Independent beats Labour in Telford parish council by-election with 12 per cent turnout
An independent candidate has won a Telford parish council by-election by beating Labour’s representative on a turnout of less than 12 per cent.
Mike Povall won the Lawley East Ward after winning 156 votes with Labour’s Natalie Pietrzyk polling 135 in the head-to-head contest on Thursday (June 5).
The winner will take a seat representing Lawley East that was made vacant when Labour’s Raj Mehta stepped down from Lawley & Overdale Parish Council on March 18.
There is an electorate of 2,510 in the ward and returning officer David Sidaway recorded that the 297 ballot papers issued represented a voter turnout of 11.83 per cent.
Mr Sidaway also recorded that six ballot papers were rejected for being “unmarked or wholly void".
Lawley and Overdale Parish Council now has a full slate of eight elected councillors from around the parish for its next full council meeting on Tuesday, June 24, at Dawley Baptist Church.
