THE Conservatives have won the battle for a Hampshire County Council seat after holding on to it in a by-election.

Judith Grajewski retained Chandler’s Ford for the party at the poll, which was called after the resignation of party colleague Colin Davidovitz.

She increased the Tories’ share of the vote and held off the challenge of Liberal Democrat James Duguid, who also increased his party’s share. but failed to dislodge the Conservatives.

Mr Davidovitz stepped down in September due to ill health, having served as a Conservative councillor for Chandler’s Ford for 14 years.

That sparked a four-way battle for control of the seat, with Mr Duguid hoping to go one better than his last attempt to seize the seat, in 2013, when he came second.

However in the end Borough and parish representative Cllr Grajewski polled 2,074 votes to James Duguid's 1,493, increasing the Tories’ share of the vote by 10.2 per cent. She said her top priority if elected would be pushing for 20mph speed limit zones outside local schools.

The Daily Echo was unable to contact Cllr Grajewski following the result, but her Party leader, county chief Roy Perry said: “This was an excellent result for the Conservatives with an increased majority and share of the vote.

“We know the Lib Dems and UKIP threw everything they had at this by-election but Conservatives came out with an increased majority and share of the vote. said: “We shall miss Colin Davidovitz on the county council but Judith will be a worthy successor to represent Chandler’s Ford.”

Cllr Perry has also He also announced that Mr Davidovitz is set to be named as an honorary county aldermen in recognition of his service to Hampshire.

Mr Duguid, who also increased his share of the vote by 3.8 per cent, said he was disappointed by the result.

He said: “Although it was an adequate result we are disappointed not to take the seat.

“We did raise our turnout and I guess that would stand up well against some of our results nationally."

“Everyone worked conscientiously and very hard and it would have been nice to get over the line.”

It was a disappointing election for UKIP, who polled 358 - a drop of 13.3 per cent.

Candidate John Edwards said he believed the low turnout of 35.49 per cent showed “apathy and disillusionment” among voters, adding: “I think it’s true to say we are a little bit disappointed with the turnout for our vote.

“It was quite down and we will be doing a debrief to see what lessons can be learned.”

Labour came bottom, polling 285 votes, but party hopeful Sarah Smith said she was pleased the party had raised its vote share to 6.8 per cent.

She said: “We had a good campaign, we are very happy that we have increased our share of the vote and we are closing the gap on UKIP, which shows people are looking for positive politics.”