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TREVOR Russel said he could not understand why he lost the local government election after campaigning on the issue that concerned residents most - the unauthorised gipsy encampment off the Fosseway.

After being on the council for eight years, by the end of which he was the authority's deputy leader, the Conservative received 921 votes to lose by 13 votes to Liberal Democrat Richard Cheney who attracted 934. Labour candidate Jeffrey Kenner was third with 64.

Nineteen of the council's 53 seats were contested in the election, for which 41.3 per cent of the electorate turned out.

Mr Russel was among five Conservatives to lose, resulting in the number of tory seats falling from 37 to 32.

The number of Liberal Democrat seats increased from 14 to 19, while the number of independent councillors remained at two.

Mr Russel said the issue that most concerned voters was the encampment that has been at the Darlingscott crossroads since the gipsies arrived, unannounced, on Good Friday.

He said: "The only issue that has come up on the doorstep has been the travellers' camp.

"The overwhelming view is that the travellers should have moved on, which is the position I have taken. So, I am at a loss to understand why I have lost.

"The Conservatives lost seats in Stratford.

"So, perhaps, it was a general mood across the district that people wanted a change from the Conservatives and I got caught up in that."

Saying he would have only served one more term if he had been re-elected, Mr Russel added: "I was extremely disappointed.

"I am always confident but I wasn't complacent.

"I had hoped that eight years as a councillor in Shipston would have been enough to get me re-elected.

"I worked hard but in the last three or four elections before this I had always had small majorities, so I was always vulnerable."

12:15pm Thursday 8th May 2008

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