New Marown commissioner 'over the moon' after win

A new member has been elected to Marown Commissioners by a landslide.

Amanda Collister won 290 votes in Thursday's by-election, while her only opponent, Oksana Hargreaves, received 38.

The vacancy arose after John Lovelady stepped down from the board for personal reasons.

Mrs Collister said she was "absolutely over the moon" with the result. "I can't quite grasp the amount. It still doesn't feel like a real number."

She thanked her family and everyone who turned out to vote, particularly given the by-election came so soon after the general election, and on a day of poor weather.

"It's been a rollercoaster of a day, but a good one," she said.

Ahead of the vote, about 55 residents attended a meeting to question the two candidates.

Concerns raised included poor street lighting, speeding vehicles, road surfaces, a lack of crossing points on the main road, as well as calls for the public toilet to be reopened.

Collister said the toilets had been "a big, big subject" and would be one of the issues she would be looking into, along with the area's playgrounds.

But she said her first priority was getting to grips with the demands of her new role: "I now need to go learn - get sat down, learn, and learn, from the guys that have been doing it for a while."

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