Stuart Hughes, Conservative, was successfully returned with 1,923 votes, and Lawrie Brownlee for UKIP took second place with 1505 votes . Labour’s Judy Blackwell came third with 361 votes, and Martin Gammell polled 278 for the Liberal Democrats. The turnout was 37.5 %.
Councillor Hughes has taken a firm stand on some key issues in the Save Our Sidmouth campaign. As he stated in his election leaflet, “I have been vocal in my opposition against a Business Park development taking place within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and on land susceptible to flooding to the north of Sidford. I shall continue to press for the link road to the Alexandria Industrial Estate from the B3176 so that it can reach its full potential in providing future employment opportunities.” He also chaired the Overview and Scrutiny Committee which set up the Task and Finish Forum to do an” in-depth report” on the East Devon Business Forum (although this TAFF has so far been prevented from carrying out its proper remit).
And Mr Brownlee explicitly mentioned SOS in his campaign leaflet: “I am deeply concerned about the proposed overdevelopment by EDDC and am a committed member of Save our Sidmouth/ Sidford. I have attended Council meetings and all the protest marches.”
Full details of the results are at http://new.devon.gov.uk/democracy/elections-and-voting/election-2013/
Save Our Sidmouth 
May 9, 2013 at 6:34 pm
The result in Sidbury is also highly relevant for Save Our Sidmouth. Sidbury is part of the DCC Division Ottery St Mary Rural, which produced a result that the national media have failed to notice but it is quite stunning. A much higher than average turnout suggests that voter apathy is not inevitable. The winning candidate got 74% of the vote, whereas nearly all other Devon Councillors were returned with a minority vote – only 7 out of 62 candidates got more than 50%. The winning candidate – whose majority was twice as big as the total number of votes cast for Honiton St Paul’s Councillor Paul Diviani – is of course the campaigning Independent Claire Wright. “One foot in the Council Chamber and 4000 feet on the streets.”