THE South Hams' district councillors were elected last week, featuring a final count of 25 Conservative, three Green, two Lib Dem and one Labour candidate.

In Kingsbridge Tories Rufus Gilbert and Keith Wingate were elected with just one vote between them, each taking a third of the votes: 1,513 and 1,514 respectively. The last third was shared between Lib Dem Laurel Lawford with 711 votes and the Greens' Joss Webber with 768.

Neither Cllrs Gilbert nor Wingate are Kingsbridge town councillors anymore, with both choosing to focus on district and county matters.

Cllr Gilbert said he was 'delighted' to be re-elected to the Kingsbridge ward and that he would continue

to serve Kingsbridge 'positively

and robustly' and would 'defend Kingsbridge at every available opportunity'. He thanked everyone who voted for him.

Elsewhere in the area, Cllr Ian Bramble will represent the Loddiswell and Aveton Gifford ward after winning the election with 1,072 votes to 531 against Green candidate Christopher Noakes.

The Salcombe and Thurlestone ward was uncontested in the ­election due to there being two seats available and two candidates, so Cllr Judy Pearce and Cllr Simon Wright, both Conservative, will represent them at Follaton House.

The Stokenham ward will be represented by Julian Brazil, one of only two Lib Dems, after his 909 votes beat Tory Josh Gardener's 643 and Green Tom Hoeksma's 146.

Alternative Totnes lived up to its name as the town and neighbouring Dartington voted in virtually the only resistance left to the Conservative domination of South Hams Council.

There are no longer any independent councillors sitting in South Hams, while the Lib Dems saw their position as the largest opposition group on the council slashed in half as they lost two of their four seats, handing over the dubious privilege of being the leading ­opposition group to the Greens.

Former Tory leader of the council John Tucker said after the results: 'The Greens were our strongest opponents. They actually took a lot of votes where we were in direct opposition to them. I'm very pleased with the result, which gives us another four years of moving ahead. The programme has been set for some time, including T18 [a radical reshaping of the way the council operates] and protecting front-line services in the South Hams.'

Meanwhile, Totnes Green Party councillor Robert Vint warned that the reduction of opposition councillors meant 'it's going to be more difficult to challenge anything that the Conservatives want to do'.

Local Green Party leader Jacqui Hodgson, who is also a Totnes town councillor and the town's mayor, easily retained her Dartington district council seat with almost double the votes of her ­nearest Conservative rival.

She said the election had been 'very disappointing' for anyone hoping to see the Conservative domination diminished, but added that the opposition parties would continue to 'scrutinise' the way the Conservatives implement their ­latest shake-up in the way the ­council is run.

She warned: 'At the end of the month 31 valuable members of staff will be leaving South Hams Council. We're in for a rocky time and we need stability for the further difficult challenges and cuts ahead.'

Outspoken Liberal Democrat Julian Brazil, who came in a ­humiliating last in the general ­election vote for the Totnes ­constituency, still managed to hold on to his district council Stokenham seat, while fellow Lib Dem Keith Baldry topped the poll in the two-hander for the Newton and Yealmpton seat.