TORIES in West Devon were celebrating this week as they swept the board in elections to Devon County Council.

The four wards in West Devon were all victorious blue when results were declared on Friday.

The Tories tasted victory in Tavistock, Yelverton Rural, Okehampton Rural and Hatherleigh and Chagford.

Cllr Debo Sellis, who won the Tavistock seat for the Conservatives, said she was 'very suprised — and very relieved' at the result.

But her victory was not a walkover — in a six-candidate race, Independent Ted Sherrell came second, just 41 votes behind her, and pushed Liberal Democrat Alison Clish-Green into third place.

Cllr Sellis said: 'I worked very hard and had a very supportive team.

'I am actually quite humbled — when I was canvassing, I could tell that there is some real suffering out there, people are really feeling the pinch and I think they were using the candidates, not just me, as a bit of a punchbag and considering the skulduggery that's going on in Westminster, you can't blame them,' she said.

Cllr Sellis said she was looking forward to her new role.

'There are lots of issues relating to Tavistock and regardless of people's political persuasions, I hope I will always be a fair strong voice for the town,' said Cllr Sellis, who also sits on West Devon Borough and Tavistock Town councils.

'There are a lot of highways issues, The Heights and Whitchurch Road, for example, and I've already started working on them.

'I am also very concerned about social health and continuing care provision in the community — there are inconsistencies there which must be looked at.

'I am really looking forward to taking up the challenge. We are living in interesting times politically and to be involved in it at the pointy-end is going to be very interesting.'

Cllr Philip Sanders took the Yelverton Rural seat for the Conservatives — it was previously held by the Liberal Democrats.

Cllr Sanders said he was very pleased with the result.

'I was reasonably confident but the political picture has been somewhat confused recently.

'I think the voting clearly demonstrated that UKIP took a large number of votes and obviously it had an impact on the Conservative vote. It was quite a shock, the size of their vote, but having seen the results of the European election, I am no longer so suprised.'

Cllr Sanders, who, like Clrr Sellis, also sits on West Devon Borough and Tavistock Town councils, said he was 'very much' looking forward to representing his ward at county level.

'It's an area I know well and enjoy and I am looking forward to the Conservatives taking control.

'I have major concerns about the provision of care for the elderly, particularly for nursing and residential care facilities. I am also worried about education — as a county we get less funding than many other counties.

'I am also concerned about primary schools — we have falling rolls and we need to keep our small schools alive as they play such an important role in the community, particularly with the recent closure of post offices.'

Cllr Sanders said highways issues were also high on his agenda — he said maintenance of the county's roads had been 'poor' in recent years.

He was also concerned about the 'expensive' manner in which the Liberal Democrats, which were previously the largest group on the county council, had run the authority.

Cllr Christine Marsh, held the Okehampton Rural ward for the Conservatives. The seat covers many villages to the north of Tavistock.

Cllr Marsh said she wanted to reassure residents in villages such as Lifton and Lewdown that issues with speeding will be addressed.

'The main issues in these areas are speeding. There is already a mobile speeding service and I will continue to go to parish meetings and listen to what people want.'

Another Tory victory was in the Hatherleigh and Chagford ward where James McInnes was safely re-elected.

l The Conservative Party won an overwhelming majority in the county elections, taking control for the first time in 20 years with 41 of the 62 seats.

The turnout was bigger than expected for a local election at 43.9%, with more than 255,000 votes being cast.

41.9% of the votes went to the Conservatives, 29.9% to the Liberal Democrats, 9% to UKIP and 6.1% to Labour.

The Liberal Democrats won 14 seats, Labour retained four, two seats were taken by Independent candidates and the Green Party won its first ever seat in the county in Totnes.