Labour’s control of Crawley Borough Council increased with victory in the town’s first by-election in four years.
Residents in Southgate went to the polls on Thursday (October 9) and voted in Michael Pickett by a narrow margin.
Cllr Pickett secured 733 votes, defeating Jan Tarrant (Conservative) who received 642 votes, Simon Darroch (UKIP) who received 277 votes and Arshad Khan (Justice Party) who got 10 votes.
The seat, which became vacant following the resignation of UKIP councillor Karl Williamson, will be contested again in May.
Cllr Pickett will have to step down from his roles as chairman of the Southgate neighbourhood forum and the Southgate Conservation Area Advisory Committee.
He thanked his opponents for the “decent and civilised” way in which they conducted their campaigns, adding: “Everyone I came into contact with, both Labour and Conservative and the UKIP guy, were all terribly courteous, absolutely civil. You wouldn’t think they were opponents.”
In the past 18 months, Southgate has turned from being completely Tory centred to being dominated by Labour via a UKIP blip following the defection of Karl Williamson.
Cllr Pickett acknowledged the disharmony seen among Conservative members over the past year may have helped his campaign and said the Tories needed to “get their act together”.
His decision to stand under the Labour banner came following an unsuccessful bid for election in May as an independent.
And he said it was doubtful the town would ever see a councillor from outside the mainstream parties.
He said: “When I stood as an independent, there was only me, my missus and a neighbour who helped me and we only covered about one-tenth of the neighbourhood.
“I was surprised we got so many votes. Mainstream parties are the ones that will dominate.”
With just short of seven months before the next election, Cllr Pickett said he had a firm idea of what wheels he hoped to set in motion.
He said: “What I would like to see is some movement in getting some better access at the railway station. If we press enough, then we will get it. It’s perfectly feasible. We may not do it in the seven months but we will do it.”
While disappointed to have been defeated, Conservative candidate, Jan Tarrant, insisted the Tories’ fight to regain dominance in Southgate was not over.
She said: “We are optimistic of regaining control in May and I shall certainly be standing again and would like to thank the residents of Southgate that voted for me.”