John Ayles named new councillor after pipping Tory candidate Nick Kilby to the post.
The Liberal Democrats retained their clean sweep of seats in the Surbiton Hill ward after winning a by-election last night.
John Ayles was named the new councillor after receiving 997 votes for the Lib Dems, with Conservative candidate Nick Kilby getting 895.
Labour’s Katie Hill trailed behind the pair with 349, while Paul Pickhaver of the Christian People’s Alliance picked up 171.
The Green Party’s Chris Walker and Independent candidate James Riding received 81 and 21 votes respectively.
This result means that the Lib Dems have now won the last four local elections and retained their majority of councillors on Kingston Council of seven, with 27 councillors to the Conservatives 20.
The by-election was called after the resignation of Umesh Parekh, who stood down after 15 months in the position.
Parekh quit the post after accepting an IT job with environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth – which forbids employees holding political positions.
Controversy reigned supreme before the election after the Conservatives issued a Solicitors Letter to the Lib Dems demanding that the latter retract comments made in campaign literature.
In a leaflet, Mr Ayles claimed that Mr Kilby was a leading opponent of the building of a new school and health facility and wanted to ‘kick out’ elderly residents by constructing these on the site of care home, Newent House.
