Alan Watt has been elected as Liberal Democrat Strathallan ward councillor in the Perth and Kinross Council by-election held on Thursday, September 26.
The local government by-election was held following the resignation of Conservative councillor Crawford Reid.
Alan becomes the fifth member of the Liberal Democrat group at Perth and Kinross Council amongst 40 councillors.
The SNP group has the largest share of elected members in the chamber and has increased its share from 16 to 17. This follows Carol Mair being elected to replace Labour’s Brian Leishman – now MP for Alloa and Grangemouth – as SNP councillor for Perth City North. A by-election for Perth City North ward was held on the same day as Strathallan ward.
Turnout in Strathallan/Ward Seven was 34.07 per cent with 3280 votes cast and 22 rejected papers.
Votes were cast using the Single Transferable Vote system where voters rank candidates in order of preference on their ballot paper. While the Conservatives had the largest share of the first preference vote, they did not meet the required quota to win. The Lib Dem candidate was elected after the application of votes at stage six.
First preference votes were as follows:
Ken McCracken – Lab – 366
Amanda Runciman – Con – 1045
Catherine Scott – SNP – 568
Nettie Sutherland – Green – 107
Ian Thomas – Reform UK – 194
Alan Watt – Lib Dem – 978
Alan – from Aberuthven – is an area manager with an international supplier of agricultural machinery. He is well-known locally for chairing Aberuthven Ablaze, serving on the community council and having twice captained Auchterarder Golf Club. He and his Lib Dem colleagues have been campaiging hard.
“I was always fairly confident,” he said afterwards then pointed to husband and wife Lib Dem councillors Peter and Liz Barrett, “but these two have been fantastic.”
Cllr Peter Barrett said: “Alan was a really strong candidate who had that track record.”
Cllr Liz Barrett added: “People trusted him because they had seen what he does.”
The Liberal Democrats have gained a place in the council from the Conservatives. Strathallan ward is now represented by three different parties – the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and SNP.
Cllr Peter Barrett added: “People just wanted change.”
Father-of-three Alan is keen to tackle issues in the area.
He said: “The library is the big one and toilets. And I was heartbroken by a lady I spoke to who had a terrible story so there are already things I want to do.”