LABOUR held on to one of its safest seats on Durham City Council - but Liberal Democrats were celebrating the narrow margin of the victory.

Voters in the Pelaw ward, which includes Sherburn Road, went to the polls in a by-election caused by the death earlier this year of long-serving Labour councillor James Fearon. Labour's Jerry Ranson - a Belmont parish councillor who works for Northumbrian Water - beat Liberal Democrat Paul Leake 239 to 223 following a recount. The turnout was only 29 per cent.

Mr Leake, 22, an accountant in Newcastle, said: "I am very pleased to have achieved such a good result, although naturally I would have liked to have won. Clearly, many local people want to see things change."

Carol Woods, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokeswoman, said: "This represents a massive 22 per cent swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats.

"If this were to be repeated in the elections across Durham next May, Liberal Democrats would easily take control of the city council.''

She said people were concerned about issues including city council management, litter, and high council tax levels.

But Councillor Mike Bennett, Labour group spokesman, said people in the area had benefited from regeneration projects the council had been involved in, including the new Tesco supermarket at Dragonville and the major revamp of the Sherburn Road estate.

"The Liberal Democrats, unfortunately, always seem to campaign negatively. We are making the decisions - sometimes they are unpleasant decisions - and it is all too easy to knock us as the Liberal Democrats do.

"There is a lot of unprecedented development going on and the city is looking a lot better than it did five years ago."