Residents for Uttlesford

Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) is a localist political party in the United Kingdom. The party was launched in 2014, and formed from a number of residents groups in the area. The party is based in the Uttlesford administrative district in Essex and promotes a localist agenda that seeks to give residents a greater say in the future of their district. Residents for Uttlesford has elected representation at multiple levels of local government: Uttlesford District Council, Essex County Council and various town and parish councils, including the 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 the electoral District. A number of existing councillors crossed the aisle to join the new party when it was launched.

Residents for Uttlesford cite other successful local independent political parties in the UK as the inspiration for their model, including the Loughton Residents Association in Essex, Residents Associations of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, and Independents for Frome with their Flatpack Democracy model.

Electoral history
Residents for Uttlesford fought their first local elections in May 2015, with candidates standing for seats in both Uttlesford District Council and Saffron Walden Town Council. They won a majority of the seats on the town council and became the opposition in the district council.

The party gained two additional seats in February 2017 by winning an Uttlesford District Council by-election in the Elsenham and Henham ward with 60% of the votes cast.

In the 2019 Uttlesford District Council election, the party gained control of 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.

In the 2021 Essex County Council election, Residents for Uttlesford gained two of the four Essex County Council seats in Uttlesford from the Conservatives.

Residents for Uttlesford retained control of Uttlesford District Council in the May 2023 local elections. The party were also returned to lead Saffron Walden Town council for the third term, taking a clean sweep of all 18 of the seats, as well as taking 5 seats at Great Dunmow Town Council.

Stansted airport expansion
Residents for Uttlesford was responsible for the controversial decision to revoke planning permission for the expansion of London Stansted Airport. This permission had already been granted by the previous council but R4U reneged on the agreement, potentially costing the local economy an estimated £1 Billion in investment in the coming years. The R4U-led council’s decision was overturned in 2021 by the planning inspectorate. The High Court rejected an appeal by the R4U-majority council and ordered the council to pay costs and compensation to the airport and to the Department for Communities and Local Government with the council’s bill expected to exceed £2 million.