Chetna Jamthe has won the Winnersh by-election for the Liberal Democrats.
She polled 52.7% of the vote with 1,172 to win the seat that was previously held by Paul Fishwick, who died late last year.
Nick Kilby, the Conservative candidate, recorded 833 votes (37.3%) to finish second, with Labour’s Parvinder Singh (126 votes, 5.6%) and Samuel Langlois of the Green Party (99 votes, 4.4%) making up the rest.
The turnout of 2,244 voters represented 28.07% of eligible voters.
Speaking to Wokingham Today shortly after midnight following the announcement, Chetna said: “I’m very thankful to the Winnersh community for putting their trust in me, and voting for me.
“I’m determined to carry on Paul’s legacy, and I’ll continue the great work he did in serving the community.”
Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of the Lib Dem group and leader of the council, added: “I’m very, very pleased that the electorate in Winnersh has returned Chetna as a Liberal Democrat Wokingham Borough councillor.
“This means we move up to 27 seats on the council, exactly half, so that’s great news.
He also noted the “.. relatively high turnout” for a by-election in February.
“I’m also pleased because the Conservatives brought in resource from well outside Wokingham to fight this election.
“They made some progress, but we’ve held them off quite comfortably.”
A disappointed Nick told Wokingham Today: “We’ve made in-roads.
“The party hadn’t really truly been active in Winnersh and putting forward an agenda, so I think we’ve now established that. We’ve established a base to go forward.”
He added he would continue to support the campaign against plans for homes at Hall Farm – a hot topic during the election.
He added: “I’ve absolutely loved meeting people during the campaign, and thank you to everyone who supported me.”
Congratulating Chetna on her win, Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, leader of the Conservative group on Wokingham council, added: “it was a good result for Nick.
“The result represents a reasonably good swing, and we found on the doorsteps that our arguments were resonating with the residents.
“We will keep fighting for all the residents who are impacted by the Liberal Democrat local plan.”
Neither the Labour or Green candidate were present at the Shute End count.
