A MARLOW seat on Wycombe District Council has stayed in Conservative hands after a by-election. Richard Scott took the seat with 928 votes.

Carol Cummins, the Liberal Democrat candidate, won 382 votes, and Paul Mansell took 209 votes for Labour.

Cllr Tony Dunn had formerly held the seat, but he resigned in October.

This was because he had accepted a job as head of asset management at Surrey County Council, a "politically restricted" position.

Cllr Scott is currently Mayor of Marlow through his seat on Marlow Town Council.

He said: "I hope I can now serve the residents in the capacity of district councillor as I have in that of town mayor for the last two years. Now I have to learn what roles they have for me in Wycombe."

But he said: "We're disappointed with the turnout. It was only 22 per cent, compared with 34 per cent for the full elections in May 2007.

"By-elections are never as strongly supported as regular ones."