TRIUMPHANT Tories won eight of the 13 seats up for grabs in Salisbury and district last week, on their way to retaining control of Wiltshire county council.

Their only casualty in the council elections locally was William Snow, cabinet member for education and youth development, who was unseated in the new two-member ward of Salisbury South.

He was left trailing behind Liberal Democrat duo Bobbie Chettleburgh and Brian Dalton.

Mrs Chettleburgh, who was Mayor of Salisbury last year, topped the poll in the ward with 3,635 votes - the highest number recorded by any candidate in the Salisbury area.

Mrs Chettleburgh said: "I am ecstatically happy to have won and will now work for greater partnership between the county council and Salisbury district council."

In the other two-member ward, Salisbury East, the spoils were divided between Conservative Mary Douglas and Liberal Democrat John English.

Mrs Douglas said: "This will be the first time I have served on a local authority and I look forward to representing the electors of my ward."

Salisbury West was won for Labour by Ricky Rogers - making a comeback to local government after an absence of four years.

A former leader of the county council's Labour group before standing down at the 2001 elections, Mr Rogers said: "I'm glad to be back and am looking forward to putting a bit of fire back into local government."

South Wiltshire's most intriguing contest was in Amesbury, where chairman of the county council Allan Peach stood as an Independent after being deselected as the official Tory candidate.

He lost by just 244 votes to replacement Conservative John Noeken.

Conservative leader of Salisbury district council Kevin Wren was returned to County Hall as member for Bourne & Woodford Valley and Liberal Democrat Ian West retained his seat in Wilton & Wylye.

Across Wiltshire, the Tories secured nearly 42 per cent of the vote to keep control of the county council, with 28 of the 49 seats.

The Liberal Democrats, who had 36.5 per cent of the votes, form the second-largest group, with 16 seats, followed by Labour (14.5 per cent) with three seats, and the Independents (4.5 per cent), who have two seats.