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December
8, 2005
Liberal
Democrat Chris Williams wins seat on Burnham Town Council
Burnham-On-Sea
Liberal Democrats were celebrating on Thursday night (December
8th) after their candidate, pictured, won the vacant seat on the
town council.
Chris Williams, a former town and district councillor, polled
69 more votes than the Conservative's Alan Miller to clinch the
election to represesent Burnham East ward.
Despite
a poor turnout, Mr Williams was declared the winner after attracting
197 votes to Mr Miller's 128.
Mr
Williams told
Burnham-On-Sea.com: "I'm very pleased to be back on the council.
There's a lot that can be done in Burnham East."
He
said he would be focussing his attention on pushing for better
bus services and street cleaning in the area, plus staying in
touch with residents across the ward.
 Despite
the Lib Dem victory, the Conservatives remain in overall control
of the town council with 10 seats, while the Liberal Democrats
and Labour both have four seats each.
The
result came after a keenly-contested election in which Burnham-On-Sea's
MP, David Heathcoat-Amory, gave his backing to Mr Miller, who
is chairman of the town's rescue hovercraft.
Mr Miller said on Thursday night he was "disappointed"
not to have won.
The
bye-election was called in October after Liberal Democrat Joyce
Smith resigned her post in October to spend more time with her
family.
She
was elected to the post in February 2004 after defeating Conservative
candidate Paul Taylor by 238 votes to 155. The Burnham East ward
seat had previously been held by former Conservative Mayor Jacqui
Richards.
RELATED
LINKS:
Race to win council seat heats
up as candidates hit the streets
Conservatives pick Alan Miller
for council race
Town council by-election
called
Lib Dem town councillor resigns
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