By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
A new Labour councillor has been elected to sit on Newark and Sherwood District council.
Councillor Mike Pringle is already a councillor at Nottinghamshire County Council and a town councillor for Ollerton and Boughton.
He has now been elected to represent Ollerton after fellow Labour member Neal Mitchell stood down from the seat.
The by-election result on June 30 saw Labour win 962 votes, Conservative candidate Kelly Fordham win 395 votes and Independent candidate Jeremy Spry win 125 votes.
Cllr Pringle told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m sure there will be many people reasoning why Labour dominated the result in Ollerton.
“From my perspective, if you are a candidate in an election and if you are fortunate to win the seat then you devote yourself to that community, you become the voice of that community and therefore you should be listening all the time to that community.
“Honesty, commitment and compassion are the values I work with and holding both county and district seats is an honour. ”
Councillor Paul Peacock, Leader of Labour Group, said at the time that Mr Mitchell stood down that he was “universally liked across the council”.
Cllr Peacock said: “He made the decision to leave the council, it was a difficult decision for him, it was the right decision for him.
“We should all put our families first and Neal has done that. In doing so he stayed true to his values and his nature.”
