THE local council election results in the Wellington area are in, with the Liberal Democrats performing strongly.

In Blackdown and Neroche, Lib Dems Ross Henley and Sarah Wakefield too the seats, beating Conservatives John Thorne and Mike Dennis.

In Upper Tone Division, Green Party candidate Dave Mansell and independent Gwil Wren took the seats from Conservatives James Hunt and Roger Habgood.

And in Wellington itself, Labour’s Andrew Govier retained his seat, and was joined by Conservative Marcus Barr.

Neither of Andrew or Marcus’s daughters, Kathryn Govier or Zoe Barr won.

Some 434,000-plus residents were eligible to vote for two of the 337 prospective councillors vying for their support today with 110 seats available across the county as Somerset prepares for the biggest change in local government in decades.

Turnout was 38.73 per cent.

For their first year, the councillors will take responsibility for all current county council services and oversee the local government reorganisation to establish a single unitary council on April 1 2023. District councils will remain until March 1 2023 and the councillors serving on them will continue in their roles until that date.

From April 1 2023, the 110 councillors of the unitary council will be responsible for services that are currently delivered by the county and four district councils, ranging from adults and children’s social care to highways and housing, and from libraries to planning and licensing. So, it is crucial that people in Somerset use their two votes to elect those who will represent them for the next five years. City, town, and parish council elections are taking place on the same day.