THE latest elections have once again left Yarm Town Council sharply divided between rival factions.

The elections held on General Election day last week led to Yarm Residents Association (YRA), made up of a number of former Conservatives, winning six seats and the similarly named Yarm Independents Association (YIA) winning five seats.

There will be a meeting on Tuesday night when a new chairman will be elected to replace current chairman of the council Peter Monck who is associated with YIA.

It is not clear if former chairman Jason Hadlow, founding member of YRA, will once again stand as chairman and he couldn't be contacted for comment as we went to press. Cllr Hadlow had left the council but has now been re-elected.

The former chairman's dispute with veteran councillor Marjorie Simpson, YIA, over the council's response to the imposition of High Street parking charges, made national headlines in 2012 following allegations that the disagreement had descended to violence. However police eventually dropped its investigation for lack of evidence. There was further unpleasantness when Cllr Hadlow received poison pen letters from an unnamed man who received a police caution.

Other controversial incidents in the last term of the council included Cllr Hadlow deliberately getting a parking ticket so he could challenge it in court. There was also a failed legal challenge against High Street parking which cost Yarm tax-payers about £40,000. But the council scored a success by holding a referendum which showed a large majority of people in the town wanted to leave Stockton Borough Council which has put pressure on the larger authority which is now under full Labour control.

In recent times the council has been less controversial and, following the elections, there has been conciliatory noises from both sides.

Two newly elected YRA councillors, Lyn Casey and Phil Tebbs, wrote on the rival YIA's Facebook site to express a desire to work together.

Cllr Tebbs said: "Congratulations to all who were elected and also to all candidates who stood for election. It takes some guts to stand up for public office, no matter what the outcome. Here's to working together in the best interests of Yarm and all residents."

On the other side Cllr Monck, YIA, also expressed a desire to work together for the good of the town. He said: "I'm sure there will be personality issues but I would hope that both sides could work together. We all have the good of Yarm at heart."

There was good news for former Conservative councillor Andrew Sherris who was deselected by the Conservatives for Stockton Borough Council. Cllr Sherris stood as an independent for Stockton council and was defeated, however he received more votes than any other councillor for Yarm Town Council with 1,791 votes as a member of YIA. Cllr Bob Wegg, who was previously associated with YIA, this time stood for YRA and re-elected with the second highest number of votes, 1,760.

Yarm returned three Conservative councillors to Stockton Borough Council.

Meanwhile the balance of power at the more powerful Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is still under negotiation as the Labour group look to form a minority leadership team.

Labour fell one seat short of an overall majority when they missed out on taking all three seats in the Skelton ward following a third recount.

They did secure two of the seats but the third went to Conservative Cliff Foggo who beat Labour’s Ian Taylor by three votes.

Councillor Mary Lanigan is expected to remain as council leader until the authority’s annual general meeting at the end of May.

Speaking after the end of the recount on Monday, she said: “Hopefully, we will all be able to work together and put party politics to one side for the benefit of all of the residents of Redcar and Cleveland.”