AFTER a long night in Purbeck there will be just one new member of the district council.
Unsurprisingly, the change comes in the Lytchet Minster and Upton West ward, which was widely tipped to be the closest fight of the eight seats up for grabs.
Newly-elected Tory councillor William Pipe finally overturned the Lib Dem’s Andrew Starr, after being narrowly defeated in the last two elections.
This time the Conservative from Upton managed a convincing 136 majority over his long-time spar ring partner.
Cllr Pipe said: “It was quite a long night and we didn’t get the result until 5.30am.
“Andrew is a fair bloke, I’ve fought him twice already. Four years ago he beat me by 14 votes and four years previous to that he won by just 16. So this time I pulled out all the stops.”
The results mean there is still no overall party on control of Purbeck District Council, with the Conservatives occupying 11 seats, the Lib Dems 10 and the Independents two.
The timetable for the forthcoming Lytchett Matravers by-election, after Cllr Mark Gracy announced he was standing down, has not yet been set.
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