WESCOTT EAST has a new councillor following a byelection for a Wokingham Town Council seat.
Lib Dem Louise Timlin won the seat from the Conservatives.
Wokingham Town Council called the byelection after Cllr Danny Spencer resigned. The Conservative was originally elected in May, but made the decision to step down a month later.
St Crispin’s Leisure Centre was used as the polling station for the residents, and the votes were taken to Shute End where they were counted along with postal submissions.
Wokingham Borough Council’s returning officer Andrew Moulton oversaw the process and shortly after 11pm on Thursday, August 24, declared Ms Timlin the winner.
They polled 355 votes, with second placed Mr Pett gained 248 votes, and third placed Mr Pearson had 179 votes.
There were three spoiled papers.
After the vote, the newly elected councillor told Wokingham.Today: “I’m really delighted, thank you for voting for me,” she said, adding that she was grateful and pleased for people voting despite it being the summer holidays.
“The fact that people are bothered to come out to vote for anyone, any candidate, is fantastic,” she explained.
Ms Timlin said she was now looking forward to working with the other town councillors.
“I think the town council does a great job for the community and I’m really looking forward to being a part of that – for the whole community,” she said.
Although it had been the summer holidays, Ms Timlin and her supporters had been canvassing the ward for votes.
“It’s been really good to be on the doorsteps, listening to people’s concerns, thoughts, and input.
“That has been really valuable learning for me and it’s definitely something that I’ll take forward.
“I’m really interested to hear from residents – not just their concerns, but also their ideas on what we can do.”
Ms Timlin recently left the Women’s Equality Party in favour of joining the Liberal Democrats.
