A CONSERVATIVE Party candidate has been elected into a vacant seat in a by-election for Durham County Council.
James Rowlandson, will represent the Barnard Castle East ward on the new unitary authority.
Mr Rowlandson, a farmer from Stainton, near Barnard Castle, takes up the seat which was held by Conservative councillor Jo Fergus, who died on March 29, just days before the new authority was to come into effect.
Coun Rowlandson received 1263 votes in the by-election, double that of his nearest competitor, independent candidate Tony Cooke, who received 634 votes.
Mike Newlands, the Liberal Democrat to stand in Teesdale, received 479 votes, ahead of Labour candidate Sharon Longcroft who gained 319 votes.
The turnout in the by-election was 39.91 per cent.
Coun Rowlandson joins Conservative colleagues Richard Bell, George Richardson, Barbara Harrison and Stephen Hugill and Labour councillor Pauline Charlton in representing Teesdale on the new unitary authority.
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