THE Liberal Democrats have won the Dawlish Town Council by-election.

Rachel Hardy took the south west ward seat with 644 votes with Conservative candidate Mike Stubbs polling 486 votes.

Rachel has lived in Dawlish ‘Old Town’ for more than 20 years. Now working part-time at a supported living home in Exeter, she is keen to get more involved in making Dawlish an even better place to live.

She said: ‘I see the role of a councillor as bringing the views of local residents to the council and working together to find solutions that continue delivering for Dawlish. I have never done anything like this before but I am looking forward to it.

‘I run my own business but the town council is quite a different scenario.

‘I feel Dawlish is in need of some changes coming out of the pandemic but there is a lot of opportunity here, it’s a beautiful town and has so much potential.

‘But some times things need to be moved along. We are in a critical place with lots of new development and we need to support the wider community as it grows.’

The seat was vacant following the death of former mayor Terry Lowther in September last year.

Turn out for the election was 24 per cent.

Lib Dem town, district and county councillor Martin Wrigley added: ‘We have a lot to do to help Dawlish through the pandemic and to recovery.

‘I’m delighted Rachel is joining the council.’