Tories sweep the board in Teesdale

1:57am Friday 2nd May 2008

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CONSERVTIVES in Teesdale claimed a victory after winning five of the six seats up for grabs on the new unitary council.

Current county councillors Jo Fergus and Richard Bell will return in the Barnard Castle East and West wards respectively.

"But in only electing six members from Teesdale we have lost some very good councillors which is a real shame."

Richard Bell

In the Evenwood ward Tory councillor Stephen Hugill will be joined by Labour's Pauline Charlton.

Conservative candidate Barbara Harrison won in Barnard Castle East while party colleague George Richardson was successful in Barnard Castle West.

The 22 nominees were forced to wait until after 1am this morning to hear the results after all three wards went to a recount.

Coun Bell said: "It has been an eventful night. We are really pleased with how things have gone and we are especially pleased to take a seat in Evenwood.

"But in only electing six members from Teesdale we have lost some very good councillors which is a real shame."

The ward with the highest turn out was Barnard Castle West attracting 44 per cent of voters. Barnard Castle East ward had a turn out of 39 per cent while 34 per cent of voters in Evenwood went to the poll.

Neil Stokell, deputy returning officer, said: "In every ward the candidate in first was by a clear margin.

"But the second and third places were very close so we thought it prudent to have a recount.

"But it shows the importance of the electorate busing their vote because if only a few more people had voted it might have changed those tight margins.