A history teacher is following in the footsteps of one of his heroes after winning a Newton Aycliffe by-election.
Labour Party’s Peter Davies comfortably won the West ward by-election with 336 votes (47%), with Independent’s Sarah Clough polling 196 (27%) and UKIP’s Paul Symons 188 (26%).
Davies, who was born and bred in the Ashfield area of the town, says he was “dead chuffed”.
“People have put their trust in me and it was nice that people went out and voted,” he told Aycliffe Today.
“By-elections are funny, the turn-out is normally around 14%, and this time we had a turn-out of 17% – which is still not very good, but the highest we’ve seen for a long time.
“I want to make sure we can keep pushing that democratic process.”
Davies is a history teacher at Greenfield and Sunnydale College and was taught the same subject by his Aycliffe Council colleague John Clare.
“I always looked at John and I think he’s someone this town should be really proud of,” said Davies.
“He works so hard for everyone and is a very selfless man. Of course I’ve always looked up to him and I try to learn from him.”
Davies, who’s only 24, says he now wants to make a difference for his community.
He added: “It’s quite young to be a councillor, but I’ve always cared about my community and it seemed like the logical next step for me to try to make a difference.
“I want to make sure we can safeguard what we have now. I’ve always liked our green open spaces.
“People complain about Aycliffe an awful lot, but when you go to other places and come back you can appreciate what we have on the town, which is really quite special.
“The town is developing a lot, the town centre, and we’re seeing quite a few new housing developments which will further increase the town’s population.
“We need to make sure that same feel is incorporated into that.”
“There are parts of my ward (West) which is one of the most deprived areas in the region, and we’ve got to make sure our young people get the same opportunities you and I had to go on to do well, enjoy nice careers and out something back into the community.”
