Liberal Democrats win Mendip South by-election by tight margin
THE Liberal Democrats have won the Mendip South by-election.
The by-election, which was held on Thursday, May 2, for a vacant seat in the two-seat Mendip South division on Somerset Council, saw Cllr Rob Reed elected by a margin of 199 votes.
Cllr Reed now joins fellow Liberal Democrat Claire Sully as the only Somerset Councillors for the division.
From a voter turnout of 36.07 per cent, Cllr Reed received 1,313 votes, followed closely by Ken Maddock (Conservative) with 1,122.
#LibDems are the only alternative to the Conservatives in #Somerset. We are the majority @SomersetCouncil in contrast to Labour, with just 5 seats out of 110. We speak for the people in the county who have had enough of 14 years of Conservative failure. #LocalElections2024 pic.twitter.com/t2NZ53mE5b
— Claire Sully (@ClairedeSully) May 3, 2024
Michael Smith, representing the Green Party, received 200 votes, and David Oakensen of the Labour Party 139.
Cllr Reed formerly chaired Evercreech Parish Council before being succeeded by Cllr Lesley Parham in June 2022.
In 2020, Evercreeh Parish Council voted in favour of plans for a rainbow coloured zebra crossing at a meeting on Tuesday, December 1 - with a casting vote by former chairman and new Mendip South Somerset Councillor, Rob Reed.