Lib Dems win new seat on Torridge District Council

Lib Dem candidate Teresa Tinsley has been elected to replace Green Party councillor Peter Christie representing Bideford North on Torridge District Council. Dr Tinsley joins Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin and her Lib Dem team as the largest political grouping on the Council.

Leader of the Lib Dem group Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin said:

‘I am delighted that Teresa Tinsley has won the seat for Bideford North. She will be a real asset to Torridge District Council; an intelligent, caring, and hardworking councillor fighting for Bideford and the wider Torridge community. We are so pleased that she will join our Lib Dem group which has now grown to nine councillors, from just two of us in the previous council term. The Lib Dem fight back is in full swing,
and we are growing by the day!’

Teresa Tinsley said:

‘Thank you to the voters of Bideford North for putting your trust in me. I will not let you down but work hard to achieve the improvements we all want to see: regenerating our harbour town, bringing business back into the town centre, and keeping the Torridge free from sewage.’

In the south of the constituency, Lib Dem candidate Holly Greenberry-Pullen also won a resounding victory in the Tavistock North by-election for West Devon Borough Council.
Phil Hutty, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Torridge and Tavistock said: 

‘These results show that all the momentum is now with the Lib Dems as we approach the General Election. Voters across the length of the constituency have shown that the Lib Dems are the preferred party to challenge Tory complacency here after 14 years of uncaring cutbacks to public services and disregard to rural communities.’

Teresa Tinsley was brought up in Newton Tracey and went to school in Bideford. Since returning to live in Bideford she has been active in the community, serving on Torridge’s Active Travel group and as a trustee of the charity Way of the Wharves.

Teresa won the seat with 29% of the vote. The Labour candidate received 19%, the Greens 18%, while the Conservatives were beaten into fourth place with 14%. Also standing were Reform UK, with 7% of the ballots, and two independent candidates who shared 12% of the 1,234 ballots between them.