Giles returns to Knowle for Ottery by a landslide

Independent candidate Roger Giles scored a landslide victory in the race for a seat at EDDC while Conservative David Cox also held on to his seat in the Ottery St Mary Town Ward.

In last Friday’s District Council elections Cllr Giles, who is also a Town Councillor for Ottery and a Devon County Councillor, polled a whopping 1,546 votes, two-thirds of the total votes cast.

Conservative Mr Cox retained his seat at Knowle with 628 votes, with Labour’s Andrew Blackwell missing out, polling just 417 votes on a turnout of 50.4 per cent.

Cllr Giles put his success down to listening to what people in Ottery want, fighting for what they want and communicating to them what is being done.

He says he is focussed on making sure long-term projects such as the cycle path and the skatepark come to fruition.

Cllr Cox said his party face a difficult challenge ahead to maintain public services and keep council tax down amidst budget cuts, and wants to see development at the old mill site in Ottery take shape.