A DISTRICT councillor may have recorded one of the best results for Liberal Democrats across the country after holding her seat in Studley.
Coun Hazel Wright, who has represented the village on and off since 1987, shocked candidates with more than 1,040 voters putting a cross next to her name for this year’s Stratford-on-Avon District Council elections.
She beat rivals Wayne Bates for Labour who got 298 votes and Simon Lawton for Conservatives who took 372, to remain in the seat which she has held for over 20 years.
Coun Wright said she hoped people voted her in because she truly cared about the village and its residents.
“For me, Studley comes first in everything. People do have concerns and I will always try my best to help them and I hope that has shown.
“I see this role just like my job when I was nurse. I genuinely cared about patients and I do care about residents in this village.
“The most important thing to us is our home, so you have to care for it and you want it to look nice.”
She added she wanted to focus on heritage work within the village, protecting the greenbelt and cleaning up the Co-Operative site.
The turnout for the village was 38 per cent, compared to 41.5 per cent in Alcester where Liberal Democrat Susan Juned lost her seat to Conservative Mark Cargill.
The former Mayor, who also sits on Alcester Town Council, got 771 votes compared to Juned’s 658.
UKIP candidate Clive McNally followed in third place with 298 – 74 more votes than Labour’s Andrew Foster.
Coun Cargill said he felt overwhelmingly thrilled and humbled to be elected.
“The town has shown their confidence in me to take things forward and be part of the team. I’m passionate about our town and I just want to do the best I can for it.
“I am a local person and people do know me and my name and my family. People know how important being a town councillor is to me, and I think being one offers the advantage of knowing what’s on the ground level.”
He added looking after the ageing population was a priority, while he wanted to keep Alcester beautiful, create more facilities in the town and get the Greig Hall finally opened.
Coun Mike Gittus also held his seat in the Kinwarton ward notching up 521 votes, beating Liberal Democrats Lynn Bowring with 234 votes and Labour’s John Hartigan with 70 votes.
Stratford District Council currently stands at 53 seats – 35 held by Conservatives, 12 by Liberal Democrats, one for Labour, two Independents, two Stratford First Independents and one vacancy in Southam.
