letting Cambridge down.

The Lib Dems are also the party with momentum in Cambridgeshire going into this year's local elections. In the 2024 General Election, the 3 Lib Dems were elected for the seats surrounding Cambridge, as Lib Dem Cheney Payne finished as the closest challenger to Labour here in the city. Last year, the Liberal Democrats gained overall control of the County Council for the first time in its history.

This year, the Lib Dems are once again the clear challengers to Labour in Cambridge. As the main opposition on the City Council with 12 councillors, only the Lib Dems can overtake Labour and replace their failing leadership of the City Council. With less than half the number of councillors the Lib Dems have, the Green Party are too far behind and won't be able to overtake Labour. The Conservatives with one councillor and Reform with none have no chance.

Vote Liberal Democrat on May 7th for the real alternative to Labour in Cambridge and to send Keir Starmer a message he cannot ignore.

 

3 Reasons to Vote Lib Dem in East Chesterton

The Lib Dems have a positive plan for East Chesterton. Here are 3 reasons to vote for Ania in May:
A pothole

Fighting for fair funding to fix our roads.

The Lib Dems are fighting for fair funding to fix our roads. 

Having inherited an ÂŁ800m backlog from the Conservatives, every year the Lib Dem County Council faces a ÂŁ27m funding shortfall between what government gives and what is required to maintain our roads.

Liberal Democrats are stepping up and filling that gap with record investment. Investment that Conservative, Reform and Labour councillors refused to support at this year’s budget meeting. 

If these 3 parties got their way, there would be even less money to fix potholes in our city.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Cambridge Cheney Payne and our county’s 3 Liberal Democrat MPs have called on the government to give Cambridgeshire extra money as our roads are more vulnerable to potholes than other counties.

Cheney Payne says, “Cambridge’s roads are crumbling and we need the funding promised by the government to fix potholes. Instead, local Labour councillors are proposing budgets that would have meant less money for our roads and more potholes.

Fly tipping and litter

Cleaning up our streets and tackling anti-social behaviour.

The Lib Dems opposed Labour’s cuts to street cleaning. They will make cleaning up our city a top priority if they win in May.

The Lib Dems have also called for the reversal of Labour’s public toilet closures.

They put forward an amendment to this year's budget that would reverse some of Labour's cuts, partially funded by reversing the payrise Labour gave to their own leader. Sadly, Labour rejected the plans but the Lib Dems will keep fighting.

The Lib Dems have also led the campaign against crime and anti-social behaviour in our city. They have called for noise cameras to tackle noisy road racers, put forward proposals to tackle anti-social e-bike and e-scooter use and backed the national Lib Dems' “Operation Bike Bait” campaign. This is a plan to create a dedicated bike team at the National Crime Agency focused on bike theft, who would have the power and resources to do more sting operations to capture the criminal gangs stealing and reselling our bikes.

Vote Lib Dem this May to back the team who want to clean up our city's streets.

A team of happy Lib Dems

Standing up for North East Cambridge Residents

The Lib Dems are fighting for a fair deal for North East Cambridge residents.

They are standing up for council tenants after years of Labour failings. If elected, Ania and the Lib Dems will get on top of the repair backlog in council homes and take action on damp and mould.

They opposed Labour's decision not to fund the relocation of the waste water treatment plant from North East Cambridge.  The move would have delivered new housing and jobs for the area, and reduce sewage going into the Cam near the city. The new development would have also delivered valuable investment in new facilities the local area badly needs:

  • More Sports facilities
  • More green space
  • Highways improvements

This came after Labour had already taken away the swimming pool that was supposed to be delivered as part of the plans from North East Cambridge.

The Lib Dems also oppose Labour's plan to take local people's voice away on the future of our growing city by taking away planning powers from elected representatives to Whitehall bureaucrats. Our local councils have a good record of delivering housing with the buy-in of local communities. Taking away these powers will only weaken local democracy and make it harder for our city to grow in a sustainable way.

Cheney Payne in front of a crowd

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