Tower Division is an electoral division in Suffolk which returns two county councillors to Suffolk County Council.
Geography It is made up of the central and North West Bury St Edmunds and consists of the West Suffolk council wards of Miden, St Olaves, Tollgate, and Abbeygate along with a small part of Westgate ward between the River Linnet, Hospital Road, and Petticoat lane.
History The first elections for this division were held as part of the 2005 United Kingdom local elections, after the two seat Suffolk County Council division was created through The County of Suffolk (Electoral Changes) Order 2004. The first two councillors elected for this new division were David Lockwood (Labour) with 3,181 votes, and Paul Hopfensperger (Conservative) with 2,747 votes. To date, these are the highest number of votes received at any election for a Tower Division candidate.
The seats of the division are currently held by one Independent (formerly a Conservative party) councillor after David Nettleton defected to the Conservatives in December 2019 having been originally elected as an independent, then becoming an independent again in July 2025, and one Reform councillor, Martin Lewis Robinson. Robinson is the first ever Reform councillor to be elected in Suffolk, who won a by-election on July 3, 2025 following the death of Cllr Robert Everitt (Conservative) in April 2025.
Members for Tower MemberPartyTerm MemberPartyTerm David Lockwood Labour 2005–2009 Paul Hopfensperger Conservative 2005–2008 Independent 2008–2009 Paul Farmer Conservative 2009–2010 Mark Ereira-Guyer Green 2009–2017 Stefan Oliver Conservative 2010–2013 David NettletonIndependent2013–2019Conservative2019–2025 Robert Everitt Conservative 2017–2025 Martin Robinson Reform UK 2025–present David NettletonIndependent2025–Present
Election results Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
References