THE FOREST of Dean Council can ‘push on with things’ now that the final councillors have been chosen in the last of the district elections.

And that means cross-council and even cross-border liaisons with neighbouring authorities can begin to take shape, according to the district authority’s leader Tim Gwilliam.

An Independent and two Liberal Democrat councillors were picked in the Newent and Taynton vote last Thursday which was delayed from the rest of the local government elections in May due to the death of candidate Green Party candidate David Humphreys in the days leading to the vote.

It now means the final tally on the district council for the next four years is 15 Independents, ten Conservative Party members, six Greens, five from the Labour Party and two Liberal Democrats.

Independent Julia Gooch, who was re-elected to the authority, topped the Newent and Taynton poll with 551 votes, with the two other elected members, Gill Moseley and Vilnis Vesma getting 462 and 423 votes respectively.

Cllr Gwilliam has a cabinet made up of a cross-section of Independents, Greens and Labour councillors, but is confident the views of Cllr Gooch and the two Liberals can be heard in Coleford council offices as well.

He said: “We have worked with Julia before (in the previous administration) and we have had good connections with the Liberal Democrats.

“This now gives us a mandate to do good stuff in the Forest. It is the time for us all to work together.”

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK’S FORESTER