Conservative candidate Rosie Hanlon wins Ponteland Town Council by-election

She received 550 votes in the poll last Thursday. The Labour candidate, Michael Patrick Clarke, received 234 votes.

The vacancy was created following the sad death of former Ponteland Mayor Alan Varley.

Rosie said: “With the support of Ponteland residents, we can now work to keep strong protections for the green belt in our updated neighbourhood plan.

“Now I’ve been elected, I look forward to following in Alan Varley’s footsteps and working hard for the people of Ponteland on their other priorities too – like reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, and improving our roads and pavements.

“Alan was an excellent town councillor and I was proud to call him a friend.”

Labour had criticised the Tories for their campaign literature for the by-election. It was claimed that some Conservative leaflets were meant to look like they were produced by the town council rather than the party, while others were coloured ‘Labour red’ as opposed to traditional Tory blue.

John Hanley, chairman of the Hexham Constituency Labour Party, said while he accepted the leaflets were legal, he believes they were “misleading” and added that “this type of thing puts people off getting involved in local politics”.

Northumberland Conservatives Party chairman Richard Wearmouth said it was “a bit weird” that Labour had brought up “the colour of a leaflet which literally says ‘Vote Conservative’ and ‘from your Conservative candidate’ on it”.