A BY-ELECTION for Caldicot Town Council’s Severn ward was won by Labour candidate Alun Lloyd, who beat his Plaid Cymru rival by just eight votes.

The by-election last Thursday was called after the previous councillor for the Severn ward, Plaid Cymru representative Joanne Daniels, was disqualified from her position for not attending a council meeting for more than six months.

Ms Daniels, who served as a Caldicot Town Councillor for almost 10 years and as the town's mayor between 2006/2007, said she deliberately allowed the time period when she would be disqualified from her role to lapse because work commitments meant she could no longer adequately represent her constituents.

Plaid Cymru candidate David Gale stood for the seat in her place but lost the election with 204 votes, compared to Labour candidate Alun Lloyd’s 212.

There were 420 votes cast in total, with four spoiled ballot papers. This was equivalent to a 29 per cent turnout.

Councillor Lloyd, 41, has lived in the town for 30 years but has not stood for the town council before. His wife Vicki is also a town councillor.

Cllr Lloyd said: "It was a very close fought contest with just eight votes in it so I was very pleased to have won in the end. I enjoyed being out and about campaigning and talking to people, and hopefully I can help improve things around the community as a whole."

He said one of his first aims as town councillor would be to help get new equipment for a local play area, and to campaign for improvement in the town's roads.