Teenager victorious for Labour

DUNBLANE & BRIDGE OF ALLAN Ward 3

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan ward, represented by four councillors, saw another good result for Labour.

In a wide field of ten candidates, 19-year-old Labour hopeful Ewan Dillon secured a win.

The newly-elected representative is a former Dunblane High pupil and Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament.

After news of his big win, Mr Dillon said:“it feels strange, I was confident going into the campaign, but I think election day nerves today just made me a little anxious.

“We’re going to be focusing on things like closing the attainment gap and the cost of living crisis. One of the big issues for me is transport, on local bus routes and making sure there are no more cuts to vital services.”

Alasdair Tollemache, the Greens only councillor in the last council, secured his seat once again - despite recovering from a dog bite sustained while putting campaign leaflets through doors the previous week.

Mr Tollemache was congratulated for his performance by Green MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Mark Ruskell, who said:“i’m absolutely delighted for Alasdairtollemache increasing his personal vote by a huge margin in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.

“The Greens have had representation at Stirling Council now for a decade and the response round the doors everywhere was superb. I’m looking forward to closely working with Alasdair to support all Stirling communities in the years ahead.”

Also making a return are fellow incumbents Douglas Dodds for the Conservatives and the SNP’S Graham Houston.

In 2017 the Tories secured two seats - Douglas Dodds and Alastair Majury although Mr Majury more recently resigned from the party to become an independent and wasn’t reelected.

Both the Tories and the SNP - who fielded a second candidate Ahsan Khan, husband of Stirling MSP Evelyn Tweed - will be desperately disappointed not to have snapped up that fourth seat.