WEST Devon has chosen its county councillors following yesterday’s local elections.

In Tavistock, Conservative Cllr Debo Sellis retained her seat, securing 1,922 votes, a 49.2% share of the overall vote. Runner-up was independent Jeff Moody with 1,098 votes.

Cllr Philip Sanders, deputy mayor of Tavistock and leader of West Devon Borough Council, has retained his seat for the Tories in the Yelverton Rural division. With 2,151 votes and a 45% share of votes, Cllr Sanders beat runner-up Ric Cheadle by over 1,100 votes.

In Okehampton, Conservative Cllr Kevin Ball retained his seat with 2,008 votes, a 49.2% share on the vote. Independent candidate Tony Leech finished second with 702 votes.

Hatherleigh and Chagford also saw a Tory candidate hold their seat, with Cllr James McInnes won a 62.6% share of the votes, amassing 2,615 votes in total. Second placed Ross Wolverson finished over 2,000 votes behind for the Liberal Democrats.

Conservative Barry Parsons held his seat in the Holsworthy Rural division (which covers Halwill and Shebbear), while Tory Andrew Saywell won the Torrington Rural division (which covers Winkleigh and Merton).

The Conservative domination across the county has reflected a national picture which has seen the Tories make big gains across the nation, gaining over 400 seats while all other parties lost ground.The Conservatives won 42 of the 60 seats on the new authority with Labour and the Liberal Democrats winning seven seats each and three independents and a Green Party candidate being elected.There was an overall turnout of 40.2% of the 601,797 eligible voters.Council leader John Hart said: 'I am very humbled that the people of Devon have placed their trust in us and given us a sweeping mandate to continue our work.'We’ve had to make some tough decisions over the past eight years and I believe we will have more tough decisions to make in the future.'But I am confident we have made Devon County Council a more efficient, effective and business-like organisation and we can now move from austerity to opportunity.'We need to establish the right climate so that more good, better-paying jobs can be created for our residents. We need to ensure that our young people, especially, have better skills.'We must work more closely together with our partners – particularly in health – to provide better social care for our elderly and vulnerable. And we will continue to tell the Government when they’ve got it wrong and when we believe that Devon is not getting its fair share of the national cake in key areas like schools and infrastructure.'In my eight years as leader, I have always tried to be straight with people about why we have to take the decisions we do. But equally I will continue to fight for a fair deal for the people of this county and repay the trust they have shown in this administration.'