TWO former local footballers were elected to Somerset County Council following last Thursday’s elections.

Labour’s Andrew Govier won the Wellington Division with 1,704 votes, 553 more than Robinson Dickinson who polled 1,151. LibDem Mark Lithgow trailed in third with 272 votes.

Conservative John Thorne, now a football referee, took Blackdown & Neroche with 1,556 votes, winning by 142 votes from Ross Henley, the former Taunton Deane council leader, in second place.

Cllr Thorne stood against Ross Henley the election before last and lost by nine votes.

In the Upper Tone Division, James Hunt, a Conservative, won with 1,574 votes, increasing his majority from about 100 to more than 600, making it a very good night for the Tories.

Across Somerset, Conservatives kept control with a majority of 15 seats and now have almost three times the number of LibDem seats.

Mr Govier said: “I am honoured and humbled that so many people backed me to be their representative at County Hall. I have represented the area for over 20 years and the positive comments from people on the day were really heartening.

“I would also like to thank my family, friends, Kieran Canham, my agent and Labour Party members who supported me during the campaign.”

Mr Thorne said: “Personally, it was especially pleasing that the positive campaign we ran as Conservatives resulted in the division’s largest winning majority and largest share of the vote since 2005, and that I was able to increase the Conservative vote by 57 per cent since the last round of elections.”