New Hillmorton councillor aims to lessen impact of mast development

HILLMORTON'S new borough councillor aims to lessen the impact of the mast site development during his time at the Town Hall.

Conservative James Buckley won the recent by-election with 400 votes, 61 ahead of nearest rival Barbara Brown of the Labour Party.

And the Waverley Road property developer and landlord, 58, has made the preservation of his constituency a priority.

He said: “What came up during the election which we'd like to look at is managing traffic on the A428, to try and lessen the impact of the mast site development and keep the green corridor around the canal."

Plans for the huge redevelopment of the old BT masts site, including thousands of new homes, roads, jobs, commercial space, schools and

green space, will be considered by the council’s planning committee early next year.

Formerly a London-based professional musician until he and wife Tessa moved here in 2000, Coun Buckley has strong family ties to the town – his father is a born-and-bred Rugbeian who still lives in Hillmorton.

And he marked his victory by praised his party colleagues at the Town Hall.

“The people of Hillmorton voted for the Conservative Party who have run the council very well,” he said.

“Over a good number of years now they've kept the council tax down, they've kept the books balanced, and it's run extremely well.”

He added: “I'd like to thank everybody who voted for me; it was a horrible, cold wet awful day, and it was nice of the people who did to go out and vote.”

Coun Buckley replaces Bill Sewell, who stepped down from his role in October at the age of 77 for personal reasons. In 2009 he was chosen as the 73rd mayor of Rugby.

Full results of the Hillmorton borough council by-election are as follows:

BROWN, Barbara Anne (Labour) – 339

BUCKLEY, James Albert (Conservative) – 400 (elected)

BURROWS, Peter Michael (Green Party) – 21

DOUGLAS, Tim (Liberal Democrats) – 221

HARVEY, Roy (UK Independence Party) – 231

Turnout was 27.35 per cent.

Share This

Regional news »