DEVIZES Guardians candidate Tony Duck believes the dissatisfaction people feel at the way Kennet District Council is run led to his victory in last Thursday's by-election.

Mr Duck won the by-election for the district council's East ward of Kennet District Council, polling 332 votes.

Labour's Colin Hopgood in second place had 193 votes. The Conservative candidate, Ray Parsons, came a close third just nine votes behind with 186. Liberal Democrat Angelika Davey polled 155 and Alex Duffey of the UK Independence Party got 24 votes.

But in the town council East ward by-election, Guardians' candidate Julia Bullen was pipped at the post by just three votes by Conservative Peter Evans, who polled 250.

The Devizes Guardians were set up last year in the wake of the furore surrounding the felling of the London plane trees in the Market Place.

Mr Duck, who runs a newsagents in Maryport Street, was a Conservative councillor for 29 years for the East ward of Devizes. He served on the original Devizes Borough Council, had a short spell on the town council and went on to become a Kennet District Council until 1987.

He said: "A lot of people in the ward still know me from when I represented them and that clearly helped.

"But there was enthusiasm from the public for what the Devizes Guardians stand for. When I was canvassing there was a lot of criticism on the doorstep of Kennet District Council and to a lesser extent the town council."

He said there is a strong feeling in the town that people have been ignored.

"It isn't related solely to the trees in the Market Place but the changes to the Market Place. People didn't like what happened but nobody bothered to tell them why it happened.

"Some things have to change and people have to be persuaded that it is for the best and that has not happened in Devizes," he said. "I think there is a movement for more grass roots representation, free from the shackles of party politics and hopefully enabling us to challenge local issues."

Mr Duck, 66, was disappointed with the turnout, which for both by-elections was just over 22 per cent, but said the number of people who voted was more than would be sampled in a public opinion poll.

He said the Devizes Guardians would hold a public meeting, probably in September, to establish itself as a proper body.

Officers would be elected and the membership opened up.

He said the Guardians hoped to field candidates in all the wards at next May's district and town council elections.

This was the third by-election the Devizes Guardians had contested.

In May, in a town council by-election, Guardians' candidate Julia Bullen was second to Conservative Julian Beinhorn.

Voting was so close in the town council by-election that a recount was held before Peter Evans was declared the winner.

It was the first time Mr Evans, a long-standing member of the Devizes Constituency Conservative Association, had stood as a candidate.

He works as the news manager for Mr Duck at his newsagents shop.

Mr Evans said: "It will cause no problems between us as we have both got Devizes at heart."

Town council by-election: Peter Evans (Con) 250; Julia Bullen (Devizes Guardians) 247; Judy Coom (Labour) 190; Angelika Davey (Lib Dem) 166; Alex Duffey (UK Independence) 35.