NEW councillors joined the ranks while others held on to their seats in the local elections for Stroud District Council today.

The biggest local swing was in Dursley where Conservative Lorraine Patrick lost her seat to Labour candidate Geoff Wheeler by a margin of over 300 votes.

Mr Wheeler, a former county councillor and Vale Vision director, said he was thrilled to win the seat and would work to bring more jobs to Dursley. In Wotton-under-Edge Liberal Democrat Paul Smith held on to his seat for a third term and in Cam east Conservative Brian Tipper held on to his seat.

In Cam West, where former Labour councillor John Fowles stood down, Paul Denney, a father-of-two from Cam, took the seat for his first ever term on the district council as a Labour candidate.

* For a full report on the local elections and the AV referendum see the Gazette next week.