Dawn Logan has been elected the new ward councillor for Talbot and Branksome Wood.
The ward has an electorate of 9900 but only 28 percent of residents voted in the election. A total of 2808 ballots were verified, and three ballots were rejected due to uncertainty.
BCP Council CEO Aidan Dunn, was the returning officer and announced the results:
Charlie Cushway, Labour candidate, 170 votes
Amy Louise Hardy, Green candidate, 165 votes
Martin Houlden, Reform UK candidate, 791 votes
Jo Keeling Local Conservative Group candidate, 770 votes
Dawn Logan, Liberal Democrat candidate, 910 votes
The result came as a shock to the Liberal Democrat party as indications early on in the count suggested that the seat would be won by either the Local Conservative Group or Reform UK candidate.
After the results were announced Dawn Logan told the local democracy service “I’m very happy, I’m really proud of the team who’ve been involved in making this happen. There have been so many people involved for the last month or two and I’m just so delighted to have done them proud.”
The Liberal Democrats won the by-election by 119 votes Dawn Logan said “I think the team worked really hard two years ago in the last local election and obviously came really close to winning this seat, and I guess that hope from last time coupled with really hard work from the team, over the last six week, has spurred us on to win today. It’s a great feeling.”
Dawn Logan is hoping to be able to share her experience and expertise with the council “I’ve also got a background working with local governments working with health and social care and SEND and so hopefully I can bring some of my expertise to the wider council as well.”
She added “I live in the ward, I want to be able to support my neighbours, the residents across the ward to make Talbot and Branksome Woods the best it can be. I’ve got two young kids I want it to be the best it can be in the future for them.”
Dawn said she think the vote today is an indication of the confidence people have in the Liberal Democrats both locally and nationally. “I think the vote today is a real vote of confidence in the Liberal Democrat team who did so well at the last election. it’s a vote of confidence for those across the council, they’ve certainly worked really hard for me over the last six weeks or so and I’m looking forward to joining them.
“I think what is going on nationally is tied to the votes today and the really hard work of the Liberal Democrat team. I mean we were out, every day of the week with big groups of people, I think actually speaking to almost every resident has helped.”
