TENBURY finds itself with a town clerk who is also a district councillor.

In a shock result, Lesley Bruton has been elected as one of the two members for the town on Malvern Hills District Council.

In a by-election to replace veteran councillor Tony Penn, who stepped down in the summer, Ms Bruton was a comfortable winner taking well over half of the poll with 481 votes.

It was a bad result for the Conservatives who lost control of the District Council at the last full elections.

Mr Penn, a Conservative, and Bridget Thomas, also Conservative were both returned unopposed at the last full election.

The turn out for the by-election was 28 per cent which is about par for the course for local council by-elections.

In second place was Liam Thompson, the Conservative, with 261 votes.

Jonathan Morgan, a long serving member of Tenbury Town Council, polled 79 votes and Jed Marson, the Liberal Democrat got 32 votes.

Tenbury has generally been something of a Conservative stronghold.

Mr Penn is well known in the town and remains very active in the St Michael’s community where he lives, so he had a personal following.

His decision to step down in the summer came as a surprise although at the age of 87 it was unlikely that he would have stood for another term.

Mr Penn has a particular expertise in planning and at the time he stepped down was a heritage champion for the district. He made it clear that whilst he supported the construction of a flood defence scheme for the town, he is concerned that it does not spoil the character of Tenbury.

A boy in Coventry at the time of the bombing of the city in November 1940, he has said that in some ways the Covid-19 pandemic has been harder for people than living through the second world war.

Mr Penn says that he and his wife Janet have been fortunate in enjoying good health and that he continues to remain active in the community where he is a member of St Michael’s Church.