IN a by-election held on December 12, local vet Tom O’Sullivan, from Marhamchurch, standing as an Independent, was elected to fill a vacancy for a councillor to represent the Bude Ward on Bude-Stratton Town Council.

The votes for each candidate were: Tom O’Sullivan (Independent) 1,406; Lorraine Corrigan-Turner (Liberal Democrat) 1,093; Patricia Richens (Labour) 282.

Reflecting on his success, Mr O’Sullivan said: “Im very pleased. I did spend a lot of time door knocking and I got a good response on the door steps, especially as the fact I was standing as an independent candidate against two party candidates was something that a lot of people felt strongly about, that party politics shouldn’t be brought into Bude-Stratton Town Council proceedings.

“I would like to see Bude-Stratton Town Council be more relevant to the community. In the past it has been a struggle to get enough people to put their names forward, even to fill the available seats. With greater community engagement, including the two by-elections this year, I hope the competition for seats will benefit the town council and the community we serve.”

Mr O’Sullivan outlined some of the issues he wants to tackle: “I want to promote better communication between the rural parishes and the town council because there’s a lot of areas that we need to co-operate on such as health care services locally. I would also like to see us explore, hopefully with the town council, how we co-operate to help bring health care services such as consultant appointments to us.

“Ambulance waiting times are also a problem for us in the Bude-Stratton Community Network area, as they are in the Holsworthy area. I think we should explore ways of working together to improve the situation because Holsworthy is the nearest town council to Bude-Stratton.”

Mr O’Sullivan thanked those who helped him.

“I’m very humbled by the experience. With the General Election taking place the same day meant a high turn-out. The 1,406 votes I received could be the highest vote count for any sitting parish, town or Cornwall Councillor. I want to thank the people who were prepared to engage with me on the doorsteps in spite of the sometimes adverse weather conditions. They’ve given me some ideas on issues they would like to see us pursue.”