IT is largely as we were with Tynedale and Ponteland representatives on Northumberland County Council.

Thirteen of the 17 councillors who served the district last term were re-elected for another four years at last night's county council elections.

Labour candidate Penny Grennan, who finished second to Tory MP Guy Opperman in the 2019 General Election, hoped to turn the Hexham Central with Acomb seat red but again finished runner-up as her 558 votes were not enough to overthrow current ward member Trevor Cessford, of the Conservative Party, who scored 742 seats. Ginnie O'Farrell, for the Liberal Democrats, was third with 240 votes.

There was no change throughout Hexham with Tory Cath Homer (687) keeping her seat for a third term as she saw off a challenge of Lib Dem newcomer Suzanne Fairless-Aitken (557), while independent Derek Kennedy (1,297) strolled the Hexham West election and ended up with nearly 1,000 more votes than Tory Liam Panesh (323).

The Corbridge seat was the most contested seat in Northumberland with six candidates, but it was a convincing victory for Tory Nick Oliver (1,016) who finished well ahead of Labour's Annette McGlade (240) to keep hold of his seat.

Long-serving Tories John Riddle (852) (Bellingham), Ian Hutchinson (830) (Haltwhistle), Colin Horncastle (995) (South Tynedale), Richard Dodd (1,152) (Ponteland North), Peter Jackson (985) (Ponteland South with Heddon) and Veronica Jones (997) (Ponteland West) all kept their seats too.

There was a landslide victory for independent Anne Dale (1,607) as she remained in situ in the Stocksfield and Broomhaugh ward with Conservatives' Chris Barrett (296) in second place, while Haydon and Hadrian's long serving councillor Alan Sharp (835), of Liberal Democrats, was also re-elected.

Having successfully won the seat from Labour in 2017, Gordon Stewart kept Prudhoe South blue as his 907 votes saw him come out on top of Labour opponent Jonathan Wheeler (553).

While there is a new face in the Ponteland East and Stannington seat, Lyle Darwin (1,116) kept the seat for the Tory party after Eileen Armstrong's decision to stand down.

The only seats which changed parties were Bywell and Prudhoe North (from Conservatives to Labour) and Humshaugh (from Conservatives to Green Party).