The newly elected county councillor for Potters Bar East will concentrate on preserving what is best about the town.

Councillor Peter Knell, 67, won the Potters Bar East seat at last night’s Hertfordshire County Council elections with a majority of 696 votes.

He said: “I am ecstatic; I am completely over the moon to have won.

“I am looking forward to carrying on the good work done by my predecessor Eddie Roach and keep Potters Bar the nice safe place it is.”

Cllr Knell, who is also a councillor for Hertsmere Borough Council’s Potters Bar Furzefield ward, said he was looking forward to “continuing the good work” he does as a borough council on a much larger scale.

He said: “On the borough council I deal with the local, day-to-day issues for my ward. I am looking forward to being involved in the much bigger issues such as education and health that affect Hertfordshire as a whole.”

He added one problem he would hope to address was that created by building work carried out by housing association Affinity Sutton next to Oaksmere Primary School on Chase Avenue, because it was having a detrimental effect on both children and residents.

Cllr Knell said: “Potters Bar is a great place to live, especially when the flowers are out uou see the smiles on people's faces. I want to use my four years in office to keep it that way.”

Simon Rhodes for the UK Independence party came second with 775 seats, Labour candidate John Doolan came third with 463, Peter Bonner of the Liberal Democrats won 192, and coming in last was Ben Samuel for the Green Party, with 127 votes.