DAVID Parsons (Liberal Democrats) has been elected as the new Cornwall Councillor for the Bude North and Stratton electoral division.

At the by election, which was held on Thursday, October 27, David received 958 votes. The three other candidates who stood for election resulted Louise Jane Emo, 93 votes (Independent); Adrian Darrell Jones, 120 votes (Labour) and Trevor Gilbert Macey, 395 votes (Conservatives). The turnout was 29.52 per cent.

Commenting on the result, the newly elected Cllr Parsons said: "This was a victory for the people of Bude and Stratton who are opposed to seeing the cuts imposed by the out of touch administration at County Hall. They don't want to lose local bus services, they want to keep Bude Sea Pool and they are fed up with the unfair levels of funding going to the East of Cornwall.

"And the news this week that more than 100 public toilets may by shut by the council is simply proof of how little they understand the needs of tourist areas like Bude and Stratton.

"I want to thank everyone who voted for me in this election and I promise to work for everyone regardless of whether they voted or not, or who they supported. I also want to thank my election team, especially our local MP Dan Rogerson, who gave me so much support.

"I look forward to joining my colleagues at County Hall next week to look at the Conservative budget proposals in detail, and to put forward alternatives to save local services whilst still freezing council tax."

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Jeremy Rowe added: "I want to welcome David Parsons to the Lib Dem group. He was a superb candidate and will be a great councillor and representative of Bude and Stratton to take over from Nathan Bale.

"David's victory shows just how much real voters despair of the Conservative agenda of cuts and wasteful spending. Far from mounting a challenge, the Tory vote share actually went backwards. It is time they woke up and realised that we need to protect local services like buses and leisure facilities, not close them down.

"This election also proved that Labour are irrelevant in most of Cornwall. They boasted about how much effort they were putting in, but they barely troubled the scorers.

"It's clear that across most of Cornwall the real battle is between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives."