Lib Dem by-election winner Andrew Wood has pledged to address village issues.
The win for Cllr Wood on Thursday night means the Liberal Democrat group is now the largest single party at Cambridgeshire County Council.
He was elected to represent Yaxley and Farcet winning the seat off the Conservative Party after the death of Cllr Mac MacGuire forced a by-election.
The win gives the party 23 councillors at the county council, while the Conservative Party now has 22 councillors.
Mr McGuire had been the longest serving councillor at the county council, having been elected to the authority from 1985 to 1992, and then again continuously from 1997.
At a county council meeting last month (February 13) members agreed to posthumously award Mr McGuire with the title of Honorary Alderman, an award given to people who have provided “outstanding services” as past councillors.
The newly elected Cllr Wood received 509 votes in the by-election, with the Conservative candidate, Kevin Paul Gulson, coming in second with 470 votes.
Cllr Wood said he was “very pleased” with the result. He said: “I am very grateful to all those who voted, I will use my position to raise the profile of the villages in Cambridgeshire.
“I have been working on certain projects, Peterborough has a development just north of us – Great Haddon – where the surface drainage has changed and we are receiving far more water than we used to, which is causing problems, that is a project close to my heart and I am hoping to continue to give that a higher profile.
“During the campaign, having knocked on about 1,000 doors, I gained an insight into concerns of residents, I am going to compile those and look at how to address them over the coming months.”
The election saw a turnout of 19.95 per cent, a figure that Cllr Wood said he was “somewhat disappointed” by.
He said: “It was quite a low turnout especially considering the important issues there are to deal with at the moment, having said that those that did vote I am very grateful they put their trust in me.
“Knocking on around 1,000 doors, what I did find is that there is a high degree of disillusionment in the present system and the present government, a lessening trust in politics and politicians.
“Recent events in Westminster have not helped in this, my job now is to regain that trust.”
While the Liberal Democrats are now the single largest party, they will continue to rule the county council as part of the joint administration with Labour and independent councillors.
Cllr Wood said the Liberal Democrats becoming the largest party was a “milestone” that he was “pleased” to be a part of.
Councillor Lucy Nethsingha (Liberal Democrat), leader of the county council, said she was “delighted” at the by-election win.
She said: “We will continue to work with other parties in running the council, I do not think it will make a huge change to our policy direction on council.
“It is really good to see that the things we are doing are appreciated by people and people recognise there are alternatives to Conservatives in large areas of Cambridgeshire.”
The county council will be heading into a full council election next year, the first faced since the joint administration took control in 2021.
Cllr Nethsingha said the by-election win was “encouraging”, but said the full council elections were still a long way off.
She said: “We cannot take anything for granted, a week is a long time in politics let alone a year.
“We will continue to make sure we are representing people in Cambridgeshire and making sure we are thinking about all our residents when planning what the county council does.”
Full by-election results breakdown:
Kevin Paul Gulson, Conservative – 470
Sally Ann Howell, Independent – 448
Richard Ilett, Labour – 175
Ellisa Westerman, Green Party – 42
Andrew Richard Wood, Liberal Democrat – 509 – Elected
Make up of the county council:
Liberal Democrats – 23
Conservative – 22
Labour – 9
Independent – 4
Non-Aligned independent – 3
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