Graham, my friend
, I think you will find my above post very unbiased as I mentioned 3 seats that all changed hands to 3 different parties. I can not comment if Claire worked hard for Rishton but I did not say that she did not either. If you tell me that she worked hard for Rishton then I will take you on your word that she did.
That is the problem with Local Elections and politics in general. People tend to vote for the Political Party and not the person. Maybe if both Claire and Gayle had been batting for the other side, Hyndburn would now have 2 very good Councillors. I personally think, and have told her myself, that Gayle would be an excellent hard working Councillor. She was just running for the Party out of favour at the time. Thats just the way of politics.