THE Liberal Democrats have returned to the Forest Council after an absence of four years.

They took two of the three seats in the New-ent and Tayton ward in an election which was postponed because of the death of Green candidate David Humphreys just before the vote in May.

Gill Moseley and Vilnis Vesma were returned with Independent Julia Gooch, who was a Cabinet member in the previous administration.

Among the 10 candidates who failed to get elected was long-serving Conservative councillor Len Lawton, who missed out by 19 votes.

Cllr Moseley said: “We’ve been working with the Newent community for the past 18 months in a bid to improve the facilities in the local area.

“Additionally, we hope that now we have this larger ward, we can get Newent Town Council, Taynton Parish Council and the district council to work together on various projects for the benefit of the local community.”

Cllr Vesma added: “Being returned as a district councillor is an enforcement of our party’s policies.

“It also shows that, having a vision for the future of this town as part of the wider district, is beneficial for all concerned.”

Cllr Gooch added: “I am overwhelmed by the people of Newent to have been returned once again to represent the town. It means I can get back to seeing some of the projects that are still in the pipeline come to fruition.”

The Liberal Demo- crats had not been represented on the Forest district council since 2015 when their only councillor, Roy Birch, lost his seat in Tidenham.

The result of the election was: Johnny Back (Green) 251; Julia Gooch (Ind) 551 (elected); Eli Heathfield (Con) 392; Simon Holmes (Ind) 170; Len Lawton (Con) 404; Steve Martin (Lib Dem) 266; Gill Moseley (Lib Dem) 462 (elected); David Price (Green) 306; Bob Rhodes (Green) 282; Jean Sampson, (Lab) 110; Vilnis Vesma (Lib Dem) 423 (elected); Nick Winter (Con) 217; Edward Wood, (Ind) 175.