THE new Conservative councillor for the Kings Acre ward says he has a list of local issues to work through.

Stuart Anderson won the Kings Acre seat on Herefordshire Council following a by-election yesterday.

The ward had previously been held by It's Our County councillor Mark Mansell who recently stood down.

A former soldier, Mr Anderson runs his own small business in Hereford and said he was 'delighted' to have been elected.

The father-of-four said: "Over the last month I have built the foundations for a lot of new relationships and spoken to about 1,500 people. I spent quite a lot of time with some of them, finding out what their needs were, and now I am elected I can put into action what people actually want rather than telling them what they keep hearing over and over again."

Mr Anderson, who is married to Sarah, said all candidates had showed a very good level of commitment and professionalism.

He said: "Everyone focused on what they did, not how bad other people were, which has given politics a bad name in the past. They were all great candidates."

Mr Anderson received 302 votes, with Independent candidate Clare Fenton coming in second with 162 votes. Matthew Bushkes, from It's Our County, received 156 votes while Lucy Hurds of the Liberal Democrats had 90 and Labour candidate David Lewer received 75.

Mr Anderson is also set to feature on this Sunday's (October 29) episode of Songs of Praise, talking about how Christianity has impacted his life in the context of his experiences as a soldier and bodyguard.

He added: "I have got a massive list of local issues to work through. I have been breaking it down into immediate problems and longer term problems.

"Speed calming is one of the longer term campaigns I can push forward and the short-term things include bins in certain areas or trees that are breaking up the pavement.

"The whole campaign was about what was important to the people I spoke to and what's happening in their street."