A new district and town councillor will represent Ridgeway in Chesham following the death of Derek Lacey in December last year.

Nicholas Southworth won the Conservative party seats on Chiltern District and Chesham Town councils in yesterday’s by-election after winning 268 and 278 votes respectively.

In the district elections councillor Southworth stood against Mohammad Zafir Bhatti (Labour), who received 230 votes, and Frances Van Ijzendoorn (Lib Dem) who received 203 votes.

The turnout for the election was 37.1 per cent.

He also stood against Ms Van Ijzendoorn in the town council elections, who received 231 votes, and Susan Procter (Labour) who received 191 votes. The turnout was 37 per cent.

The by-elections were called following the death of Cllr Lacey, who was described as a “true inspiration” to the community.

He became a town councillor for Chesham in 1987 serving continuously up until his death and was a town mayor for two terms, in 1995/96 and 2011/12.